Esther Boise Van Deman

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Esther Boise Van Deman
Rome, Italy
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Michigan
Known forRoman archaeology
Scientific career
FieldsArchaeology
Thesis "The Cult of Vesta Publica and the Vestal Virgins"  (1898)

Esther Boise Van Deman (October 1, 1862 – 3 May 1937) was a leading

archaeologist
of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She developed techniques that allowed her to estimate the building dates of ancient buildings in Rome.

Life

Esther Boise Van Deman was born in South Salem, Ohio, to Joseph Van Deman and his second wife, Martha Millspaugh. She was the youngest of six children, including two boys by her father's first marriage.[1]

Education and career

The Atrium Vestae, 1909

Van Deman entered the

PhD in Latin there in 1898; her thesis again focused on the Vestal Virgins. She then taught Latin at Mount Holyoke College from 1898 to 1901[2][3]

In 1901 Van Deman travelled to Rome, assisted by her mentor Kelsey, to gather further material on the Vestal Virgins. The

Carnegie Institution fellowship, which allowed her to study with the American School of Classical Studies in Rome
for three years. She was the third woman to have been awarded this fellowship.

From 1910 to 1925 she was an associate of the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C. Between 1925 and 1930 she taught Roman archaeology at the University of Michigan.

Esther Boise Van Deman's 1903 photo of the Columns of the Temple of Mars

Her life's work centered around the analysis of building materials to establish a chronology of construction on ancient sites. In 1907, while attending a lecture in the

Protestant Cemetery in Rome, near the Porta Ostiense. At the time of her death, Van Deman was at work on a monograph-length study of Roman construction. Her work was completed and published by Marion Elizabeth Blake (1882–1961).[8]

Van Deman's nephew, Ralph Van Deman Magoffin (1874–1942), published a study of the Italian city of Praeneste.[9] His interest in archaeology may have been sparked by his aunt.[10]

See also

Works

  • "The Value of Vestal Statues as Originals", American Journal of Archaeology 12.3 (July-Sept. 1908) 324-342
  • The Atrium Vestae 1909
  • The So-Called Flavian Rostra 1909
  • "Methods of Determining the Date of Roman Concrete Monuments", American Journal of Archaeology. April–June 1912
  • The Porticus of Gaius and Lucius 1913
  • "The Sullan Forum", Journal of Roman Studies 1922
  • The Sacra Via of Nero 1925
  • The Building of the Roman Aqueducts 1934

Notes, citations and sources

Notes

Citations

  1. ^ "Van Deman, Esther Boise" Notable American Women, Vol. 3, 4th ed., The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1975
  2. ^ Welch 2004, p. 70.
  3. ^ Pedley, The Life and Work of Francis Willey Kelsey, 76.
  4. ^ Esther Boise Van Deman (1909). The Atrium Vestæ. Carnegie Institution.
  5. ^ Esther Boise van Deman. 1912. "Methods of Determining the Date of Roman Concrete Monuments (Second Paper)" American Journal of Archaeology 16.3:387-432. Article DOI:10.2307/497195
  6. ^ "A View of One's Own: Three Eras of Women Photograph Rome". Humble Arts Foundation. 16 November 2017. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
  7. ISBN 978-0-8434-0151-6
    .
  8. ^ Marion Elizabeth Blake (1949). Ancient Roman construction in Italy from the prehistoric period to Augustus: a chronological study based in part upon the material accumulated by Esther Boise Van Deman. Carnegie Institution.
  9. ^ Ralph Van Deman Magoffin (1908). A Study of the Topography and Municipal History of Praeneste, by Ralph Van Deman Magoffin... New Era printing Company.
  10. ^ Welch 2004, pp. 69–70.

Sources

Welch, Katherine (2004). "Esther Boise Van Deman (1862-1937)". In Cohen, Getzel M.; Joukowsky, Martha Sharp (eds.). Breaking Ground: Pioneering Women Archaeologists. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. pp. 68–108.

ISBN 0472113720
.

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Esther_Boise_Van_Deman&oldid=1217487464"