No Place for a Lady

The Life Story of Archaeologist Marjorie F. Lambert

By Shelby Tisdale

The University of Arizona Press

In the first half of the twentieth century, the canyons and mesas of the Southwest beckoned and the burgeoning field of archaeology thrived. Among those who heeded the call, Marjorie Ferguson Lambert became one of only a handful of women who left their imprint on the study of southwestern archaeology and anthropology.

In this delightful biography, we gain insight into a time when there were few women establishing full-time careers in anthropology, archaeology, or museums. Shelby Tisdale successfully combines Lambert’s voice from extensive interviews with her own to take us on a thought-provoking journey into how Lambert created a successful and satisfying professional career and personal life in a place she loved (the American Southwest) while doing what she loved.

Through Lambert’s life story we gain new insight into the intricacies and politics involved in the development of archaeology and museums in New Mexico and the greater Southwest. We also learn about the obstacles that young women had to maneuver around in the early years of the development of southwestern archaeology as a profession. Tisdale brings into focus one of the long-neglected voices of women in the intellectual history of anthropology and archaeology and highlights how gender roles played out in the past in determining the career paths of young women. She also highlights what has changed and what has not in the twenty-first century.

Women’s voices have long been absent throughout history, and Marjorie Lambert’s story adds to the growing literature on feminist archaeology.

Reviews
Author

Tisdale’s biography of Marjorie Ferguson Lambert is of significance as it not only focuses on the career of an important southwestern archaeologist, ethnohistorian, and museum professional, but it documents her struggle during an era when women had to fight to find their place in what was a man’s world. Tisdale successfully combines Lambert’s voice from extensive interviews with her own to take us on a delightful and thought-provoking journey into how Lambert created a successful and satisfying profession and personal life in a place she loved (the American Southwest) doing what [she] loved.’—Catherine S. Fowler, author of Dutton’s Dirty Diggers: Bertha P. Dutton and the Senior Girl Scout Archaeological Camps in the American Southwest, 1947–1957

‘Marjorie Lambert spent a lifetime working as an archaeologist and museologist in Santa Fe, collaborating with Indigenous, Hispanic, and American peoples to learn about their histories, societies, and cultures. Devoted to her multifaceted community and region, Lambert’s career serves as a model for how women have had to create their own career paths in the face of unacknowledged bias, and as a result were professionally innovative and lived fascinating lives.’—Nancy J. Parezo, co-author of A Marriage Out West: Theresa and Frank Russell’s Explorations in Arizona, 1900–1903

‘Tisdale’s biography of Marjorie Lambert is a joy to read; it is a thorough history of her life and the mid-century development of Southwestern archaeology as told through the perspective of a pioneering female archaeologist.’—Michelle M. Ensey, Kiva Journal of Southwestern Anthropology and History

Shelby Tisdale, retired director of the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College, is an award-winning author who has published more than forty book chapters, articles, and books on Southwest Native American art and women.

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