Tag: 20th century

Early women in prehistoric archaeology: the case of Berlin, 1880s to 1930s (Part 2)

Posted on by Debbie

by Elsbeth Bösl & Doris Gutsmiedl-Schümann

The early 20th century and the Kiekebusch seminar at Märkisches Museum
At the turn of the 20th century, things began to change. Both amateurs and academic scholars began narrow their expertise to certain focus fields. Distinct disciplines evolved out of Altertumskunde and prehistoric archaeology was turned into an academic profession with distinct boundaries and institutions. University chairs and institutes were installed (Kühn 1976, Leube 2010, Wiwjorra 2006).

Heritage conservation was institutionalized outside of academia. Some of the amateur societies changed into academic bodies, others became irrelevant or specialised in the local preservation of archaeological monuments. At the same time, German nationalism became increasingly radical, and a specific German way of doing prehistoric archaeology, Deutsche Vorgeschichte, was branded by Gustav Kossinna and his followers. (Gramsch 2006) After the First World War, this process gained momentum and political attention to Deutsche Vorgeschichte increased, Germano-mania was on the rise (Leube 2010).

How did these changes impact women?

In the years before the turn of the century, private and public girls’ schools emerged in Berlin, allowing women to attain degrees for university entry, and by 1909, the University of Berlin admitted women as regular students. However, most of these women opted for fields such as medicine and the social sciences, not archaeology (Heinsohn 1996; Mazón 2003; Coastas 2010).

Few women studied prehistoric archaeology before 1930 in Berlin. Studying meant a heavy financial burden and personal insecurity. Most female students depended on their families and on the goodwill of the male professors and supervisors. There was also the question of paid employment after graduation. Where would female archaeologists find a job?

While a number of self-taught women volunteered in archaeology, only a handful of women were accepted into paid positions in the 1910s to 1920s. And very few of them actually had degrees in archaeology. Most of the women we discovered in the museums and at the university of Berlin worked as secretaries, librarians and technical assistants. They had no formal qualification in archaeology but had been qualified in office professions. They trained on the job — sorting finds and labelling them, keeping research diaries, creating card indexes, and catalogues, and mounting photos, as well as restoring, drawing, and editing (with further references Bösl / Gutsmiedl-Schümann 2024).

Such jobs were increasingly coded as suitable jobs for women – albeit under male supervision. These jobs were also regarded as subaltern. They were hardly visible but these women significantly contributed to everyday research, knowledge transfer and communication.
In Berlin, however, a rather unique path into archaeology connected 19th-century civil science with 20th-century academic archaeology: Berlin was renowned for its teacher training programs during the 1910s and 1920s, with prehistory being a prominent discipline. Melting nationalism, patriotism and local-ism into one, this approach aimed to familiarize school children with the prehistory of their home area, fostering a strong sense of attachment (Kiekebusch 1915).

Albert Kiekebusch (1870–1935), a prehistoric archaeologist and the director of the Märkisches Museum in Berlin, established semi-academic classes that provided practical training, including excavation techniques and conservation (Dorka 1955; Kiekebusch 1915). Members of the Kiekebusch Circle, as it was often called, contributed voluntarily to conservation and heritage management. Notably, around one-third of the participants were women, as teaching was deemed a suitable academic profession for women early on (ref Dorka 1955).

Lena Köppler (biographical data unknown) and Elisabeth Bellot (1881-1956)

Grainy black and white photograph of a white woman from the early 1900s.

Fig 6. Elisabeth Bellot, c. 1937. Source: LAB_Bellot Reichskammer Bildende Künste A Rep. 243-04;542.

Two of these women teachers were Lena Köppler and Elisabeth Bellot (Keil 2022; Bösl 2023c). Both continued their teaching careers while engaging in voluntary archaeological work. Elisabeth Bellot also pursued the career as an artist and wrote a book on childhood psychology. She focused on recording ground monuments and conducting surveys, emphasizing drawing as a critical tool for authentication and knowledge transmission. Despite emerging photography, drawing remained pivotal for conveying findings and insights.

Sepia photograph of a woman in a excavation hole looking at finds.

