Nora E. Scott

Nora Elizabeth Scott was born in Prestwick, Scotland in 1905.[1] The family moved to Kingston, Ontario, Canada, a few years later when her father, Ernest F. Scott, took up a post as professor at Queen's College.[1] In 1919, the family moved to New York, where Ernest Scott became a professor at Union Theological Seminary.[1] Scott got her undergraduate degree in classics from Barnard College.[1][2] She continued her education at Oxford University in 1927, studying Egyptology with Francis Llewellyn Griffith and Aylward M. Blackman, leaving with a second B.A. followed by an M.A.[2]

Scott began archaeological field work with the Egypt Exploration Society at Armant (1929–30), following which she took a job with the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Department of Egyptian Art.[2] Initially her activities at the Met were focused on archival work with expedition photographs. She later expanded into organizing exhibitions and contributed over a dozen articles to the Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[1][2] She also took part in a 1933 Danish expedition at Hama in Syria.[2] By 1968, she had risen to be the curator and head of department of Egyptian art at the Met and was the editor of several museum monographs.[2] Her main areas of curatorial interest were daily life and decorative arts.[1] She worked at the Met for over 40 years, retiring in 1972.[1][2]

Scott also taught as an adjunct professor at Columbia University.[2] She served at different times as secretary and president of the New York Society of the Archaeological Institute of America.[1]

After retiring, she moved to Pennsylvania, where she died in 1994.[1][2]

• The Home Life of the Ancient Egyptians (1945)
• Egyptian Statuettes (1953)