Bober, Phyllis Pray

Born in Portland, Maine in 1920, Bober received her B.A. from Wellesley College in 1941 with a major of her own creation: Art History with a concentration in Archaeology and a minor in Greek. She completed her graduate work at the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University. She received her M.A. in 1943 and her PhD. in 1946. In 1946 she went abroad with her husband Henry Bober where she conducted independent research, including the beginning of one of her life's projects: the Census of Classical Works of Art Known to the Renaissance. She held a number of teaching appointments at Wellesley College, the school of architecture at MIT, and NYU where she created the Department of Fine Arts at NYU's University College.

In 1973 she accepted the position of Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Bryn Mawr College which she held until 1980. she also held the position of professor at Bryn Mawr and became a professor emerita upon her retirement in 1991.

Bober had a life long interest in culinary history and developed a number of undergraduate courses, graduate seminars, lectures, and articles, not to mention her "historical banquets" presented at many institutions, including Bryn Mawr College. In 1999 the University of Chicago published her book: Art, Culture, and Cuisine: Ancient and Medieval Gastronony. At the time of her death she was at work on a sequel.

From the guide to the Phyllis Pray Bober papers, 1940-2002, (Bryn Mawr College)