Henry Williamson Haynes (1831–1912) was an American archaeologist.

Biography

Henry Williamson Haynes was born in

Bangor, Maine Bangor ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Penobscot County. The city proper has a population of 31,753, making it the state's 3rd-largest settlement, behind Portland (68,408) and Lewiston (37,121). Modern Bangor ...

on September 20, 1831, the son of a prominent newspaper editor. He graduated from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1851, and, after a stint at teaching, studied law and practised it for several years. He was subsequently called to fill the chair of Latin in the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is amon ...

, and later he became professor of Greek in the same institution, but resigned in 1873 to devote his time to his real love, archaeology. Haynes sailed for Europe, where he spent six years in systematic study among the antiquities of various countries, also taking part in several international congresses. The winter of 1877-78 he spent in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

seeking evidence of the paleolithic age in that country. The results of his investigations were presented at the International Congress of Anthropological Sciences, held in Paris in 1878, where he was rewarded with a medal and a diploma, and his paper was afterward published in the ''Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences''. Returning to the United States Haynes settled in Boston, where he became a member of the school-board and a trustee of the

Boston Public Library The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse'') of the Commonweal ...

. He continued to devote most of his time to archaeology, however, collecting primarily in the American Southwest and Mexico, and contributing to scientific and literary journals. He became Vice President of the

Boston Society of Natural History The Boston Society of Natural History (1830–1948) in Boston, Massachusetts, was an organization dedicated to the study and promotion of natural history. It published a scholarly journal and established a museum. In its first few decades, the s ...

, and served on the executive committee of the

Archaeological Institute of America The Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) is North America's oldest society and largest organization devoted to the world of archaeology. AIA professionals have carried out archaeological fieldwork around the world and AIA has established re ...

. He was elected a member of the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...

in 1881. He married Helen Weld on August 1, 1867. She died on July 21, 1902. Haynes died at his home in Boston on February 16, 1912. Haynes' collections are now owned by the Peabody Museum and Classical Dept. of Harvard University, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Boston Society of Natural History.

References

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Henry Williamson Haynes Bio Page from University of Minnesota at Mankato
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haynes, Henry Williamson People from Bangor, Maine Harvard University alumni University of Vermont faculty American archaeologists 1831 births 1912 deaths Members of the American Antiquarian Society Trustees of the Boston Public Library