Fig. 7. Lena Köppler at the excavation of Pennigsberg, 1930. Source: I-MPM, 087 Pennigsberg 1930-L.Köppler

Lena Köppler served as a voluntary conservator for Neukölln in Berlin, overseeing recoveries, excavations, documentation, and visitor engagement. Two other female teachers from the Kiekebusch Circle transitioned to studying prehistoric archaeology in Berlin: Waldtraut Bohm and Gertrud Dorka.

Waldtraut Bohm (1890-1969)

Black and white photograph of a white woman in glasses with dark hair.

Fig. 8. Waldtraut Bohm, 1961. Photo from family property (rights holder WP-user History&more), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

One of them was Waldtraut Bohm (1890-1969), who graduated from the university of Berlin in 1930. Even before studying she had organized and negotiated the purchase of private collections of finds for the Märkisches Museum. Kiekebusch had great trust in her capabilities and treated her as an independent colleague (Koch 2024).

She graduated with a seminal study on early Bronze age Brandenburg (HU UA, Phil.Fak.01.Prom, Nr. 749; Bohm 1935). Afterwards she was employed to the Staatliches Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte to sort and arrange finds at the prehistoric department, followed by a systematic archaeological survey of the Westprignitz, a region in Brandenburg. The publication of her book Die Vorgeschichte des Kreises Westprignitz in 1937 marked a transition: Waldtraut Bohm was not following strict science anymore; instead she adopted a nationalistic and racist take on ‘Germanic’ prehistory. So, the book turned out a peculiar mix of a very modern type of catalogue with detailed documentation on the one hand and an ideologic, Germano-manic essay part on the other hand (Bohm 1937).

With the rise of the National Socialism political and ideological objectives were prioritized in prehistoric archaeology. Women who embraced Nazi ideology such as Waldtraut Bohm now found increased funding and job prospects, particularly during WWII. Prehistoric archaeology received ample funding after the Nazis seized power in 1933 now. New job opportunities opened up in conservation and heritage work as well as in popular prehistory and science communication, especially in Berlin. It was a political goal to advance public interest in Germanic prehistory to prepare a scientific rationale for conquest. Waldtraut Bohm who openly embraced Nazism received a job at the publication’s office of the NSDAP at Amt Rosenberg as a proofreader which actually meant she became a censor. She also co-edited popular prehistoric archaeology books and a handbook of German Prehistory (Handlexikon der Deutschen Vorgeschichte) – this was clearly ideological work. So were the public lectures she now gave frequently (Barthel / Atzenbeck 1938; Lindemann 2011).

Gertrud Dorka (1893-1976)

Sepia images of a woman crouched down on an excavation site.

Fig. 9. Gertrud Dorka at the excavation of Pennigsberg 1930. Source: I-MPM, 087 Pennigsberg 1930-G.Dorka

Gertrud Dorka took quite a different path. She was a member of the Kiekebusch Circle since 1916 and devoted teacher. She was particularly fond of and good at creating exhibitions and taking classes through them. She volunteered as a museum guide at Märkisches Museum and curated mobile exhibitions for schools in the 1920s. In 1930 she took up studying part time alongside her teaching job. It was very hard for her to bring up the money. She prepared a dissertation on the prehistory of the Pyritz (Pyrzyce, Poland), a district in East Prussia (Dorka 1939; Gutsmiedl-Schümann / Koch / Bösl 2023; Gandert 1957; Müller 1978; Hohmann 1963.)
However, Getrud Dorka faced massive conflicts with her Berlin professor, Hans Reinerth, a leading figure in Nazi Germany’s prehistorical research at the aforementioned Amt Rosenberg. Due to ideological disputes with Reinerth she initially failed to complete her PhD and returned to full-time teaching. With the help of friends from the Kiekebusch Circle, she later took her degree at the university of Kiel. Gertrud Dorka then turned down a museum job at Kiel because it would have come with the obligation to join the Nazi party. She did not expect to work as an archaeologist anymore.

hand drawn portrait of a white woman with wavy hair.

Fig. 10. Gertrud Dorka. Portrait drawn by Jens Notroff.

