A Boot in the Door: Pioneer Women Archaeologists of Arizona

The men who explored Arizona are legends in the history of the region and of anthropology, but what about the women who accompanied them or explored by themselves?  Did you know that Matilda Coxe Stevenson was a member of the first official government survey of Canyon de Chelly or that Emma Mindeleff surveyed ruins in the Verde Valley while Theresa Russell helped her husband locate Hohokam sites? Probably not, for none are listed in “official” histories. Learn about the hidden pioneer archaeologists of the 19th century and honor Arizona’s unsung heroines of science.

Dr. Nancy J. Parezo is a Professor of American Indian Studies and Anthropology at the University of Arizona. For over 40 years she has worked with Native Arizona Nations documenting histories and working with artists and oral historians. She has also worked extensively to document how anthropologists have affected Indian cultures through collecting and displaying art at world fairs. She is the co-author of Anthropology Goes to the Fair (with Don Fowler) as well as several works on women anthropologists (Hidden Scholars, Daughters of the Desert and On Their Own Frontier), and the first Special Olympics at the 1904 world’s fair.