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198 Harriet Boyd Hawes (1871–1945) Vasso Fotou and Ann Brown harriet boyd hawes’s dual role as a scholar and humanitarian sets her apart from many of her peers. Her activities were not con‹ned to archaeology . Her strong character, sel›ess courage, and natural compassion, reinforced by her commitment to Christian beliefs, found expression and ful‹lment in humanitarian work. She nursed the wounded in three wars. She championed social causes raising funds for refugees and lobbying for justice for the downtrodden. Further, her generous spirit extended to political action and social reform. Boyd’s scholarly work embraced two ‹elds at different times in her life. Her early years in archaeology were devoted to active excavation. At a time when opposition to women’s participation in ‹eldwork was the prevailing attitude in archaeological institutions, she proved that a woman could lead an excavation successfully, make important discoveries, and maintain a good record of publication. She was to turn to theoretical archaeology after retiring from ‹eldwork and raising a family. Little is known of this later work since almost all is unpublished. Her fame and contribution to archaeology have always been measured by her Cretan discoveries. R The First Years (1871–96) Harriet Ann Boyd was born in Boston on October 11, 1871, the ‹fth and last child of Alexander Boyd, a businessman of Scottish-Irish descent, and Harriet Wheeler Boyd (née Harriet Fay Wheeler) of English Colonial stock. Her mother died when Boyd was ten months old, and her father raised her, along with her four brothers, James, Alexander, Harry, and Allen. Her father never remarried and, as Boyd later wrote, although “The loss [of our mother] clouded our lives . . . his constancy gave a touch of splendor to our home.”1 Living in an all-male environment reinforced Boyd’s natural independence and determination. It is little wonder that in later life she did not conform to convention. In the absence of their mother a strong bond grew up among the children. With her youngest brother, Allen, four years her senior, she played “soldiers” and “politics.”2 These games kindled Boyd’s interest and prepared her for nursing two generations of soldiers in three wars. Her second brother, Alex, “the leader, disciplined and inspired,” was her idol, dearly loved.3 Although only eleven years older, he seems to have replaced her mother.4 He graduated with honors in history from Harvard (1882), admired classical art, and was a devout Christian whose beliefs and interests became her own. Nine months after Alex’s premature death she changed from the Unitarian to the Episcopal Church and found “great happiness ” in being con‹rmed by Bishop Brooks, her brother’s ideal of a Christian preacher, whose teachings came to have a profound in›uence on her.5 It was Alex who planted the ‹rst seeds of her love for the Hellenic world and introduced her to the classics.6 Harriet Boyd spent the ‹rst year of her secondary education at a boarding school in Morristown, New Jersey, then attended Prospect Hill School (Stoneleigh-Burnham), in Green‹eld, Massachusetts.7 To her delight she was able to study classics. One of her classmates, Jean Patten, became a lifelong friend and accompanied her to Crete in 1900.8 After receiving her diploma from Prospect Hill in June 1888, Boyd entered Smith College, in Northampton, Massachusetts.9 She followed classics, concentrating in particular on Greek. Archaeology was not an option, but a lecture by the British Egyptologist Amelia B. Edwards gave Boyd her ‹rst glimpse into harriet boyd hawes 199 this discipline.10 During her college years she made two particular friends: an artist and social worker, Adelene Moffat, eleven years her senior, who later drew pottery from Boyd’s excavations, and a fellow student, Blanche E. Wheeler, who joined her in Crete in 1901 and shared in the discovery of Gournia. Saddened by the death of her brother Alex on August 26, 1891, Boyd nevertheless graduated in June 1892.11 Although she inherited her brother’s estate, Boyd was determined to use her degree to support herself. For the next four academic years she taught ancient and modern languages, ‹rst in Henderson, North Carolina (1892–93), and then in Wilmington, Delaware (1893–96).12 In Wilmington she enjoyed the school, but started thinking of further study to go on to college teaching. Upon enquiring, she learned of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. In her third year in Wilmington the...

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