author
Elizabeth C. Barney (Elizabeth Cynthia Barney) Buel
1868–1943
A writer with a strong feel for early American history, she explored domestic crafts, women's work, and civic life in books that still feel distinctive today. Her best-known writing brings the spinning wheel to life as both a household tool and a symbol of the past.
1 Audiobook
The Tale of the Spinning Wheel
by Elizabeth C. Barney (Elizabeth Cynthia Barney) Buel
About the author
Elizabeth C. Barney Buel, also listed as Elizabeth Cynthia Barney Buel, was an American author born in 1868 and died in 1943. Surviving records connect her closely with Litchfield, Connecticut, where her papers are preserved by the Litchfield Historical Society and where she was active in local historical and civic work.
Her writing ranged from local history to practical civic reference. She wrote The Tale of the Spinning Wheel (1903), a historical work centered on the spinning wheel and the lives of women who used it, and she edited Chronicles of a Pioneer School from 1792 to 1833, a history of Sarah Pierce's Litchfield school. She also compiled Manual of the United States for the Information of Immigrants and Foreigners and later the D.A.R. manual for citizenship, showing another side of her work: explaining American public life to new citizens and readers seeking civic guidance.
Buel was also active in the Daughters of the American Revolution. Sources from the Litchfield Historical Society identify her as Honorary State Regent for the Connecticut DAR, and the Mary Floyd Tallmadge Chapter records remember her as the chapter's organizing regent. Taken together, her books and public work suggest a writer deeply interested in American memory, education, and citizenship.