Henrietta A. Bingham

Henrietta A. Bingham (née, Burrington; December 29, 1841 – February 18, 1877) was a 19th-century American writer, editor, and preceptress. She succeeded Phebe Ann Coffin Hanaford as the editor of the Ladies' Repository and the Myrtle, and was the last editor of the Ladies' Repository. In 1865, she wrote the prize story "Mignonette," competing with such writers as Caroline Mehitable Fisher Sawyer and Jane Lippitt Patterson. In 1869, Bingham became editor of the Ladies' Repository, of the Universalist Publishing House of Boston. She was marked for succession with Sawyer, Julia Kinney Scott, Sarah Carter Edgarton Mayo, Eliza Ann Bacon Lathrop, and Nancy T. Munroe. During the five years that she conducted that magazine, she developed a notable literary record. Her specialty was verse, but she also demonstrated ability with essay, editorial, short story, and sketch. One of her best poems was "L'Envoi," a midnight meditation on the passing year; "The Human Side" and "The Divine Side," were her greatest work, easily placing her in the front rank with writers of her time. In 1875, her failing health compelled her to give up writing and return to her old home town, where she died in 1877.