Yet, after World War II, Gertrud Dorka became the first female director of the Ehemals Staatliches Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte in Berlin (former State Museum for Prehistory and Early History). She rebuilt the destroyed museum and it’s library and reorganized the system of heritage management in the Western parts of the divided city (Hohmann 1963; Gandert 1957; Müller 1978). She had kept in touch with people from the Kiekebusch Circle, and now collaborated with former fellow members such as Lena Köppler and others. Gertrud Dorka was also the leading figure behind the re-launch of the BGAEU after 1945 (Dorka 1955). The role of the BGEAU, however, had changed and it never lived up to its 19th century importance. Gertrud Dorka also chose other venues for her activities which shows how things had changed for professional women. Even though the 1950s were a period of restoration and restrictive on working women there was an increasing number of options for those who wanted to engage with others and make their voices heard. Gertrud Dorka now engaged in the Berlin branch of Deutscher Akademikerinnen Bund e.V., the most important association of professional women in Germany that was re-established after 1945 and now bloomed.

Group photo of 10 people, 4 women sitting, 6 men standing at the back with a dog lying down at the front.

Fig 11. Gertrud Dorka with her staff in the 1950s. Source: MVF_Berlin_Dorka-Album_F5037

Conclusion

In conclusion, our analysis has centred on the significance of citizen science during the nascent phases of German prehistoric archaeology, particularly its influence on the roles of women. We have charted the trajectories of female archaeologists against the backdrop of socio-political and historical dynamics spanning the late 19th to the early 20th centuries. We advocate for conceptualizing the knowledge production process as a collaborative endeavour, acknowledging the diverse contributions of individuals undertaking various tasks and employing a range of tools.

Biography

Elsbeth Bösl is a research associate at the University of the Armed Forces in Munich. She holds a Ph.D. in Contemporary History and specializes in the History of Science and Technology, Disability History, and Gender History. She is currently working on early female archaeologists in the project “Akteurinnen archäologischer Forschung zwischen Geistes- und Naturwissenschaften: Im Feld, im Labor, am Schreibtisch (AktArcha)”, funded by the by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

Doris Gutsmiedl-Schümann is research associate at the University of the Armed Forces in Munich and Privatdozent at the Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology, Freie Universität Berlin. She holds a doctorate in prehistoric archaeology from the University of Bonn and a master’s degree in Higher Education from the University of Hamburg. She is also working in the “AktArcha”-project on early female archaeologists.

Bibliography

Barthel, Waldemar & Atzenbeck, Carl (1938), Handlexikon der deutschen Vorgeschichte. Durchgesehen und in wesentlichen Teilen nach neuesten Ergebnissen überarbeitet und ergänzt von Waldtraut Bohm, 2. erw. Aufl., Verlagsanstalt Wilhelm Kürzl, München.

Bohm, Waldtraut (1935), Die ältere Bronzezeit in der Mark Brandenburg, Berlin.

Bohm, Waldtraut (1937), Die Vorgeschichte des Kreises Westprignitz, Leipzig.

Bösl, Elsbeth (2023c), Frauen in der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte (BGAEU), AktArcha – Akteurinnen archäologischer Forschung und ihre Geschichte(n), 19.1.2023, URL: https://aktarcha.hypotheses.org/1229 [accessed 1 July 2024].

Bösl, Elsbeth & Gutsmiedl-Schümann, Doris (2024), ‘Breaking Ground: Women’s Roles in German Archaeology Since the Nineteenth Century’, Bulletin of the History of Archaeology, Vol 34 / Issue 1, URL: https://archaeologybulletin.org/articles/10.5334/bha-680

Costas, Ilse (2010), ‘Von der Gasthörerin zur voll immatrikulierten Studentin: Die Zulassung von Frauen in den deutschen Bundesstaaten 1900–1909’, Trude Maurer (ed.), Der Weg an die Universität: Höhere Frauenstudien vom Mittelalter bis zum 20. Jahrhundert, Göttingen, pp. 191–210.

Dorka, Gertrud (1939), Urgeschichte des Weizacker-Kreises Pyritz, Stettin.

Dorka, Gertrud (1955), ‘Gertrud Dorka: 40 Jahre siedlungsarchäologische Übungen und Studien in Berlin. Aus der Geschichte des ‘Seminars’, begründet von Albert Kiekebusch im Jahre 1915′, Berliner Blätter für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, 5/3-4: 73–80.

