Harriet Boyd-Hawes

Harriet Boyd-Hawes (October 11, 1871–March 31, 1945) was a pioneering American archaeologist, nurse and relief worker. She is best known as the first director of an archaeological excavation to discover and excavate a Minoan settlement and palace site on the Aegean island of Crete.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States of America, Harriet Boyd-Hawes attended the Prospect Hill School in Greenfield and then graduated from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1892 with a degree in Classics. After working as a teacher for four years, she followed her passion for Greece and its ancient culture, starting graduate work at the American School of Classical Studies in the Greek capital Athens. During her stay in Greece she also served as a volunteer nurse in Thessaly during the Greco-Turkish War. She asked her professors to be allowed to participate in the school's archaeological fieldwork, but instead she was being encouraged to become an academic librarian. Frustrated by lack of support, she took the remainder of her fellowship and went on her own in search of archeological remains on the island of Crete. This was a courageous decision, as Crete was only just emerging from the war and was far from safe. Hawes soon became well known for her expertise in the field of archaeology. For four months in the spring of 1900, she led an excavation at Kavousi during which she discovered houses and tombs from the Geometric Period (900 BC). Later the same year, Boyd-Hawes returned to the United States.

Hawes accepted a position at Smith College teaching Greek Archaeology in late 1900 and subsequently received her M.A. from Smith in 1901. She taught at Smith until 1905, interspersing her time there with frequent trips abroad for archaeological excursions. During one trip to Crete, she met Charles Henry Hawes, an English anthropologist and archaeologist who later became the associate-director of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. They were married on March 3, 1906 and nine months later their son, Alexander Boyd Hawes was born. A daughter, Mary Nesbit Hawes followed in August of 1910. By this time Charles was teaching at Dartmouth College and the family was living in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Between 1901 and 1904, while on leave of absence from Smith, Harriet Boyd-Hawes returned to Crete where she discovered and excavated the Minoan town at Gournia. Boyd-Hawes was the first woman to direct a major field project in Greece, her crew consisting of over 100 workers. In 1902, she described her discovery during a national lecture tour and was the first woman to speak before the Archaeological Institute of America. The report of her findings was published in 1908 by the American Exploration Society. She excavated many more Bronze and Iron Age settlements in the Aegean and became a recognized authority on the area. In 1910, Smith College bestowed on her an honorary degree.

In 1915, Hawes went to Corfu with supplies for soldiers in the Serbian Army wounded in World War I. In 1916, she helped the wounded in France and a year later she founded and was the first director of the Smith College Relief Unit in France. She held this title for three years during which time she worked as a nurse's aide at the YMCA. After her return home, she continued her support for the war effort by giving fund-raising lectures on behalf of the Smith College Relief Unit. Between 1920 and her retirement in 1936, she lectured at Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts on pre-Christian art. Despite her commitment to her family, Hawes always remained active in both humanities and her field of archaeology.

In 1920, the Hawes' moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts and Harriet joined the faculty at Wellesley College lecturing on Ancient Art. When Charles retired in 1936, the couple moved to Washington D.C. where Harriet remained after her husband died. She died on March 31, 1945.

In 1992, her daughter, Mary Allsebrook, published Born to Rebel: the Life of Harriet Boyd Hawes. The book was edited by Annie Allsebrook, Harriet Boyd Hawes' granddaughter.