History of the St. Louis Society of AIA

History of the St. Louis Society of the AIA

1879 - Archaeological Institute of America is founded. Charles Eliot Norton serves as the first president for 11 years.

1906 - U.S. Congress issues a charter to the Archaeological Institute of America. The St. Louis Society of the Archaeological Institute of America is founded on February 8, 1906.

William H. Bixby is elected first president of the St. Louis Society with 125 members. Vice Presidents are Dr. John Green (physician), Prof. Halsey Cooley Ives (Washington University school of Art), Prof. John Pickard (Univ. of Missouri dept. of Classics), and Mr. David Ives Bushnell (local archaeologist). Secretary was Prof. F. W. Shipley (Washington University dept. of Classics) and treasurer was Mr. John Max Wulfing.

Professor Francis W. Kelsey (University of Michigan) lectures at the St. Louis Society's inaugural meeting. His subject is The Destruction of Pompeii and St. Pierre Compared was given to an audience of 250 members and guests in the parlor of the Buckingham Hotel, located at Kingshighway and West Pine across from Forest Park.
Buckingham Hotel

1907 - The St. Louis Society provides funding to support two seasons of survey and excavation at prehistoric mounds along the Missouri River and its tributaries by Gerard Fowke (Smithsonian Institution).

1912 - Results of Fowke's research in Missouri are published by the Bureau of American Ethnology under the title Antiquities of Central and Southern Missouri.

1910 - Edgar L. Hewett lectures in October on the Art of Copan and Quirigua to the St. Louis Society. Three years of funding for fieldwork was provided by the St. Louis Society.

1912 - Sylvanus Morley is scheduled to discuss his excavations at Quirigua (Guatemala) on May 25th. He arrives in St. Louis, but a reoccurrence of jungle fever prevents him from lecturing. His paper is read by an assistant, Earl Morris.

1912 - The St. Louis Society maintains a permanent exhibit of Maya and Aztec material in Gallery 12 of the Museum of Fine Arts.

1912 - Dr. Edith Hall (University of Pennsylvania) addresses the St. Louis Society on the topic of Excavations in Crete. She is the first woman archaeologist to address the St. Louis Society of the AIA.

1916 - St. Louis hosts the annual meetings of the AIA and the American Philological Association on December 27th. In addition to committees for general arragements, local AIA members organize a numismatic exhibition, a rug exhibition, an exhibition of Americana, and a series of smokers for the male delegates to be held at varios clubs around town. Committees to plan convention sessions and activities for the ladies are also named. The exhibits are shown at the City Art Museum.

1918 - St. Louis society wires lecturer Clarence Moore to cancel his lecture because the city is under an official influenza quarantine. Arthur Stanley Riggs, scheduled to lecture on December 12th is rescheduled for April 10th.

1919 - The St. Louis Society files a formal protest against the sale of Cahokia Mound and the potential for utilization of the site for commercial purposes. This document is sent to the governor of Illinois and to the local press.

1921 - The St. Louis Society sends money to the Egyptian Exploration Fund to support excavations at the site of El Amarna.

1922 - The St. Louis Society purchases the Oxyrynchus Papyri through the efforts of St. Louisian A. Blair Ridington from Professor W. A. Flinders Petrie.

1927 - Professor William Foxwell Alright (Johns Hopkins University) lectures to the St. Louis Society. His topic was "Present Day Archaeological work in Palestine."

1928 - George E. Mylonas lectues to the St. Louis Society on topic of Crete in the Dawn of History.

1933 - Professor Mylonas joins the faculty of Washington University and becomes a pillar of the St. Louis Society.

1935 - Nelson Glueck (Rabbi and pioneer in the archaeology of ancient Israel) is the guest speaker at the society's annual meeting. Rabbi Glueck's lecture is entitled "Explorations in Bible Lands."

1935 - Betty Greenfield Grossman joins the St. Louis Art Museum staff. She will be a pillar in the St. Louis Society for 60 years.
Betty Grossman (left) at Mycenae.

1947 - Betty Greenfield Grossman hosts a television program for KSD where she discusses art and archaeology. The program is broadcast for 8 years.

1948 - St. Louis Society hosts the national meetings of the AIA and the American Philological Association

1952 Professor George E. Mylonas (Washington University in St. Louisa) begins the archaeological investigations in Greece. He serves as director of excavations at Eleusis until 1957 when he became director of excavations at Mycenae. He presents numerous field reports to the St. Louis Society on his work at Eleusis and Mycenae. Several members visit him at Mycenae and help raise the money necessary to continue the excavation.

1953 An annual joint meeting of the St. Louis Society and the St. Louis Engineers Club takes place in October.

1957 to 1960 Professor George E. Mylonas is elected to a three year term as president of the national AIA.

1965 Professor Mylonas gives a members-only program to discuss the Washington University collection of Greek vases. His commentary touches on technique, artistic value, and interpretation of the subject matter.

1967 Professor Mylonas offers a members-only program where the Wulfing coin collection at Washington University is discussed and examined. AIA members are encouraged to bring magnifying glasses to the sesion.

1976 Professor Saul S. Weinberg (University of Missouri at Columbia" lectures on the " Archaeology in Israel, Tel Anafa." The cost of a pre-lecture dinner at the Art Museum is $4.25.

1980 Professor W. Harold Mare (Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis) begins the archaeological investigations at Abila of the Decapolis in Jordan. He reports annually on his discoveries to the St. Louis Society. Dr. Mare served as AIA Society President 1978 -1979.
Dr. Mare examining an oil lamp from Abila.

