(Box 87-13) The Burning Earth Typed Chapter Drafts, circa 1948

John Donaldson Voelker (1903-1991) was a lawyer and author best known for writing "Anatomy of a Murder." After earning his teaching certificate from Northern State Normal School in Marquette in 1924, he attended the University of Michigan Law School and received his LL.B. degree in 1928. After practicing law in Chicago for a few years, Voelker returned to Ishpeming in 1933 and opened his own law office. The following year he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Marquette County. In 1956, Voelker was appointed to a position as Associate Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, where he served until he resigned in January 1960. Voelker also had a successful writing career, publishing approximately one hundred stories and essays and 11 novels under his own name and under the pen name Robert Traver.

Voelker's literary executors have given UPLINK permission to digitize his unpublished literary works as well as the notes, first drafts, and correspondence related to his published works. Please keep in mind that you are viewing a selection of materials related to each book! Even in the folders selected for digitization, we often did not digitize the entire folder due to copyright concerns. The full collection can be accessed at the NMU Archives. In addition to Voelker's literary materials, the collection includes personal photographs and journals, papers related to his legal and political career, and his personal and professional correspondence.