Dorothy Burr Thompson

Dorothy Burr Thompson in 1923

Dorothy Burr Thompson (19 August 1900 – 10 May 2001) was a classical archaeologist and art historian at Bryn Mawr College and a leading authority on Hellenistic terracotta figurines.

Biography

Thompson came from a prominent Philadelphia family; her father was the attorney Charles Henry Burr, Jr. and her mother was novelist and biographer Anna Robeson Brown. Her grandfather was noted orator and lawyer Henry Armitt Brown. Early in life Thompson studied the Classics, attending Miss Hill's School in Center City, Pa., and The Latin School in Philadelphia. She began her study of Latin at age 9 and ancient Greek at 12. At age 13, she took a Grand Tour of Europe, visiting museums and monuments of Europe. In 1919 she began her studies at Bryn Mawr College where she took courses with Rhys Carpenter and Mary Hamilton Swindler. She graduated summa cum laude in 1923, the first graduate with a major in Greek and archaeology, and was awarded the college's European Fellowship. She used the fellowship to study at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, works on excavations with Carl Blegen at Phlius and Hetty Goldman at Eutresis.

In 1925 Thompson discovered a tholos tomb that proved to be the burial place of the king and queen of Midea. She completed her Ph. D. at Bryn Mawr College in 1931; it entailed a study of the 117 Hellenistic terracotta figures from Myrina in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Dorothy Burr Thompson with her excavation crew at the Athenian Agora, 1933

In 1932 Thompson was appointed the first female Fellow of the Athenian Agora excavations.[1] The dig's assistant director of field work was the Canadian archaeologist Homer Thompson; the two married in 1934. Homer Thompson accepted positions as curator of the classical collection at the Royal Ontario Museum of Archaeology and assistant professor in fine arts at the University of Toronto. Thompson had three daughters by 1935,[1] but in 1936, Burr Thompson discovered the garden of the Temple of Hephaistos in the agora at Athens. In 1946 her husband accepted a chair at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and Burr Thompson served as acting director of the Royal Ontario Museum until she moved to Princeton, New Jersey the following year. At Princeton she continued to publish and carry out her research. In 1987 she was awarded the Gold Medal for distinguished achievement by the Archaeological Institute of America. She died in Hightstown, New Jersey[2] and is buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery.

Publications

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Dorothy Burr Thompson papers, ASCSA.edu, Retrieved 2 October 2016
  2. ↑ Anahad O'Connor (May 24, 2001). "Dorothy Burr Thompson, 101, Archaeologist". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-05-10. Dr. Dorothy Burr Thompson, a classical archaeologist who was one of the world's leading experts on ancient terra-cotta art, died on May 10 at her home in Hightstown, N.J. She was 101. ...

Further reading

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.