Born: 29 March 1903, United States
Died: 11 September 1994
Country most active: United States
Also known as: NA
The following is republished from the National Park Service. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Bertha Dutton was an archeologist and ethnologist whose research focused on Mesoamerica and the southwestern United States. She participated in a field school at Chaco Canyon as a student, then led expeditions of Girl Scouts on digs in the southwest. Her long career at the Museum of New Mexico resulted in an expansion of the exhibit halls and public education programs. Bertha also served on the National Park Service Advisory Board. A warm, fun-loving person, Bertha’s enthusiasm for archeology inspired her friends and students alike.
Between 1929 and 1931, Bertha studied history and philosophy at the Lincoln (Nebraska) School of Commerce and the University of Nebraska. Although taking business courses, a professor suggested that, given her actual interests in history and philosophy, she study archeology at the University of New Mexico. She enrolled in 1932. Bertha joined Edgar J. Hewett’s field school at Chaco Canyon, where her work at Leyit Kin became the basis of her master’s thesis. Bertha earned her master’s degree from the University of New Mexico in 1937. She received a PhD in 1952 from Columbia University, where her dissertation focused on the Toltec city of Tula. Her original project became the book Sun Father’s Way: The Kiva Murals of Kuana (1963), a study of the murals at the Kuaua site in Coronado State Monument. In addition, New Mexico State University bestowed an honorary doctor of laws degree in 1973.
Bertha was an administrative assistant at the Museum of New Mexico until 1939. She then became the curator of ethnology (1939-1959), instructor of television and adult education classes (1947-1957), curator of interpretive exhibits (1959-1962), and head of the Division of Research until she retired in 1965. She remained a research associate at the museum until the end of her life. In retirement, Bertha taught for a year at St. Michael’s College, then accepted the appointment as director of the Museum of Navajo Ceremonial Art (1966-1975). From 1973 to 1975, she served as the only female member of the National Park Service Advisory Committee. Throughout her career, she maintained close relationships with local Native American tribes and conducted many ethnographical studies.
Bertha’s greatest project was the Girl Scout Archeological Mobile Camp. From 1947 to 1957, in partnership with the Girl Scouts of America, Bertha led senior Scouts from across the country on a two-week camping tour of archeological sites in the Southwest. Their route covered hundreds of miles and changed slightly every year, including places like the Kuaua ruins at the Coronado State Monument, Chetro Ketl and Pueblo Bonito at Chaco Canyon, Wupatki National Monument, a Navajo summer camp, among other sites. The girls also toured museums and attended lectures given by National Park Service staff, visiting scholars, and “Bert” herself on ancient lifestyles and artifacts. Though the girls did not excavate in the early years of the camp, they toured so many archeological sites and got so covered with desert road dust that they took to calling themselves “Dutton’s Dirty Diggers.” Bertha bowed to the girls’ pleading to let them excavate, first in 1951 at Pueblo Large in the Galisteo Basin then for five more years.
Bertha received many honors for her archeological and ethnographic work. The Girl Scouts awarded her the “Thanks Badge” in 1957. The U.S. Department of the Interior presented her with a Certificate of Appreciation in 1967. In 1968, Lady Bird Johnson invited Bertha for a luncheon at the White House for “Women Doers.” 1985, she received the Society for the American Archeology 50th Anniversary Award for Outstanding Contributions to American Archeology. She was featured in the Arizona State Museum exhibit “Daughters of the Desert: Women Anthropologists and the Native American Southwest, 1880-1980.” From her scholarly work, dedication to public education and mentorship to girls, Bertha is remembered as a enormous force in American archeology.