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Record

CodePX201
Dates1931-13 Dec 2020
Person NamePowers; Rosemary (1931-13 Dec 2020); Anthropologist
SurnamePowers
ForenamesRosemary
EpithetAnthropologist
ActivityMuseum Staff. Rosemary Powers joined this museum (then the British Museum (Natural History) ) in [1953] as an Assistant Scientific Officer specifically for the Sub-Dept of Anthropology which was then located in the Dept of Geology (which became the Dept of Palaeontology in 1960).
Appointed as a Temporary Assistant in the Department of Zoology in 1955; Appointed as an Assistant in the Department of Zoology 30 Oct 1957; Appointed as an Assistant Experimental Officer in the Department of Palaeontology 1 Apr 1959; Appointed as an Experimental Officer 1 Jul 1964.
Her duties were principally curatorial and advisory in relation to the four anthropology collections: human remains; hominin originals and reconstructions; fossil primates; Palaeolithic and artefacts.
She also assisted other Anthropology staff here: Kenneth Oakley (from 1953) ; Don Brothwell (from 1961) ; Theya Molleson (from 1964) ; Chris Stringer (from 1975); Peter Andrews (from 1975).
She was promoted twice, becoming in time a Higher Scientific Officer. She retired in 1991.

Rosemary's obituary, written by Dr Heather Bonney for Pangaea remembers her as follows:

'As a young girl, Rosemary wanted to become a book illustrator and grew up to be a skilled artist who contributed to publications with Museum colleagues, including illustrations for 'Digging up Bones' by Don Brothwell, which appeared on core reading lists for students of human osteology for several decades. Rosemary published numerous papers and wrote many unpublished osteological reports. She also completed the first inventory of the St Bride's skeletal collection, with extraordinary ink drawings on the pages for each skeleton.
In the mid-1960s she started a complete inventory of Palaeolithic art, which took her over 10 years of painstaking and dedicated work. She re-created many of these artworks in physical form, to help her understand how they had originally been crafted. The resulting Human Form in Palaeolithic Art (1994) was an important contribution to the field.

As well as her professional accomplishments,colleagues recall gathering around her sketchbook after she returned from holidays, her wicked sense of humour that made many
blush, and the beautifully embroidered pram-coverlets she would send to new babies of friends.
Catalogue
RefNoTitle
DF/PH/2/5/5/33Staff Group Photograph: Dr P Andrews, Miss R Powers, Dr C B Stringer, R Kruszynski & Miss T I Molleson (Palaeoanthropology)
DF/PAL/140/4/9Powers, Rosemary: painting of Neanderthal, Java, Peking and other prehistoric human types dressed in modern clothes in a railway carriage, prepared for K P Oakley
DF/PH/2/5/5/32Staff Group Photograph: Dr P Andrews, Dr R G Harvey, Miss R Powers, Dr D Tills, Dr C B Stringer, A Warlow, Mrs J M Lord, R Kruszynski & Miss T I Molleson (Sub-Department of Anthropology)
DF/PAL/109/41'Digging up bones' by D R Brothwell: artwork by R Powers
DF/PH/2/5/1/3Staff Group Photograph: Palaeontology Department Staff
DF/PAL/109/13'The Neolithic Revolution' by S Cole: artwork (some by R Powers) letters and memoranda
DF/PH/2/5/1/5Staff Group Photograph: Palaeontology Department Staff
DF/PAL/140Anthropology Sub-Department Staff Correspondence and Papers
DF/PAL/141Anthropology Sub-Department: Subject Files
DF/PAL/141/141/9Human osteology reports volume 9: Site visits and finds, UK, Venezuela and The Alps
DF/PAL/140/11Powers, Rosemary: Correspondence and Papers
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