The ideal early-20th century, liberal arts-educated American lady would never encounter a speck of dirt during her lifetime given her probable fate to become the housewife of a rich New England man. This lifestyle was not fitting for the first generation of women archaeologists: Esther Van Deman, Harriet Boyd Hawes, and Edith Hall Dohan. It is perhaps due to the inspiring connections they made during their times at the Seven Sisters Colleges that led them to become world-renowned ground-breakers of the Mediterranean and the foundation of a new era in archaeology. This exhibition entails fragments belonging to these archaeologists’ lives, which will give a better understanding of their experiences surpassing in a field where no woman had gone before. From Van Deman’s work on Roman construction to Boyd’s discovery of ancient cities to Hall’s writings on Minoan pottery, their impact on classical scholarship molded them into the stepping stones of gender equality and influential idols for their students, colleagues and family. It is fitting that on behalf of Mount Holyoke and Smith these women are being represented through students whom have been learning through Mount Holyoke’s contemporary motto, never fear or change, a saying that most certainly pertains to the celebrated trailblazers.

Esther Van Deman

                                        

 

                                        

 

Harriet Boyd Hawes

                                        

 

Edith Hall Dohan