When Elsie Bramell (1909-1985) began working at the Australian Museum in 1933 she was the first woman and the first university educated person to take up a scientific position in the Anthropology Department. She was appointed Scientific Assistant, senior to her colleague and future husband Fred McCarthy, who had worked Continue Reading
Courtney Letts de Espil: Borden-Field Museum Alaska Arctic Expedition of 1927
“One must wear white in stalking Arctic game,” quips author Courtney Letts de Espil (Mrs. John Borden) in her 1928 book The Cruise of the Northern Light, which is a 317-page account of the Borden-Field Museum Alaska Arctic Expedition of 1927.1 Public Excitement As The Expedition Launches While newspaper accounts Continue Reading
Helen Cowen Gunsaulus: Curator and Ethnologist
Helen Cowen Gunsaulus earned her Bachelor of Philosophy (Ph.B.) at the University of Chicago in 1908. She went on to be curator at several important institutions in Chicago, including as a curator at the Field Museum. Childhood and Education Gunsaulus was born in Maryland in April 1886. She was the Continue Reading
Mina Benson Hubbard: Labrador Mapping Expedition
In an epic story of love, trials, and vindication at the dawn of the 20th century, the farm-raised daughter of European immigrants to Canada became the first white woman to explore and map the backcountry of Labrador. An Unexpected Pioneer Mina Benson Hubbard’s background gave no indication of her pioneering Continue Reading