Caroline L. Ransom

Early life and education Caroline Louise Ransom was born on February 24, 1872, to John and Ella Randolph Ransom, wealthy Methodists in Toledo, Ohio. Ransom attended Lake Erie College and Mount Holyoke College, where she earned a B.A. in 1896, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. and was a strong influence on Caroline Louise. She went to Germany, where she studied at the University of Berlin from 1900 to 1903 with Adolf Erman.

Career From 1905 to 1910, Ransom was an assistant professor of Archaeology and Art at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, eventually becoming chair of her department. In 1909, Ransom became the first female (corresponding) member of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut (German Archaeological Institute), founded in 1898. She also participated in the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft (DOG, German Oriental Society). Such affiliations connected Ransom to an international community of current scholars and reinforced her position as an active member of the academic world. In 1909–1910 she was a vice-president of the Pennsylvania chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America.

In 1910 she became assistant curator in the recently established Department of Egyptian Art of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA) in New York under the direction of First Curator Albert M. Lythgoe. From 1910 to 1916, she worked with the artifacts in the collections, co-authoring the Handbook of the Egyptian Collection of the Museum (1911).

Between 1913 and 1916, the Tomb of Perneb was moved from Egypt and reconstructed at the Metropolitan Museum. While Lythgoe and others were in the field during the winter, Ransom supervised the American side of the work. This included administration and planning for the reception and installation of the pieces of the tomb, and for the exhibit's opening. Reconstructing the tomb took three years. It opened to the public in 1916. The opening was accompanied by the publication of an 80-page booklet, The Tomb of Perneb, co-written by Lythgoe and Ransom.

In 1916 Ransom married Grant Williams, a real estate developer in Toledo, Ohio, and returned there to live. Although they did not have children, family obligations to her husband and aging mother limited Ransom's ability to take on major professional commitments. She continued to work with the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Historical Society (NYHS) by commuting from Toledo, Ohio, to New York several times a year. and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. In 1918, she catalogued the Egyptian holdings of the Detroit Museum of Art

Erect-eared hound from Cyprus; 300–400 B.C. Metropolitan Museum of Art

She repeatedly refused offers that would have required relocating to Chicago, New York, or Egypt. In a number of cases, most notably that of the Edwin Smith Medical Papyrus, she directed potentially prestigious work to others. In the Oriental Institute's report, Breasted expressed his "profound appreciation that Dr. Williams worked an entire season at Medinet Habu out of pure interest in the project and with almost no remuneration." Ransom Williams worked on the Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu.

In 1927/28 she was the first lecturer in Egyptian Art and Archaeology at the University of Michigan. In 1929, Ransom Williams became president of the Mid-West Branch of the American Oriental Society. She was the first woman officer of the AOS.

In 1932, she published The Decoration of the Tomb of Perneb. The Technique and the Color Conventions. The book was a study of the Tomb of Perneb, which had been moved from Egypt and reconstructed at the Metropolitan Museum between 1913 and 1916.

Around 1935, Ransom Williams worked with the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA) to catalog their Drexel Collection. She returned to Egypt in 1935–36, to work with the Coffin Texts at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. In 1937 she received an honorary degree from the University of Toledo.

Grant Williams died December 24, 1942, following a long illness. Caroline Ransom Williams died on February 1, 1952, after a short illness.

Publications

Studies in ancient furniture: Couches and beds of the Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1905 Handbook to the Egyptian Rooms. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1911 The Stele of Mentu-weser. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1913 The Tomb of Perneb. Co-written with Albert M. Lythgoe. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1916 The New York Historical Society Catalogue of Egyptian Antiquities, Numbers 1–160. Gold and silver jewellery and related objects. New York: New York Historical Society, 1924 The Decoration of the Tomb of Per-neb. The Technique and the Color Conventions. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1932