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Anne Walbank Buckland

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Anne Walbank Buckland, M.A.I. (1832-1899)[1] [2] was an anthropologist, ethnologist, and travel writer. She presented new ideas on mythology, symbolism and custom.[3]


Early life

Buckland's father, William Buckland, was a civil engineer and surveyor. The family lived in the rural hamlit of Bremilham, near Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England.[4][5]

Anthropology

Buckland was one of the first women to join The Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland after it voted to admit women on March 9, 1875. She donated a photograph to the Institute, which was used by the Rev. H. N. Hutchinson to encourage and instruct members in collecting quality photographs for ethnological research.[6] In his 1899 address to members, the president of the institute remarked about Buckland, that after more than twenty years of scientific contributions, "No other lady in this country, has to my knowledge, done so much to popularize anthropology as was accomplished by our valued friend".[7]

Buckland also joined the British Association for the Advancement of Science[8] and was elected an Honorary Member of the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution (BRLSI) on 23 March 1876 for her work in arranging the ‘Lockey Museum’ (the anthropological section of the museum). [9] [10]

Some of her ideas on mythology, symbolism and custom were contrary to fellow anthropologists at that time, including that agriculturists were the first to worship the moon, that this worship preceded that of the sun deity in Egypt, China and the East, and that it was metallurgists who originated worship of the sun and serpents.[11] She suggested, that based on the prominence given to the rabbit in artifacts of American sculptures and hieroglyphics, that either the Eastern hemisphere influenced ideas and customs of prehistoric society in America or vice versa.[12] Fritze[13] considered Buckland to be a "proto-hyper-diffusionist" who advanced the idea that aspects of ancient culture were dispersed or "diffused" to other cultures and continents by way of trade interactions and migration, rather than arising by coincidence. Later diffusionists, who built upon her work, became more Egyptocentric than she, such as Elliot Smith.[13]

Buckland published anthropological papers in Westminster Review and the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, many of which were the basis of oral presentations at scientific meetings. A collection of her scholarly essays, Anthropological Studies, was recognized internationally and added to the library of the US Bureau of Ethnology in 1883.[14]

Legacy

Great Britain added Buckland to its Civil List Pension, an annual monetary award in recognition of her scientific work.[15] She provided BRLSI with numerous artifacts for its collection, including several stone implements and weapons collected from Cape Flats, South Africa by Dr. Langham Dale. A contemporary of Buckland, Dale was among the first scholars to recognize and publish findings of prehistoric stone artifacts in southern Africa.[16] Buckland also contributed artifacts to the founding collection at the Pitt Rivers Museum,[17] including a Later Stone Age bored stone from the Cape of Good Hope.[16] Her 1893 book of old international recipes set in historical context is considered a classic culinary text,[18] continues to be reproduced, and is widely available.[19]

References

  1. ^ "England and Wales Census, 1881". FamilySearch. Retrieved 12 Nov 2016.
  2. ^ Rudler, F. W. (1899). "Address delivered at the anniversary meeting of The Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, January 24th, 1899". The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 28. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.: 325–326. Retrieved 11 Nov 2016.
  3. ^ "Notices of Books". Yn Lior Manninagh - 'The Manx Book'. 1 (10). Isle of Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society: 352–357. 1891. Retrieved 8 Jan 2017.
  4. ^ "1841. Enumeration District 9, Civil Parish of Bremilham; Book 3 Folio 3 Page 10". 1841 North Wiltshire Online Census Project. Retrieved 9 Nov 2016.
  5. ^ "'Engineering and railway works', in A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 4, ed. Elizabeth Crittall (London, 1959), pp. 183-219". British History Online. Retrieved 9 Nov 2016.
  6. ^ "Ordinary Meeting. December 6th, 1898". The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 28. London: Trübner & Co.: 249 1899. Retrieved 5 Jan 2017.
  7. ^ Rudler, F. W. (1899). "Address delivered at the anniversary meeting of The Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, January 24th, 1899". The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 28. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.: 325–326. Retrieved 11 Nov 2016.
  8. ^ "People Database, The Invention of Museum Anthropology, 1850-1920". Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Retrieved 8 Jan 2017.
  9. ^ Buckland, AW (1872). "Ober Ammergau and its People in connection with the Passion Play and miracle plays in general: a paper read before the Bath Literary and Philosophical Association June 12th 1872". 1893 Foreign Titles from the World Expo. London: Simpkin Marshall & Co. Retrieved 5 Dec 2016.
  10. ^ Buckland, AW (1877). "Our anthropological museum". Chronicle. Bath, England: Bath Literary and Philosophical Association. Retrieved 4 Dec 2016.
  11. ^ "Notices of Books". Yn Lior Manninagh - 'The Manx Book'. 1 (10). Isle of Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society: 352–357. 1891. Retrieved 8 Jan 2017.
  12. ^ "Notices of Books". Yn Lior Manninagh - 'The Manx Book'. 1 (10). Isle of Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society: 352–357. 1891. Retrieved 8 Jan 2017.
  13. ^ a b Fritze, Ronald H. (2016). Egyptomania: A History of Fascination, Obsession and Fantasy. London: Reaktion Books.
  14. ^ "Notes and News". Science. 1 (13). American Association for the Advancement of Science: 376. May 4, 1883. Retrieved Nov 11, 2016.
  15. ^ "Scientific Notes and News". Science. 8 (183). New York: American Association for the Advancement of Science: 20–21. 1 July 1898. Retrieved 5 Dec 2016.
  16. ^ a b Mitchell, Peter (2013). Chapter 2. Stone Age Sub-Saharan Africa In: Dan Hicks and Alice Stevenson (eds) World Archaeology at the Pitt Rivers Museum. Oxford: Archaeopress. p. 22-23. ISBN 9781905739585.
  17. ^ "Contributors to the founding collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum and Pitt-Rivers' second collection". The Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Retrieved 3 Jan 2017.
  18. ^ "UC Davis Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, Household Books Published in Britain". Regents of the University of California, 2009-13. Retrieved 4 Jan 2017.
  19. ^ Buckland, Anne Walbank (1893). Our viands; whence they come and how they are cooked, with a bundle of old recipes from cookery books of the last century. London: Ward and Downey.
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