Emma May Buckingham (November 17, 1836 – November 8, 1919) was an American writer and educator.
Early life Emma May (or in some sources, Mary Emma) Buckingham was born into the large farming family of Ambrose Whittlesey Buckingham and Mahala Kellee Buckingham, in Paupack Township, Pennsylvania.Frederic William Chapman, The Buckingham Family; Or the Descendants of Thomas Buckingham (Case, Lockwood & Brainard 1872): 227-228. She trained as a teacher at Wyoming Seminary, near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.Peter Becker, "Local History: Emma May Buckingham, Tackled Social Issues with her Pen" The News Eagle (February 6, 2017).
Career Buckingham taught school in Scranton, Hazleton, and Honesdale, Pennsylvania, and was principal at a school in Westbrook, Connecticut. Poor health disrupted her employment; "'over-much study' prostrated a delicate organism, and failing health induced her to resign her place," according to one account. She wrote articles for teachers' journals, including "Aesthetic Culture", "Music in Taste-Culture", and "Eye and Hand Culture", all in Pennsylvania School Journal.Emma May Buckingham, "Aesthetic Culture" Pennsylvania School Journal (October 1873): 123-124.Emma May Buckingham, "Music in Taste-Culture" Pennsylvania School Journal (December 1873): 190-191.Emma May Buckingham, "Eye and Hand Culture" Pennsylvania School Journal (June 1874): 384-386.
Buckingham is known for her first book, A Self-Made Woman: or, Mary Idyl’s Trials and Triumphs (1873), a novel in which the main character is a "sickly" woman writer, nurse, and teacher, who is disowned by her father for pursuing an education and a career.Jaime Osterman Alves. "'What mighty transformations!': Disfigurement and Self-Improvement in Emma May Buckingham’s A Self-Made Woman" Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers 30(1)(2013): 101-123. DOI: 10.5250/legacy.30.1.0101 The novel was a success through at least three editions.Untitled news item, Wilkes-Barre Times Leader (October 22, 1874): 2. via Newspapers.com Further published works by Buckingham included Pearl: A Centennial Poem (1877),Emma May Buckingham, Pearl: A Centennial Poem (S. R. Wells & Company 1877). The Silver Chalice, and Other Poems (1878), Parson Thorne's Trial, a Novel (1880),Emma May Buckingham, Pastor Thorne's Trial: A Novel (G. W. Carleton 1880). Modern Ghost Stories (1906),Emma May Buckingham, Modern Ghost Stories: A Medley of Dreams, Impressions, and Spectral Illusions (Fowler & Wells Co. 1906). and His Second Love (1907).Advertisement, The Phrenological Journal and Science of Health (December 1907): 14.Online Books by Emma May Buckingham, The Online Books Page.
Personal life Buckingham lived in Honesdale and Hamlin, Wayne County, Pennsylvania as an adult, caring for her mother until her mother died in 1904. She was a member of the Honesdale Presbyterian Church, and active in the local chapter of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), and other temperance events."Hamlin" The Citizen (May 27, 1910): 8. via Newspapers.com The women of Hamlin gave a surprise party for Buckingham's birthday in 1913."Hamlin", The Scranton Republican (November 22, 1913): 15. via Newspapers.com She died at the "Home for the Friendless" in Scranton in 1919, a few days before her 83rd birthday."Miss Emma May Buckingham" The Scranton Republican (November 10, 1919): 2. via Newspapers.com
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