Gandert, Otto-Friedrich (1957) Otto-Friedrich Gandert: Gertrud Dorka zum 65. Geburtstag. Berliner Blätter für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, 6/2-3: 49–51.

Gramsch Alexander (2006), ‘Eine kurze Geschichte des Archäologischen Denkens in Deutschland, Leipziger online-Beiträge zur Ur- und Frühgeschichtlichen Archäologie’, Sabine Rieckhoff and Wolf-Rüdiger (eds.) Teegen 19 (2006), https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bsz:15-qucosa2-33995.

Gutsmiedl-Schümann, Doris & Koch, Julia Katharina & Bösl, Elsbeth (2023), Women’s Contributions to Archaeology in Germany Since the Nineteenth Century, Sandra L. López Varela (Hrsg.) (eds.) Women in Archaeology. Intersectionalities in Practice Worldwide, New York, pp. 283–307.

Heinsohn, Kirsten (1996), Der lange Weg zum Abitur, Elke Kleinau and Claudia Opitz (eds.) Geschichte der Frauen- und Mädchenbildung, 2: Vom Vormärz bis zur Gegenwart, Frankfurt a.M., pp. 149–161.

Hohmann, Karl (1963), ‘Gertrud Dorka zum 70. Geburtstag.’ Berliner Blätter für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, 10/1: 1-4.

Imeri, Sabine (2019), Wissenschaft in Netzwerken. Volkskundliche Arbeit in Berlin um 1900, Berlin.

Keil, Maria (2022), “Stirb und werde” – Biografische Notizen zu Elisabeth Bellot (1881–1956), AktArcha – Akteurinnen archäologischer Forschung und ihre Geschichte(n), 08.12.2022, URL: https://aktarcha.hypotheses.org/912 [accessed 1 July 2024].

Kiekebusch, Albert (1915), Die heimische Altertumskunde in der Schule. Ein Beitrag zur Um- und Ausgestaltung des heimatkundlichen Unterrichts, Berlin.

Koch, Julia (2024): Waldtraud Bohm (1890–1969), AktArcha – Akteurinnen archäologischer Forschung und ihre Geschichte(n), 22.02.2024, URL: https://aktarcha.hypotheses.org/4516.

Kühn, Herbert (1976), Geschichte der Vorgeschichtsforschung, Berlin.

Leube, Achim (2010), Prähistorie zwischen Kaiserreich und wiedervereinigtem Deutschland. 100 Jahre Ur- und Frühgeschichte an der Berliner Universität Unter den Linden, Bonn.

Lindemann, Arne (2011) ‘Der Prignitzer Boden gehört also zum uralten Heimatboden der Germanen“. Waldtraut Bohm und das Museum Perleberg’, Museumsblätter. Mitteilungen des Museumsverbandes Brandenburg 18: 40-41.

Mazón, Patrizia (2003), Gender and the Modern Research University: The Admission of Women to German Higher Education, 1865-1914, Stanford.

Müller, Adriaan von (1978), ‘Gertrud Dorka zum Gedenken’, Ausgrabungen in Berlin. Forschungen und Funde zur Ur- und Frühgeschichte Berlin 5: 175.

Waldtraut Bohm (1937), Die Vorgeschichte des Kreises Westprignitz, Leipzig.

Wiwjorra, Ingo (2006), Die politischen und geistesgeschichtlichen Voraussetzungen der ur- und frühgeschichtlichen Archäologie im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. Bemerkungen zu Forschungsstand und Forschungsperspektiven, in Jörg Haspel & Wilfried Menghin (eds) Miscellanea Archaeologica III. Berlin und Brandenburg. Geschichte der archäologischen Forschung, Petersberg, pp. 11-25.

This post is part of a series in which speakers of the session “(In)Visbile Women in History of Archaeology” of the Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists 2023 publish their presentations. The posts will be published simultaneously in German and English. The German version of this post can be found on the blog of the project AktArcha at https://aktarcha.hypotheses.org/6625.

