Edith Nason Buckingham

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Edith Nason Buckingham
A young white woman, dark hair dressed in a bouffant updo, wearing pince-nez glasses, in an oval frame
Edith Nason Buckingham, from the 1902 yearbook of Radcliffe College
BornSeptember 28, 1877
Boston, Massachusetts
DiedFebruary 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]

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ "In Memoriam". The Radcliffe Quarterly: 25. May 1954.
  3. ^ Radcliffe College, Class of 1902 (1902 yearbook): 17.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ "Radcliffe Commencement". Boston Evening Transcript. 1910-06-28. p. 2. Retrieved 2021-10-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Women the World Over". The Post-Standard. 1910-07-20. p. 12. Retrieved 2021-10-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Buckingham, Edith Nason (1911). Division of Labor Among Ants. Ginn.
  8. ^ Harvard University (1912). Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments. p. 245.
  9. ^ "Ants Have Their Cattle Like Humans". The People's Ledger. 1910-05-05. p. 6. Retrieved 2021-10-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ 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.
  14. ^ Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences (1906). Yearbook of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. p. 219.
  15. ^ "Class Exercises of Radcliffe Seniors". The Boston Globe. 1915-06-22. p. 10. Retrieved 2021-10-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "More Phi Beta Kappa Elections at Radcliffe". The Boston Globe. 1921-06-21. p. 12. Retrieved 2021-10-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ Banner, Earl (1948-08-07). "Sudbury Farmer Finds Growing Own Pays Off". The Boston Globe. p. 11. Retrieved 2021-10-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Setter, Sheepdog Vie for Best at Brockton". The Boston Globe. 1937-09-16. p. 22. Retrieved 2021-10-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Eastern Dog Show Summary". The Boston Globe. 1940-02-20. p. 10. Retrieved 2021-10-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "Meeting of Society Will be Thursday". Concord Enterprise. April 5, 1956. p. 16. Retrieved October 3, 2021 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  21. ^ "Miss E. G. Fish Visits Friends in Sudbury". Concord Enterprise. September 16, 1954. p. 5. Retrieved October 3, 2021 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  22. ^ "Sudbury Woman, 78, Dies at Town Meeting". The Boston Globe. 1954-02-24. p. 1. Retrieved 2021-10-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ "Trophy Given in Honor of E. Buckingham". Concord Enterprise. May 6, 1954. p. 20. Retrieved October 3, 2021 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
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