Background
Albert Franklin Buffington was born on July 11, 1905, in Pillow, Pennsylvania, United States. He was the son of John N. and Lizzie (Hepler) Buffington.
Albert Franklin Buffington was born on July 11, 1905, in Pillow, Pennsylvania, United States. He was the son of John N. and Lizzie (Hepler) Buffington.
Buffington obtained his bachelor’s degree at Bucknell University in 1928, and received his master’s and doctoral degrees from Harvard University in 1932 and 1937, respectively.
Buffington began his teaching career as head of the German department at Central High School in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1928, moving to Harvard University in 1930, to the University of New Hampshire in 1937, and to the Pennsylvania State University in 1945, retiring in 1965 with the rank of full professor.
He also worked as a professor of German at the University of Arizona from 1965 to 1975. His speciality was Pennsylvania German language and history.
His first book, Songs Along the Mahantongo, edited with Walter E. Boyer and Don Yoder, was published in 1951 by the Dutch Folklore Center, Franklin and Marshall College, a second edition being issued by Folklore Associates in 1964. He also issued A Pennsylvania German Grammar (with Preston A. Barba), in 1954, with a revised edition in 1965. His last two books were Four Pennsylvania German Studies (Pennsylvania German Society, 1970) and Pennsylvania German Secular Folksongs (Pennsylvania German Society, 1974). In 1980 appeared Something for Everyone, Something for You (Ebbes fr Alle-Ebber, Ebbes fr Dich: Essays in Memoriam, Albert Franklin Buffington), which included essays by Buffington and many others.
He also contributed numerous articles and essays to magazines, scholarly journals, and anthologies.
Buffington belonged to several professional organizations.
Buffington married Dorothy Lorine Harris, on June 20, 1932. They had 2 children - Albert Franklin and Lorine Harris.