Anna Apostolaki (1881-1958): a “visible” Greek female archaeologist

Posted on by Debbie

By Kleanthi Pateraki
Anna Apostolaki was a typical example of a “visible”, internationally recognized Greek female archaeologist (Fig. 1). She was born in Margarites, Rethymno, Crete in 1881. She was the eldest child of Emmanouil Apostolakis and Aikaterini Apostolaki (Florou 2017: 22-23). Due to the death of her father she had to take care of her younger siblings from an early age, but additional responsibilities did not stop her intellectual development, which was encouraged by her mother. After her circular studies, due to the turbulent political situation in the then Ottoman-occupied Crete, she moved with her family to Piraeus and then to Athens (Kokkinidou 2016: 13).

Black and white photo of a white woman with greying hair dressed in black with a white collar.

Fig. 1. Anna Apostolaki. Λεύκωμα της Εκατονταετηρίδος της Εν Αθήναις Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας 1837-1937 (Album of the Centennial of the Archaeological Society at Athens 1837-1937) (Athens 1937): 58.

Financial reasons must have led to her decision to follow the teaching profession, the only relatively decent professional outlet for the women of the time (Kokkinidou 2016: 13). She studied from 1891 to 1894 at the Εξωτερικό Διδασκαλείο της ΦιλεκπαιδευτικήςΕταιρείας (External Teaching School of the Society of the Friends of Education), a non-profit organization which created schools for young girls in Athens. She received scholarships as an orphan daughter from the Council of the specific Society and received the title of a teacher. She served as a home teacher for at least 25 consecutive years (Florou 2017: 24).

Education and Study

She enrolled in the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Athens in 1903 (Barkoula 2017, 55), while continuing to earn a living as a teacher. She was a student of very notable Greek professors of the time. Their influence, especially that of Nikolaos Politis, Panagiotis Kavvadias, and Christos Tsountas, played a key role in her subsequent brilliant course in the respective field of research and work (Barkoula 2017: 61).

Her network included influential people who played an important role in her career. She knew Iphigenia Syggrou, the widow of the Greek banker, politician and national benefactor Andreas Syggros and pioneer female figure of the Athenian society in the field of social welfare. Apostolaki settled in Syggrou’s mansion to accompany her after the death of her husband in 1899. The two women developed a spiritual relationship until the death of Syggrou in 1921. Thanks to Syggrou, Apostolaki was selected as a teacher of the children of wealthy Athenian families, including the children of Prince Andreas (Florou 2017: 24-25).

While she was studying in the University of Athens, Apostolaki started working at the Numismatic Museum of Athens as an unpaid assistant of its director and numismatist Ioannis Svoronos. He instilled in her the zeal for scientific research. Probably due to this acquaintance she participated in the First International Archaeological Congress held in Athens in 1905, published her first article in the Διεθνής Εφημερίς της Νομισματικής Αρχαιολογίας (Journal International d’Archéologie Numismatique) that Svoronos edited (Apostolaki 1906) and was admitted to the Archaeological Society at Athens in 1906 (Florou 2016; Kokkinidou 2016: 13). In 1909 Apostolaki became one of the first ten women to graduate from the University of Athens (with “excellent” qualification), characterized as a “female triumph” by Kalliroe Parren (Parren 1909: 623), one of the most prominent figures in Greek feminism.

Apostolaki was the first woman from Crete to earn a university degree at all and the first woman to join the Archaeological Society at Athens and the Greek Folklore Society (Ekonomou 2017: 115). Furthermore, she was a regular member of the Greek Christian Archaeological Society, the Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece, the Greek Society of Byzantine Studies and the Association of Friends of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens.

Women and Craft

She became interested in the art of fabric through her acquaintance with the handicraft workshop of disadvantaged women of the Σύλλογος των Κυριών υπέρ της γυναικείας παιδεύσεως (Association of Ladies for Women’s Education), whose president was Iphigenia Syggrou. Furthermore, she was associated with the Λύκειον των Ελληνίδων (Lyceum Club of Greek Women), whose founder was Kalliroe Parren. The purpose of the Lyceum was to promote Greek culture and preserve Greek customs. Apostolaki became member of its administrative board and curator of its philological department (Parren 1912: 2045-46). She actively participated in its handicraft exhibitions and festivities from 1924 onwards (Ioannidou-Barbarigou 1958: 661).

