Mary Lindsay Elmendolf

Mary Lindsay Elmendorf (1917–2017) was an American applied anthropologist, recognized mainly for her work with the Mayan women of Mexico and her application of anthropology in consultation with technology. Her early work involved rural south and the slums of Boston and New Haven as well as in the Putney School in Vermont and Mexico.

She attended St. Pauls High School in 1933 and was a valedictorian. and earned her B.A. Psychology (1937) and her M.A. equivalent in Public Administration and Social Work (1941) at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Books and other publications

Nine Mayan Women: A Village Face Change (1976) Appropriate Technology for Water Supply and Sanitation: Sociocultural Aspects of Water Supply and Excreta Disposal (1980) Water and Sanitation- Related Health Constraints on Women's Contributions to the Economic Development of Communities (1982) Public and Private Roles of Women in Water Supply and Sanitation Programs (1981) Priorities, challenges, and strategies: a feminine perspective (1996) Women Cross-Culturally: Change and Challenge (2011) From Southern Belle to Global Rebel: Memoirs of Anthropologist and Activist Mary Lindsay Elmendorf (2012)

Nine Mayan Women Elmendorf's best-known work, Nine Mayan Women, illustrates her case studies in the village of Chan Kom of Mayan women in the Yucatán Peninsula. The book studies nine women who are spoken about in chapter two. She covered background information on Chan Kom as well as the study itself. And influences other scholar's work like John G. Frazier (and others) in their book, Rights, resources, culture, and conservation in the land of the Maya.

Awards List of some awards received (all from the same source): 1975 - 1997 The World Bank - (as a Consulting Anthropologist) 1977 - 1979 Fellow Research Institute for the Study of Man (RISM) 1982 - 1997 United Nations Development Program, Division of Global and Interregional Projects 1982 - 1991 World Health Organization (WHO) 1980 - 1985 Water and Sanitation for Health Project (WASH), US Agency for International Development 1980 - 1982 Institute for Rural Water 1993 UNPFA Seminar "Women, Population and Environment" 1993 Participated in InterACTION Forum 1991 Facilitator, Global Assembly of Women and the Environment 1984 International Environmental Services (IES) 1980 Appropriate Designs for Basic Needs (ADBN) - ( Founder and Director and Independent Consultant) 1980 Program for the Introduction and Adaptation of Contraceptive Technology (PIACT) of Mexico - (Consultant) 1972 - 1990 U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) 1960 - 1982 the Peace Corps, and the Overseas Education Fund of the League of Women Voters - (Consultant) 1963 - 1967 the Overseas Education Fund of the League of Women Voters - (Consultant) 1985 - 1995 International Development Research Centre, (IDRC) 1984 - 1986 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN