Mary Tileston Hemenway

Mary Porter Tileston Hemenway (1820 – 6 March 1894) was an American philanthropist. She sponsored the Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition to the American southwest,[1][2] and opened the first kitchen in a public school in the US.[3]

Mary Tileston Hemenway
Born1820
New York City
Died1894 (aged 73–74)
Beacon Hill
Spouse(s)Edward Augustus Holyoke Hemenway
ChildrenThree daughters and one son
Parent(s)Father - Thomas Tileston

Early years

She was born in New York City, the daughter of Thomas Tileston (1796-1864), one of the wealthiest merchant/mariners of New York City, and Mary (Porter) Tileson.[3] In 1840, she married Edward Augustus Holyoke Hemenway (1803–1876) in 1840, a Boston merchant.[4] Following their wedding, they moved to a Boston home at the corner of Tremont and Beacon streets. By 1845, they moved to Winthrop Square. In 1853, they moved to a home on the corner of Mt. Vernon and Walnut Streets, on Beacon Hill.[5] Their daughters were Charlotte Augusta Hemenway (1841-1865), Alice, (d. in infancy), Edith (~1851-1904), and Amy Hemenway (1848-1911) who was married to Louis Cabot. Their son, Augustus Jr. (1853–1931), married Harriet Lawrence.[6]

Career
Mary Tileston Hemenway financially supported the first archeological research in the southwest. In 1907 Edgar L. Hewett proposed naming this Soda Canyon cliff dwelling (Mesa Verde National Park) in her honor.

Her philanthropic career began 1865 after her daughter's death. Her interests included strengthening education in the South, improving homemaking skills amongst girls, as well as promoting knowledge of the American past. She was a member of James Freeman Clarke's Church of the Disciples.[3] In 1876 she contributed to saving the Old South Meeting House from destruction by donating $100,000.[7] She sponsored summer vacation schools, founding the Boston Normal School of Cookery in 1887, promoting a conference on physical training, and establishing the Boston Normal School of Gymnastics in 1889.[3][7]

As a wealthy widow she continued the tradition of philanthropic activity after her husband's death with large contributions to American archeology.[8] The Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition, which was the first major scientific archaeological expedition undertaken in the American southwest, was sponsored by Hemenway. Her ambition was to establish a private museum called the Pueblo Museum at Salem, Massachusetts based on the archaeological finds. The prehistoric Hohokam were discovered during the expedition.[9] The expedition was terminated in 1894 with the death of Hemenway.[1] She died in a diabetic coma at her home on Beacon Hill.[7] She is remembered on the Boston Women's Heritage Trail.[10]

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References
  1. "Hemenway Expedition Records 1886–1914: A Finding Aid". Peabody Museum Archihves, Harvard University. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  2. David L Browman; Stephen Williams (19 February 2002). New Perspectives on the Origins of Americanist Archaeology. University of Alabama Press. pp. 235–. ISBN 978-0-8173-1128-5. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  3. "Mary Porter Tileston Hemenway". Harvard Square Library. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  4. Browman, David L; Williams, Stephen (19 February 2002). New Perspectives on the Origins of Americanist Archaeology. University of Alabama Press. pp. 235–. ISBN 978-0-8173-1128-5. Retrieved 18 January 2013.
  5. Eustis, Frederic A. (1 January 1955). Augustus Hemenway, 1805–1876: builder of the United States trade with the west coast of South America. Peabody Museum. p. 80. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  6. Lawrence, Robert Means (1904). The descendants of Major Samuel Lawrence of Groton, Massachusetts: with some mention of allied families (Public domain ed.). Printed at the Riverside press. pp. 227–. Retrieved 18 January 2013.
  7. James, Edward T.; James, Janet Wilson; Boyer, Paul S.; Radcliffe College (1971). Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary. Harvard University Press. pp. 181–. ISBN 978-0-674-62734-5. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  8. Nathan Schlanger; Jarl Nordbladh (2008). Archives, Ancestors, Practices: Archaeology in the Light of Its History. Berghahn Books. pp. 37–. ISBN 978-1-84545-066-3. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  9. Nathan Schlanger; Jarl Nordbladh (2008). Archives, Ancestors, Practices: Archaeology in the Light of Its History. Berghahn Books. pp. 37, 38–. ISBN 978-1-84545-066-3. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  10. "Downtown". Boston Women's Heritage Trail.
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