A tribute to Mary Beaudry
A wonderful tribute to Mary Beaudry by one of her students, Boston City Archaeologist, Joe Bagley. Joe posted this on the Facebook page of the City of Boston Archaeology Program.
“Dr. Mary Beaudry has passed away. We heard the shocking news, yesterday, but despite multiple attempts, were unable to find the right words to express our feelings.
Our audience on this page is predominantly non-archaeologists, but we have many professionals who follow us, too. Archaeologists are foremost storytellers. If archaeologists who knew Mary would like to share a story about her in the comment section for those who did not know her, that would be great.
For those of you who did not know Mary, imagine a highly visible leader in your field of work who has opened doors for many, is deeply respected, and has played a significant role in the life and career of many professionals. That was Mary Beaudry.
Historical archaeology has suffered a great loss.
As a long-term Professor of Archaeology at Boston University, she played a significant role as an advisor and mentor to generations of historical archaeologists, including the two most-recent Boston City Archaeologists.
In 1983, Mary conducted one of the first historical archaeological digs in downtown Boston leading a team of BU archaeologists and students excavating at the Wilkinson Backlot site in the Blackstone Block off Scott Alley. These excavations documented one of first intact privies excavated by archaeologists in Boston, and set the stage for historical archaeology conducted across a broad swath of Boston as part of the Big Dig.
Throughout her career, Mary published on a wide variety of topics from gender theory, documentary research, and the fundamentals of artifact analysis, but always took care to fully represent the humanity of the past and the people we study in archaeology. These publications have served as foundational documents establishing terminology, methods, and broad background information upon which many have built entire careers.
Mary’s field work spanned multiple site types and countries. Locally, she led excavations at the industrial housing at the Boott Mills in Lowell, Spencer-Pierce-Little Farm in Newbury, Wakefield Trust in Milton, and the back yard of 71 Joy Street on Beacon Hill.
Mary will be remembered for her wit, her dry sense of humor, her love of food and drink, her ability to captivate an audience, and for her support of others. Mary blazed a path for women in archaeology and brought many others with her.
Speaking personally, as an undergraduate at BU, Mary treated the undergraduates with the same dignity and friendliness as her department colleagues and her graduate students. When I left BU to pursue graduate school, early archaeology jobs, and ultimately the City Archaeologist position, Mary was always there to encourage, support, and guide me— but I was far from unique in this.
In 2013, Mary rightfully received the highest honor in historical archaeology: the J. C. Harrington Medal from the Society for Historical Archaeology. The publication that celebrated this award is linked to, below, and does a far better job than this post can at explaining her significant contributions to archaeology and her character as a person. It is well worth the read in remembrance or Mary, as are Mary’s publications listed at the end.
Dr. Mary Beaudry is and will be remembered and deeply missed.”
You can also read a biography of Mary written upon her awarding of the J.C. Harringon Medal in Historical Archaeology in 2013, an honor bestowed by the Society for Historical Archaeology.