Thompson, Margaret E., 1911-1992

Margaret Thompson was born in 1911 in Trenton, New Jersey and received her bachelor of arts from Radcliffe College in 1931. After completing her degree, Thompson initially taught junior high school English for five years. In the late 1930's, she was hired as a secretary for T. Leslie Shear, the director of excavations at the Athenian Agora. Shear quickly realized her potential as a scholar and soon after she arrived in Athens she was assigned to clean, sort, and attribute the numismatic finds from the site.

Thompson worked for two terms on the excavations in Athens, from 1937 to 1940 and again from 1947 to 1949. During this same period, Thompson published a number of short articles related to the finds from the excavation. These articles came to the attention of Sydney P. Noe, ANS Chief Curator (1947-54), and, in 1949, Noe offered Thompson the position of Assistant Curator of Greek Coins at the Society.

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