Margaret McKelvy Bird | |
---|---|
Born | August 25, 1909 |
Died | December 28, 1996 | (aged 87)
Alma mater | Bryn Mawr College |
Occupation | Archaeologist |
Spouse | Junius Bird |
Children | 3 |
Margaret (Peggy) McKelvy Bird [1] (25 August 1909 – 28 December 1996) [2] was an American socialite and archaeologist who, with her husband and partner Junius Bird, undertook significant international expeditions. [2] [1] She volunteered at the American Museum of Natural History for over 60 years, where she catalogued and managed the collections they had gathered. [2]
Margaret McKelvy was born in New York, the daughter of Florence Gloninger Orth and Robert McKelvy, vice president of the Tidewater Oil Company (founded by his father). [3] She attended Brearley School, followed by St. Timothy's School, and Bryn Mawr College, graduating in 1931. [3]
McKelvy met archaeologist Junius Bird in 1931, and the pair married in 1934. [2] They went on to have three sons: Robert McKelvy, Harry Bouton, and Thomas Lee. [4] [5] Upon their marriage, the couple travelled to Hopedale, Labrador, where Junius Bird was undertaking archaeological work. [3] [6]
Following their time in Labrador, the Birds travelled to Southern Chile. [7] Writing to the Bryn Mawr Alumnae Bulletin in 1935, Margaret's mother reported:
My daughter, Margaret McKelvy Bird, is in Southern Chile with her husband, Junius Bird, both being sent to do archaeological work by the American Museum of Natural History — to be away two years. They left on the 9th of November. They have their own sailing boat on which an engine has been installed, which they bought at a port south of Valparaiso. They are cruising among the islands in the inland waters — expecting to reach Magellanes very soon, — their objective being to discover remnants of the earliest civilization in that part of South America. [8]
This was the beginning of a lifelong partnership in archaeological work, during which Margaret went from observer and supporter to active planner and participant. [2] Gordon Willey wrote in a biographical sketch of Junius Bird that Margaret "proved herself a formidable ally right from the start, flourishing under the conditions of a 1,300-mile trip in a nineteen-foot sailboat as well as journeying across the flats of far southern South America in a wind-driven Ford car." [1] Additionally, she kept detailed field journals on the couple's expeditions, her "witty, charming, and personable" writings conveying "the more human aspects of [Junius] Bird’s research while reinterpreting his theoretical ideas." [1]
With Junius Bird, Margaret worked on excavations in Argentina, Patagonia, Peru, and Chile, including at Canadon Leon, Cueva Fell and Pali-Aike. [1]
Junius Bird died in 1982 at the age of 74. [4] Margaret McKelvy Bird died on 28 December 1996, and was buried with her husband in Greenwood Union Cemetery, Westchester County, New York.
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