1983 Professor Saranatis Symeonoglou (Washington University in St. Louis) begins the archaeological investigations at Mt. Aetos on the island of Ithaka, Greece. He reports on his discoveries to the St. Louis Society.
Dr. Symeonoglou served as AIA Society President in 1992.

1986 St. Louis Society celebrates its 80th anniversary year. Betty Grossman compiles a short history of the local group.

1987 Michael and Neathery Fuller (St. Louis Community College) begin the archaeological investigations Tell Tuneinir in Syria. They report annually on their discoveries to the St. Louis Society. Michael Fuller served as AIA Society President 1987-1988. Neathery Batsell Fuller was AIA Society President 1997 -1998 and served on the AIA National Board 1997-2001. She served on the Gold Medal committee, the Near Eastern Committee, the Newsletter Committee and Chaired the Education Committee.
Neathery, Michael and Amira Fuller at Tell Tuneinir.

1988 Judy Brilliant creates the Junior Archaeology Program of the St. Louis Society that is jointly sponsored with the St. Louis School Partnership program and the St. Louis Art Museum. The award winning program paired city and county shools in a multi-session immersion into archaeology and all its ramifications - history, art, science, ethnics, excavation, measurement, and critical thinking.

1988 Professor Mylonas dies in Athens. Members of the St. Louis Society mourn his death.

1988 St. Louis Society of AIA and Washington University inaugurate the annual George E. Mylonas Memorial Lecture on October 16th. Spyros Iakovidis from the University of Pennsylvania lectures on George E. Mylonas: Uncovering Ancient Mycenae.

1992 - Judy Brilliant receives the Joukowsky Distinguished Service Award from the national AIA.

1997 St. Louis Society of AIA goes on-line with its webpage created by Neathery Fuller and Michael Fuller.

1997 The Junior Archaeology Partnership St. Louis AIA, Art Museum and School Partnership receive the United Technologies Corporation Exemplary Program Award. The prestigious honor is presented at the national symposium of the National Association of Partners in Education.

1999 Chip Clatto organizes the excavation of an underground railroad site in downtown St. Louis. He uses a combined crew of students from the Gateway Academy of volunteers from the St. Louis Society of the AIA.

1999 Professor Patty Jo Watson (Washington University in St. Louis) is awarded the AIA's Gold Medal Award. This award is made annually in recognition to a scholar who has made distinguished contributions to archaeology through his or her fieldwork, publications, and/or teaching. Her fieldwork includes work with Neolithic sites in the Middle East, pueblo sites in the Southwest, Shell Middens along the Green River, and Archaic artifacts deep inside of Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.

2000 St. Louis Society celebrates its 90th anniversary with a two day symposium organized by Professor Ann Dempsey (St. Louis Community College). The symposium topic was At Home in the Ancient World; the program is hosted by the St. Louis Art Museum and Concordia Seminary.

2002 Professor Michael Fuller is chosen to be the Kershaw Lecturer for the AIA and becomes a regular on the national lecture circuit.

2003 A day long symposium on the topic of the Archaeology of Crusader Sites and Medieval Culture was held in the student center of St. Louis Community College - Florissant Valley. The program was organized by Professor Michael Fuller.

2006 - A day long symposium on the topic of "Elite Burials" was held in the South County campus of St. Louis Community college.

2007 Symposium: 100th Anniversary Symposium of the St. Louis Society of the AIA was held at the St. Louis Art Museum

2009 - Michael and Neathery Fuller receive the Joukowsky Distinguished Service Award from the national AIA.

2011 - International Archaeology Day celebrated at Mastodon State Park in Kimmswick, MO

2012 - International Archaeology Day celebrated at Cahokia Mounds World Heritage Site in Collinsville, Illinois

2013 - International Archaeology Day celebrated at 700 N. First Street in the old French city of St. Louis

2014 - International Archaeology Day celebrated at Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site in St. Louis

PAST PRESIDENTS

Past Presidents of the St. Louis Society include businessmen and women, professors, chancellors, painters, engineers, and physicians.

1906 W. K. Bixby
1908 Dr. John Green
1910 Robert S. Brookings
1911 Henry Whelpley
1914 Prof. Frederick W. Shipley
1915 Arthur Bostwick
1918 Dr. Frederick A. Hall
1928 J. M. Wulfing
1929 Dr. George A. Throop
1945 Dr. Erich Brockelmann
1947 Prof. Eugene Tavenner
1949 Prof. George E. Mylonas
1951 William Bryan
1953 Dr. Paul Titterington
1956 Prof. William Arndt
1957 Prof. William Korfmacher
1959 Prof. Phillip DeLacy
1961 Dr. Betty Grossman
1963 Wilfred V. MacDonald
1965 Wallace Herndon Smith
1966 Thomas Wagner
1968 Prof. Chauncey Finch
1970 Prof. Edgar Krentz
1972 Mary Critzas
1974 Prof. David Belmont
1976 Wilfred V. MacDonald
1978 Prof. Harold Mare
1980 G. Kenneth Robins
1982 Prof. Carl Graesser
1983 Prof. George S. Robbert
1985 Judith Feinberg Brillant
1987 Prof. Michael Fuller
1991 Dr. Harold Stigers
1992 Prof. Sarantis Symeonoglou
1993 Prof. George S. Robbert
1995 Prof. K. Ann Dempsey
1997 Neathery Batsell Fuller
1999 Judith Feinberg Brillant
2001 Prof. Michael J. Fuller
2005 Lawrence Perlmutter
2007 Hon. Gerry Cohen
2009 Linda Bickel
2011 Randy Wimmer
2013 Prof. John Kelly
2014 Prof. Emeritus Michael Fuller