Apostolaki contributed regularly to the Εφημερίς των Κυριών (Newspaper of the Ladies), the most widely Greek feminist newspaper of the times and seems to have been a close collaborator of its director, Kalliroe Parren (Nikolaidou & Kokkinidou 1998: 235). In addition, during 1921‐1922 and 1924‐1927 Apostolaki was a member of the Εκπαιδευτικός Όμιλος (Educational Association), which was founded by progressive Greek writers, educators and politicians in Athens in 1910. The specific Association promoted the Δημοτική Γλώσσα (Demotic Greek), which was a colloquial vernacular form of Modern Greek (Kokkinidou 2016: 27 note 93). In 1976, by government order, it became the official language of the state, replacing the Καθαρεύουσα (Katharevusa Greek).

Managing Collections and Museums

Apostolaki was the first woman to direct a museum in Greece, specifically the National Museum of Decorative Arts of Athens – currently the Museum of Modern Greek Culture. This museum was her life’s work. The poet Georgios Drosinis, co-founder of the Museum and Director of the Department of Letters and Fine Arts of the Ministry of Education in 1914-1920 and 1922-1923, invited her in 1924 to help him arrange the original collection of the museum. This invitation was probably related to Apostolaki’s scientific interests and to Iphigenia Syggrou, who was the common link between Apostolaki and Drosinis (Kokkinidou 2017: 94 note 54).

Apostolaki was an unpaid assistant of Drosinis in 1924-1926, curator of the National Museum of Decorative Arts of Athens in 1926‐1935 and its director in 1935‐1954. She was the driving force of the museum. She had a solid scientific background, she was also a linguist and she loved her research (Hatzinikolaou 2017: 183). With a lot of zeal, effort, and money from her earnings, she tried to overcome difficult conditions at the museum, such as the lack of staff, operating costs, the lack of annual state subsidies after 1926 and the need to purchase relics (Florou 2017: 34-36).

Colour photograph of classical building next to an Ottoman mosque in Athens.

Fig 2. Side view of the former National Museum of Decorative Arts of Athens, later renamed the National Museum of Greek Folk Art. Photograph Debbie Challis, 2023.

Moreover, as its director, she promoted the National Museum of Decorative Arts of Athens with all the means at her disposal. From 1927 onwards she was in contact with the International Institute for Intellectual Collaboration of the League of Nations giving her the opportunity of completing a questionnaire regarding the museum’s collections. She believed in international collaborations and was actively involved in them. In 1953, as a member of a committee, with Manolis Hatzidakis and Dimitrios Loukatos, she undertook the study for the completion and improvement of the Greek display case in Musée de l’Homme in Paris.

Apostolaki was in contact with colleagues in Greece and abroad. She corresponded with Manolis Hatzidakis, S. Pelekanidis, A. Grabar, R. Pfister, Monneret de Villard, F. Volbach, among others. She maintained correspondence with various museums, such as the British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum (mainly in the 1940s), among others (Hatzinikolaou 2017: 191-192).
Her own research included the cleaning, maintenance, and exhibition of the Coptic fabrics of the 4th-7th c. BC, as well as their scientific classification and study. The fruit of her efforts was the catalogue Τα κοπτικά υφάσματα του εν ΑθήναιςΜουσείου Κοσμητικών Τεχνών (The Coptic fabrics of the National Museum of Decorative Arts of Athens), which was one of the first systematic catalogues of Coptic fabrics published internationally dealing with weaving and the only one at that time written in Greek (Hatzidakis 1960: 159). It holds a prominent place in the international literature (Kalamara 2017: 256).

Legacies in Folklore, Textiles and Beyond

Apostolaki carried out pioneering folklore research on-site for the study, and acquisition of folk-art objects with the aim of enriching the museum’s collections. Moreover, she gave expert advice on the establishment of new folk art museums in Greece (e.g. in Kefallonia) (Bounia 2017, 164). Due to her passionate activity in this field, she is considered today as one of the first Greek folklorists (Economou 2017: 118).

Apostolaki’s experience and expertise led the Benaki Museum in Athens to assign her the cataloguing of its rich collection of Coptic fabrics in 1933. Indicative of her collaboration with the specific museum is her correspondence with internationally recognized researchers of ancient or Byzantine fabrics, such as Rudolf Pfister, André Grabar, Fritz Volbach and Ugo Monneret de Villard (Kalamara 2017: 256-257).

