Edith Hall Dohan papers

Graduating with an A.B. from Smith College in 1899, Edith Hall began her Ph.D. studies at Bryn Mawr College and received the first doctoral degree in Archaeology given by that institution. At graduation, Hall was selected for the Mary E. Garrett European Fellowship at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens.

Hall spent two years in Athens studying the decorative elements of Mycenaean and Cretan pottery. There, in 1904, she met Harriet Boyd and was selected by her to work at Gournia. Her first field experience introduced Hall to Richard B. Seager who served as photographer for the Gournia expedition. She continued working in Crete at Sphoungaras in 1910 and, as Director of the expedition at Vrokastro in 1912.

Hall taught Archaeology at Mt. Holyoke College during seasons away from excavations. In 1912, she left teaching to pursue curatorial work at the University of Pennsylvania.

Hall married Joseph Dohan in 1916 and worked part-time while raising her children lecturing at Bryn Mawr in 1923. 1924 and 1930. She returned to work full-time in 1931 as associate curator of the Mediterranean section of the museum.

Hall served as a book editor for the American Journal of Archaeology and was a regular contributor to the Museum Journal. Her book, was published in 1942.

Edith Hall Dohan died suddenly while at work at the Museum in 1943.

Graduating with an A.B. from Smith College in 1899, Edith Hall began her Ph.D. studies at Bryn Mawr College and received the first doctoral degree in Archaeology given by that institution. At graduation, Hall was selected for the Mary E. Garrett European Fellowship at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens.

The Mary Hall Dohan papers consist of one and one half archival boxes of correspondence mostly with her family while she was studying and working in Europe. All of her letters have been transcribed by hand and are included in the grouping but in separate folders.

A folder of newsspaper clippings on her sudden death is present as are museum communications with her family after her death.

Publication Information: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives,

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Preferred Citation: [Item name]. Box [Box number]. Edith Hall Dohan papers. Penn Museum Archives. Accessed [Date accessed].

Personal Name(s)

• Dohan, Edith Hall

The standard size records (all documents, photographic prints, and drawings up to 11x17 inches) in this collection have been digitized and may be accessed via this finding aid. Each folder has been scanned as a multi-page PDF; the contents presented in the original order. The PDFs have been labeled with the collection number (PU-Mu. 1178), the box number, and the folder number (i.e. PUMu1178_01_01). Oversize plans and drawings, as well as photographic negatives, have not been scanned.

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