Burr was employed as an illustrator for Scribner's, Harper's, and The Observer.  During that time, his illustrations were also published in Volume II of John Muir's Picturesque California. Burr worked and traveled extensively as an illustrator contributing to additional periodicals including The Cosmopolitan and Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper.

In 1892, Burr began a four-year project to illustrate a catalog for the Metropolitan Museum of Art of Heber R. Bishop's jade collection, completing approximately 1,000 etchings of the collection. Burr's watercolors were displayed in galleries and exhibitions along the east coast and as far west as Kansas City, Missouri.