Hemenway, Mary

Mary Hemenway was a New York native who married Augustus Hemenway of Boston and Salem (1805-1876). She worked as a significant sponsor of preservation and education projects in Boston, Salem and beyond. She is credited with saving the Old South Meeting House in Boston, almost single-handedly.

In Salem, Mrs. Mary Hemenway owned all of Forest River Park and introduced a museum on the property, called the Hemenway Museum. The focus of this museum was specimens of Native American pottery, stonework and artwork from the Southwest, brought back from the archaeological explorations of New Mexico and Arizona she sponsored. She partnered with Frank Hamilton Cushing of the National Museum in Washington, D.C. to study the Zunis between 1879-1886. It was known as the Hemenway Expedition.

Her husband, Augustus Holyoke Hemenway, was a mariner and ship owner, famous for opening U.S. trade with Chile. He willed Mary his fortune before he died in 1876, making her one of the wealthiest woman in Boston.

See Also

• Vertical File in the Salem Collection - Hemenway Family

• "Salem's Mary Hemenway and the Zunis" Salem Gazette, June 25, 2010, p. 4

• Mary Hemenway website