Mary Tileston Hemenway


Mary Porter Tileston Hemenway was an American philanthropist. She sponsored the Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition to the American southwest, and opened the first kitchen in a public school in the US.

Early years

She was born in New York City, the daughter of Thomas Tileston, one of the wealthiest merchant/mariners of New York City, and Mary Tileson. In 1840, she married Edward Augustus Holyoke Hemenway in 1840, a Boston merchant. Following their wedding, they moved to a Boston home at the corner of Tremont and Beacon streets. By 1845, they moved to Winthrop Square. In 1853, they moved to a home on the corner of Mt. Vernon and Walnut Streets, on Beacon Hill. Their daughters were Charlotte Augusta Hemenway, Alice,, Edith, and Amy Hemenway who was married to Louis Cabot. Their son, Augustus Jr., married Harriet Lawrence.

Career

Her philanthropic career began 1865 after her daughter's death. Her interests included strengthening education in the South, improving homemaking skills amongst girls, as well as promoting knowledge of the American past. She was a member of James Freeman Clarke's Church of the Disciples. In 1876 she contributed to saving the Old South Meeting House from destruction by donating $100,000. She sponsored summer vacation schools, founding the Boston Normal School of Cookery in 1887, promoting a conference on physical training, and establishing the Boston Normal School of Gymnastics in 1889.
As a wealthy widow she continued the tradition of philanthropic activity after her husband's death with large contributions to American archeology. The Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition, which was the first major scientific archaeological expedition undertaken in the American southwest, was sponsored by Hemenway. Her ambition was to establish a private museum called the Pueblo Museum at Salem, Massachusetts based on the archaeological finds. The prehistoric Hohokam were discovered during the expedition. The expedition was terminated in 1894 with the death of Hemenway. She died in a diabetic coma at her home on Beacon Hill. She is remembered on the Boston Women's Heritage Trail.