On the eve of the Greek-Italian war in 1940, Apostolaki took care of the transfer of the exhibits of the National Museum of Decorative Arts to the National Archaeological Museum with patriotic devotion, with the support of the Greek archaeologists Semni Karouzou and Christos Karouzos (Florou 2017: 44).

Apostolaki was considered a model employee by the post-war leadership of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture. She also received substantial recognition from the international scientific community. The director of Dumbarton Oaks, Thomas Whittemore, invited her in 1948 to participate in an honorary collective volume for the distinguished Coptologist Walter Ewing Crum. She contributed to the volume with the essay Κατοπτριζομένη επί υφάσματος (Mirrored in Fabric), written in Greek; it was the only non-English text in the entire volume (Florou 2017: 45).
In 1954 Apostolaki retired. On December 30 of the same year, she was awarded a Silver Medal by the Academy of Athens for her contribution to the development of the National Museum of Decorative Arts. Anna Apostolaki died on 26 July 1958 in Athens. After her death, the Lyceum of Greek Women honored her memory through various events (Economou & Florou 2017).

Biography

Dr. Kleanthi Pateraki is a Greek classical archaeologist, currently working as a freelancer. She obtained her BA, MA and Ph.D. from the University of Crete, Greece. Her research interests include archaic and classical sculpture, the sculptures of the temple of Zeus in Olympia, the history of the discovery, excavation and research of the sanctuary of Olympia, the ancient Olympic Games and the ancient Olympic winners. She was a lecturer at the History Department, Ionian University and at the Department of Mediterranean Studies, University of the Aegean. She has written a monograph and twenty-one research articles, mostly in Greek scientific and non-scientific journals. She has also co-editored the Honorary Tome for Professor Nikolas Faraklas – Ubi Dubium Ibi Libertas (Rethymno 2009).

Bibliography

Apostolaki, Anna (1906), Οπλιτοδρόμος επί αττικού συμβόλου (An hoplitodromos runner on an attic token). Διεθνής Εφημερίς της Νομισματικής Αρχαιολογίας (Journal International d’Archéologie Numismatique) 9, 1906: 55‐60.

Barkoula, Chaido (2017), Η γυναικεία φοιτητική ταυτότητα στο Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών. Από την Ιωάννα Στεφανόπολι στην Άννα Αποστολάκι (The female student identity at the University of Athens. From Ioanna Stefanopoli to Anna Apostolaki). In: Andromachi Economou & Vasiliki Florou (eds.), Αντίδωρο στην Άννα Αποστολάκι. Η ζωή, το έργο και η συνεισφορά της (Countergift to Anna Apostolaki. Her life, work and contribution), Athens: 55-80.

Bounia, Alexadra (2017), Η Άννα Αποστολάκι και η ίδρυση λαογραφικών μουσείων στην ελληνική περιφέρεια (Anna Apostolaki and the establishment of folklore museums in the Greek region). In: Andromachi Economou & Vasiliki Florou (eds.), Αντίδωρο στην Άννα Αποστολάκι. Η ζωή, το έργο και η συνεισφορά της (Countergift to Anna Apostolaki. Her life, work and contribution): 151-174.

Economou, Andromachi (2017), Η θεωρητική και θεσμική συγκρότηση της ελληνικής λαογραφίας κατά το α΄ μισό του 20ού αιώνα. Το πλαίσιο δράσης της Άννας Αποστολάκι (The theoretical and institutional composition of Greek folklore during the first half of the twentieth-century. The framework of action of Anna Apostolaki). In: Andromachi Economou & Vasiliki Florou (eds.), Αντίδωρο στην Άννα Αποστολάκι. Η ζωή, το έργο και η συνεισφορά της (Countergift to Anna Apostolaki. Her life, work and contribution): 111-132.

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This post is part of a series in which speakers of the session “(In)Visbile Women in History of Archaeology” of the Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists 2023 publish their presentations. The posts will be published simultaneously in German and English. The German version of this post can be found on the blog of the project AktArcha at https://aktarcha.hypotheses.org/5502.