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Elizabeth Birkmaier

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Elizabeth Birkmaier
An 1892 image of a white woman with light hair in an updo; she is wearing a high-collared blouse and jacket
Elizabeth Birkmaier, from an 1892 publication
Born
Elizabeth Green Davey

March 31, 1845
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
DiedDecember 30, 1912(1912-12-30) (aged 67)
East Orange, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation(s)Writer, clubwoman
Signature

Elizabeth Green Davey Birkmaier (March 31, 1845[1] – December 30, 1912) was an American writer and clubwoman. She wrote a novel about Atlantis, Poseidon's Paradise (1892).

Early life and education

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Birkmaier was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of Hugh G. Davey and Maria W. Davey.[1]

Career

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Birkmaier wrote a novel, Poseidon's Paradise (1892), and two dramas, Atlantis (1894) and Deucalion (1912),[2] all based in the mythology of Atlantis.[3][4] A review of her novel in The Overland Monthly called it "remarkable" and asked, "though we may suspect that Mrs. Birkmaier has made her ancients far too advanced in civilization in this or that particular, who shall say it was not her right to do it?"[5] "It is evident that long and careful study has been given to the subject," noted the Alameda Daily Argus in its review, which admired her "peculiarly fresh inventive genius."[6]

Birkmaier was founder and first president of the Tea Club of Alameda, California,[7][8] and an active member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.[9] In 1893, she and her husband were sued by the Women's Exchange and Relief Society for possession of the Women's Exchange building in Alameda, after a split in the club's membership when it was incorporated.[10][11]

Publications

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  • Poseidon's Paradise: The Romance of Atlantis (1892)[12]
  • "Lack of Harmony; Discord in the Woman's Exchange" (1893)[11]
  • "A Timely Lesson in Patriotism" (1898, a syndicated essay)[13]

Personal life and legacy

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Elizabeth Davey married George Lewis Birkmaier.[14] They lived in Alameda, California until 1898,[15] and had three children. She died in 1912, at the age of 67, in East Orange, New Jersey.[7][16]

Birkmaier's novel was one of the few works by women included in a 1959 bibliography of American science fiction from 1880 to 1915, with the note that it was "apparently the earliest American pseudo-historical romance to use the Atlantean setting."[17] Poseidon's Paradise continues to be discussed by historians, more than a century after its publication.[3][4]

References

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  1. ^ a b Some sources give her birth year as 1847, including the 1900 U.S. Census, via Ancestry. In support of the 1845 date, she is listed as a five-year-old in her parents' household in the 1850 U.S. Census, and her gravestone uses the 1845 birthdate.
  2. ^ Library of Congress Copyright Office (1918). Dramatic Compositions Copyrighted in the United States, 1870 to 1916. Johnson Reprint Corporation. pp. 110, 508.
  3. ^ a b Johnson, Benjamin Heber (2017-04-04). Escaping the Dark, Gray City: Fear and Hope in Progressive-Era Conservation. Yale University Press. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-300-22776-5.
  4. ^ a b Sachs, Aaron (2013-01-08). Arcadian America: The Death and Life of an Environmental Tradition. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-18905-6.
  5. ^ "Recent Fiction". The Overland Monthly. 20 (120): 662. December 1892.
  6. ^ "A Literary Exception". Alameda Daily Argus. 1892-11-26. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-06-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b "Mrs. Birkmaier Dead". San Francisco Call. January 3, 1913. p. 5 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  8. ^ "Social and Personal". The Daily Encinal. 1898-05-05. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-06-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine. National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. 1908. p. 143.
  10. ^ "Alameda". San Francisco Chronicle. 1893-11-22. p. 10. Retrieved 2024-06-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ a b Birkmaier, Elizabeth G. (1893-10-06). "Lack of Harmony; Discord in the Woman's Exchange". Alameda Daily Argus. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-06-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Poseidon's paradise : the romance of Atlantis / by Elizabeth G. Birkmaier". HathiTrust. hdl:2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t8w951q8r. Retrieved 2024-06-28.
  13. ^ Birkmaier, Elizabeth (1898-04-20). "A TImely Lesson in American Patriotism; The Celebration of Patriots' Day in Massachusetts". Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, the Evening News. p. 6. Retrieved 2024-06-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Directory of the Chapters, Officers and Members. 1908. p. 307.
  15. ^ "Untitled society item". Alameda Daily Argus. 1898-05-09. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-06-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Former Resident Dead at Home in East; Mrs. Elizabeth Birkmaier, Well Known Here, is Called to Rest". The Evening Times-Star and Alameda Daily Argus. 1913-01-02. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-06-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "An Annotated Checklist of American Science Fiction, 1880-1915". Extrapolation. 1 (1): 7. December 1959 – via Internet Archive.
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