Zelia Nuttall

Zelia Nuttall.

Zelia Maria Magdalena Nuttall (born September 6, 1857 in San Francisco , † April 12, 1933 in Coyoacán , Mexico ) was an American archaeologist and anthropologist and as such a specialist in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican manuscripts and pre- Aztec cultures in Mexico.

Nuttall's parents were from Ireland and Mexico. She herself grew up in various European countries and studied at Bedford College in London . In 1876 she returned to her native San Francisco with her parents. 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 (from 1886 to 1898) and in Mexico. She worked first for the Mexican National Museum and later for the Peabody Museum at Harvard University in the field of Mexican pre-Columbian archeology.

In 1902 she finally settled in Coyoacán near Mexico City, where she acquired the Finca Quinta Rosalía , the house of which was built at the turn of the 17th to the 18th century by a trader named Alvarado. She renamed it Casa de Alvarado because, according to local tradition, she (erroneously) assumed that the builder was not a trader but the Conquistador Pedro de Alvarado .

She also made numerous trips to archaeological sites and in search of old Mexican manuscripts, especially in the private libraries of European nobles. She succeeded in tracing an important Mixtec manuscript which was now in the library of Lord Zouche of Haryngworth . The Peabody Museum published this manuscript, now known as Codex Nuttall or Codex Zouche-Nuttall and located in the British Library , as a facsimile edition with an introduction by Nuttall in 1902. Nuttall also published numerous monographs on her subject, which are now considered "classics".

Remarks

1. ↑ The Casa de Alvarado remained in private ownership after Nuttall's death, but housed various public facilities until it was acquired by the Mexican city council in 1985 for 193.26 million Pesos . In 1997 it became the property of the Mexican federal government as a historical national monument. Since 2004 it has housed the National Phonotheque of Mexico. See Instituto de Administración y Avalúos de Bienes Nacionales, Reseña de Casa de Alvarado ( Memento of the original dated August 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed July 19, 2008 (Spanish) 

literature

• Alfred M. Tozzer, Zelia Nuttall , American Anthropologist Vol. 35 (1933), pp. 475-482 (obituary).
• Introduction to the Zelia M. Nuttall Papers, 1896-1912 , in the Peabody Museum, Harvard University
• Online facsimile edition of the Codex-Nuttall , introduction and menu navigation in English