Edith Nason Buckingham
Edith Nason Buckingham | |
|---|---|
 Edith Nason Buckingham, from the 1902 yearbook of Radcliffe College | |
| Born | September 28, 1877 Boston, Massachusetts |
| Died | February 23, 1954 Sudbury, Massachusetts |
| Occupation(s) | Zoologist, businesswoman, chicken farmer, dog breeder |
Edith Nason Buckingham (September 28, 1877 – February 23, 1954) was an American zoologist, dog breeder, and chicken farmer. She was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in zoology at Radcliffe College.
Early life
[edit]Buckingham was born in Boston, the daughter of Edward Marshall Buckingham and Alice Darracott Nason Buckingham. Her father and grandfather were both Harvard-trained physicians.[1] Her sister Margaret married biochemist Addison Gulick. She attended Girls Latin School and the Curtis-Peabody School. She attended Radcliffe College, graduating in 1902,[2][3] and was president of the Radcliffe Science Club.[4]
In 1910,[5] Buckingham became the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in zoology at Radcliffe,[6] with a dissertation titled "Division of Labor among Ants" (1911).[7][8] Her supervisor was Edward Laurens Mark at Harvard Zoological Laboratory.[9][10] In connection with that project, she also wrote "A Light-Weight, Portable Outfit for the Study and Transportation of Ants" (1909), published in The American Naturalist.[11]
Career
[edit]Buckingham worked at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research after college,[12] and taught science at high schools in Concord[13] and Abington, Massachusetts.[14] She was an active member of Phi Beta Kappa.[15][16]
From 1927, Buckingham and her partner owned and operated Featherland Farm, a chicken farm in Sudbury, Massachusetts.[17] The farm grew to a large business, including farm equipment rentals. She also bred and raised show dogs,[18][19] and was a founding member of the New England Old English Sheep Dog Club. She was a member of the Sudbury Woman's Club and the Sudbury Garden Club, and taught Sunday school at an Episcopal church.[4] She claimed that the "Grandmother's house" of Lydia Maria Child's 1844 "Over the river and through the wood" lyric was her farmhouse in Sudbury.[20]
Personal life
[edit]Buckingham lived and worked with Emily G. Fish.[4][21] Edith N. Buckingham died in 1954, at a Sudbury town meeting, aged 78 years.[22] After her death, the Framingham District Kennel Club gave a Memorial Trophy in her name.[23] Some of her correspondence is in the Gulick Family Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ Gay, George W. (May 31, 1917). "Edward Marshall Buckingham M.D." The New England Journal of Medicine. 176 (22): 761–762. doi:10.1056/NEJM191705311762204.
- ^ "In Memoriam". The Radcliffe Quarterly: 25. May 1954.
- ^ Radcliffe College, Class of 1902 (1902 yearbook): 17.
- ^ a b c d Tonn, Jenna (2019). "The Woman Zoologist Who Found a Home for Her Science in Chicken Farming". Lady Science. Archived from the original on 2021-04-29. Retrieved 2021-10-02.
- ^ "Radcliffe Commencement". Boston Evening Transcript. 1910-06-28. p. 2. Retrieved 2021-10-02 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Women the World Over". The Post-Standard. 1910-07-20. p. 12. Retrieved 2021-10-02 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Buckingham, Edith Nason (1911). Division of Labor Among Ants. Ginn.
- ^ Harvard University (1912). Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments. p. 245.
- ^ "Ants Have Their Cattle Like Humans". The People's Ledger. 1910-05-05. p. 6. Retrieved 2021-10-03 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Tonn, Jenna (2017). "Extralaboratory Life: Gender Politics and Experimental Biology at Radcliffe College, 1894–1910". Gender & History. 29 (2): 329–358. doi:10.1111/1468-0424.12292. ISSN 1468-0424. S2CID 149438967.
- ^ Bronstein, Judith L.; Bolnick, Daniel I. (December 2018). ""Her Joyous Enthusiasm for Her Life-Work ...": Early Women Authors in The American Naturalist". The American Naturalist. 192 (6): 655–663 (see Appendix). doi:10.1086/700119. PMID 30444652. S2CID 53567449.
- ^ Tonn, Jenna (June 2019). "Laboratory of domesticity: Gender, race, and science at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research, 1903–30". History of Science. 57 (2): 231–259. doi:10.1177/0073275318797789. ISSN 0073-2753. PMID 30309265. S2CID 52966629.
- ^ Parker, George Howard (1903). Mark Anniversary Volume: To Edward Laurens Mark, Hersey Professor of Anatomy and Director of the Zoölogical Laboratory at Harvard University, in Celebration of Twenty-five Years of Successful Work for the Advancement of Zoölogy, from His Former Students, 1877-1902. H. Holt. pp. vi.
- ^ Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences (1906). Yearbook of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. p. 219.
- ^ "Class Exercises of Radcliffe Seniors". The Boston Globe. 1915-06-22. p. 10. Retrieved 2021-10-03 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "More Phi Beta Kappa Elections at Radcliffe". The Boston Globe. 1921-06-21. p. 12. Retrieved 2021-10-03 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Banner, Earl (1948-08-07). "Sudbury Farmer Finds Growing Own Pays Off". The Boston Globe. p. 11. Retrieved 2021-10-03 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Setter, Sheepdog Vie for Best at Brockton". The Boston Globe. 1937-09-16. p. 22. Retrieved 2021-10-02 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Eastern Dog Show Summary". The Boston Globe. 1940-02-20. p. 10. Retrieved 2021-10-02 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Meeting of Society Will be Thursday". Concord Enterprise. April 5, 1956. p. 16. Retrieved October 3, 2021 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
- ^ "Miss E. G. Fish Visits Friends in Sudbury". Concord Enterprise. September 16, 1954. p. 5. Retrieved October 3, 2021 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
- ^ "Sudbury Woman, 78, Dies at Town Meeting". The Boston Globe. 1954-02-24. p. 1. Retrieved 2021-10-02 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Trophy Given in Honor of E. Buckingham". Concord Enterprise. May 6, 1954. p. 20. Retrieved October 3, 2021 – via NewspaperArchive.com.