Elizabeth Blegen

Elizabeth Pierce Blegen
Elizabeth Pierce Blegen 1930s
Born	June 26, 1888 Allegheny, Pennsylvania
Died	Sept 21,1966 Athens, Greece
Residence	Athens, Greece
Nationality	United States
Fields	Archaeologist
Alma mater	Vassar College Columbia University
Known for	Blegen Distinguished Visiting Research Professorship in Classics at Vassar College
Spouse	Carl Blegen

Elizabeth (Libbie) Denny Pierce Blegen (June 26, 1888—September 21, 1966) was an American archeologist, educator and writer who contributed the quarterly report, "Newsletter from Athens" for the American Journal of Archeology' from 1925 to 1952.

Elizabeth (Libbie) Denny Pierce was born June 26, 1888 in Allegheny, Pennsylvania to Flora McKnight and William Lemmex Pierce. She attended Vassar College from 1906 to 1910, and in 1912 she obtained an MA in Latin.

In her first year at Vassar, Blegen met Ida Hill who was to have a profound influence on her life and work. Hill was a Professor in the Department of Greek and Roman Studies. The two women formed an intimate student/mentor relationship that developed into an intimate personal relationship which continued after Blegen left for graduate work at Columbia University. When Blegen returned to Vassar to teach art history in 1915, the two friends started living in adjacent rooms in Davidson house on campus.

From 1915 until 1922, Blegen taught Art History at Vassar. She was granted her PhD from Columbia in 1922. Her dissertation as well as her Master's thesis was on the intellectual life of Gaius Asinius Pollio, a Roman Consul (40 BC) and historian. She also was an assistant curator at Vassar's Art Gallery for that seven year period. She travelled to Greece with her friend Ida Hill in 1921. Her time in Greece inspired her to enroll in the American School of Classical Studies (ASCSA).

Blegen attended ASCSA from 1922 to 1923 where she became friends with the school's director, Bert Hodge Hill and archeologist Carl Blegen. Carl Blegen taught prehistory and general topography classes at the school. Elizabeth and Carl Blegen's friendship quickly turned into romance and Carl Blegen proposed marriage. Elizabeth Blegen returned to the United States and spent the spring of 1924 working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Conflicted over ending her relationship with Hill, Carl Blegen and Elizabeth formed a plan in collaboration with Carl Blegen’s friend and fellow archeologist, Bert Hodge Hill that would allow the four friends to live together. The idea was for Elizabeth and Carl Blegen to marry and Hill to propose to Ida Hill The two couples married in 1924.