West Virginia University has debuted a new website that chronicles the life and work of Pearl S. Buck. Buck was the first American woman to win both the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize for literature. The website features items from the Pearl Buck archives held by the West Virginia University Libraries.
West Virginia University became caretaker of Buck’s archives in October 2014 after forming a partnership with West Virginia Wesleyan College and the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation to protect and promote Buck’s legacy. (See earlier WIAReport post here.)
Born in Hillsboro, West Virginia, to missionary parents. Buck is probably best known for her novel The Good Earth. Buck regularly addressed issues surrounding race relations, the oppression of women and minorities, children’s welfare and other humanitarian issues of the time. She devoted much of her life’s work to children’s issue, penning many novels and short stories for and about them. Buck died in 1973.
John Cuthbert, curator at the West Virginia University Regional History Center, stated that “Buck’s work in promoting the welfare of children around the world provides an excellent example of how a girl born in West Virginia grew to change the world.”