[2] After leaving his job at Scribner's, Burlingame authored 25 books, including biographies and works of historical non-fiction.
After graduating from Harvard, Burlingame worked on the staff of The Independent, a weekly magazine published in New York City, for a year.
His biographies examined the life stories of Benjamin Franklin, Henry Ford, Alexander Graham Bell, General Billy Mitchell, journalist Elmer Davis, and cotton gin inventor Eli Whitney.
He taught courses at Barnard College that examined American literary contributions to national characteristics and ideas.
[7] After completing officers' training in Plattsburgh, New York in 1917, he served as a lieutenant with the 308th Machine Gun Battalion of the 78th Infantry Division.
The writings include his manuscripts, published articles, diaries, poems, short stories, and speeches.