Evansville professor who had her work stolen finally gets credit from Library of Congress
EVANSVILLE – A groundbreaking University of Evansville archaeologist who had a colleague plagiarize her work will finally get the recognition she deserves.
After 90 years of being denied credit, Mary Ellingson's name now appears on "Excavations at Olynthus," a series of studies on life for everyday residents in ancient Greece that's long been housed in the Library of Congress.
According to a Monday morning news release from UE, the library has now credited Ellingson with the work, which the university called a "triumph for those seeking justice for a woman written out of history."
As a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University in 1931, Ellingson helped lead excavations at the rubbled city alongside her advisor, David Moore Robinson. She oversaw as many as 60 workers, helping further the study of unearthed terracotta figurines: tiny statues carved by Greek citizens.
She used the work for her master thesis and went on to write a dissertation that "redefined the interpretation of ancient Greek figurines," the release states.
But it would take decades for her to receive credit. According to revelations in the 2014 book "Archaeology, Sexism, and Scandal: The Long-Suppressed Story of One Woman's Discoveries and the Man Who Stole Credit for Them," by UE archaeology professor Alan Kaiser, Robinson stole Ellingson's work and slapped his name on it.
The theft wasn't discovered until Kaiser found Ellingson's diaries and photo albums and was able to piece the story together.
Kaiser called it one of the worst acts of plagiarism in the history of archaeology.
"Recognizing (Ellingson's) long-suppressed contributions to the Excavations at Olynthus series is a significant step toward justice in the academic world," he's quoted as saying in the release. "Her groundbreaking work has finally received the acknowledgment it deserves."
Ellingson often spoke about her work, giving multiple lectures in Evansville in the 1930s and '40s. During World War II, she also helped stitch together "remodeled garments" and ship them off to United Kingdom residents living through bombings, Courier & Press archives state.
She went on to become a UE professor, teaching from 1963 to 1974. She died in an Evansville nursing home in 1993 at the age of 85.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Evansville professor will finally get credit for work after 90 years
