[1] Burdick graduated from Central High School in 1918, and worked as a farm laborer with his family before attending Syracuse University in late 1920.

He held a variety of jobs after graduation, including working in advertising at The Syracuse Herald before becoming an electrician, which was his primary occupation.

[5] By 1940, Burdick was living as a lodger with a Syracuse family and earned a salary of $1,065 per year as an assembler at Crouse-Hinds Company.

[6] Despite his meager wages, he continued to spend the majority of his earnings on publishing his bulletins and growing his collection.

[5] He retired from Crouse-Hinds in 1959 due to disability, and moved to Madison Avenue where he could be closer to the Met.

Burdick spent 15 years working at the museum's drawings and prints department to accomplish the task of cataloging the collection, which he finished in January 1963.