Zelia Nuttall
Zelia Nuttall Mary Magdalene ( born September 6, 1857 in San Francisco, † April 12, 1933 in Coyoacán, Mexico) was an American archaeologist and anthropologist and as such pre-Columbian Mesoamerican manuscripts specialist and pre- Aztec culture in Mexico.
Nuttall's parents came from Ireland and Mexico. She herself grew up in various European countries and studied at Bedford College in London. 1876 she returned with her parents back to their native town of San Francisco. In 1880 she married the French anthropologist Alphonse Pinart ( 1852-1911 ), with whom she had a daughter. The couple separated in 1884 and divorced in 1888.
After separating from her husband Nuttall lived in Dresden ( 1886-1898 ) and in Mexico. She first worked for the Mexican National Museum and later for the Peabody Museum of Harvard University in the area of Mexican pre-Columbian archeology.
In 1902 she settled permanently in Coyoacán in Mexico City, where she acquired the Finca Quinta Rosalía, whose residence was built at the turn of the 17th and 18th century by a merchant named Alvarado. They renamed it Casa de Alvarado, because they ( mistakenly ) assumed according to local tradition, the builder was not traders but the conquistador Pedro de Alvarado was.
You still made numerous trips to archaeological sites and in search of ancient Mexican manuscripts, especially in private libraries of European nobility. She was able to detect a significant Mixtec manuscript, which was now in the library of Lord Zouche of Haryngworth ( en. ). The Peabody Museum published this manuscript, which is today known as the Codex Nuttall or Codex Zouche - Nuttall known and is in the British Library, as a facsimile edition with an introduction Nuttall in 1902. Moreover Nuttall published numerous monographs on their area of expertise, are today considered "classics".