Mary Shepherd Slusser
Mary Shepherd Slusser was an American archaeologist known for her work in Nepal, where she lived and worked alongside local professionals including Sanskritists and historians. By focusing on teamwork and collaboration, Slusser was able to approach her studies from a multi- disciplinary perspective. She and her colleagues uncovered information about the art, architecture, language, epigraphy, and cultural history of the Newal community in the Kathmandu Valley. Slusser also made great strides in uncovering the chronology of Nepalese artworks, which in turn allowed her to better define the geographical boundaries of ancient towns and cities in the Kathmandu Valley.
Life and career
Mary Shepherd Slusser was born in Ontario, Canada in 1918 to George Percy and Ethel Mary Shepherd. In the year following her birth, her family moved to Michigan, United States, and before Mary Slusser was 17 years old, she became a naturalized citizen of the U.S. Slusser attended the University of Michigan alongside her sister, Dorothy Shepherd. Mary Shepherd Slusser met her future husband while attending the University of Michigan. In 1942, she graduated with a bachelor's degree and moved to New York City, following her sister Dorothy, who was enrolled in a graduate program at New York University's Institute of Fine Arts. In 1944, she married Robert Slusser and took his name. In 1950, Mary Shepherd Slusser graduated with her PhD in anthropology from Columbia University. The title of her dissertation was "Preliminary archeological studies of Northern Central Chile" and she completed some of her coursework at both NYU and Harvard University.After the completion of her PhD in 1950, Slusser worked for the U.S. State Department as a research analyst. Her work with the state department, from 1951- 1958, focused mainly on Latin America and Southeast Asia. During this time, her husband was working for the U.S. State Department as well, specifically as an economist with USAID. Eventually, Robert Slusser's work took him overseas, and Mary Shepherd Slusser would accompany him in his travels. In 1954, the two began their travels in Vietnam. Over the course of their work, they lived in Vietnam, Yugoslavia, Guinea, Nepal, and Tunisia. During this time, Slusser was employed by the Department of State as a field anthropologist, and she received funding and permission from the Smithsonian to begin collecting Nepalese artifacts. Slusser spent five years in Nepal while under contract with the Smithsonian to write a guide to Nepal. During this time, she made an ethnographic collection sourced from the Kathmandu Valley for the National Museum of Natural History.
Mary Shepherd Slusser continued to work in museums until retirement. This work included a three- year stint from 1975-1978 as curatorial assistant at the Museum of African Art, where she had previously and briefly worked in 1971, and a post- doctoral fellowship at the Greer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in 1989. While working on her fellowship, Slusser was invited back to Kathmandu to supervise the creation of the Patan Museum, a museum devoted to the art of Nepal. Upon completion of her fellowship, Slusser was asked to stay with the museum. She maintained her position as an unpaid research associate for the remainder of her career.
Throughout her career, Mary Shepherd Slusser made many contributions to the understanding of Nepalese culture, history, language, and art. She has multiple published works which reflect her career including a two- volume set of text and images, mainly her own photographs from her time in Nepal, titled Nepal Mandala: A Cultural Study of Kathmandu Valley and a book, which she co- authored with Paul Jett, on Nepalese art titled The Antiquity of Nepalese Wood Carving: a Reassessment. Articles published by her alongside her co-authors include, "Metamorphosis: Sheet Metal to Sacred Image in Nepal", "The Nepalese Caitya: 1500 Years of Buddhist Votive Architecture in the Kathmandu Valley", "The Devimahatmya Paintings Preserved at the National Archives", "The Purandi Hoard: Metalwork from Eleventh-Century Nepal", "Water Conduits in the Kathmandu Valley".