Journalist Ida Tarbell described Burchenal as "one of the 50 living women who have done the most for the welfare of the United States.

She graduated from Earlham College in 1896,[2] and pursued further studies at the Sargent School of Physical Education in Boston.

She was executive secretary of the Girls' Branch of the Public School Athletic League of New York from 1906 to 1916.

[10] With another sister, Ruth, she founded the Folk Arts Center of New York, an exhibit, library, and archive space.

[11] Burchenal was an American delegate to the International Commission of Popular Arts when it met in Prague in 1928,[12] and in Belgium in 1930.