Mary Winearls Porter

Mary “Polly” Winearls Porter was born in King's Lynn, Norfolk in 1886. Born to Robert Porter, an international journalist for the Times, and Alice Porter, Mary enjoyed the typical childhood for a young girl at that time.

During her teen years, her family had moved to Rome for her father's work and required a long stay in the city due to her mother becoming ill. While in Rome Porter began to collect Roman artifacts and developed her interest into ancient Roman architecture and society.[1][2] Porter became increasingly interested in the works of Giacomo Boni and other archaeologists in Rome.[3] However, upon finding out that only few archeologists could give her accurate information to help identify different kinds of marbles she decided to tackle this issue. The guides used by archeologists at that time differed in knowledge and Porter saw the need to create a book that would become an ultimate guide to the stones of Rome. Fuelled by her ambition and enthusiasm of youth Porter began to seriously study marbles. Teaching herself, Porter developed a rudimentary understanding of the basic of geology and continued to research the various Roman architecture and stones until her family moved back to England. Her brothers were impressed with her potential and suggested to their parents that she should be given a formal education; they refused.[2]

After returning to England Porter became fascinated by the Corsi collection of antique marbles in the Oxford Museum. Here she meets Henry Miers a Professor of Mineralogy at the University, who was impressed by her frequent visits and passion and tasked her with translating the Corsi Collection from Italian to English.[1]

Following her retirement, Porter continued to be active within Somerville, often participating in the college's fundraisers and events.[4]

Mary's father, Robert Porter, found that education was unnecessary for woman. Therefore, she received a basic education; including reading and writing at home, but she never obtained a formal education during her childhood. Even so, she went against the societal demands and continued her studies to become an influential crystallographer.[1]

In 1918, eleven years after Porter published her first book, she earned her Bachelor of Science from the University of Oxford. Her success was only made when her mentor, Henry Miers, tutored her personally and urged Porter to go to university.[1]

Porter's career first began at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, where she translated various pieces of the Corsi Collection from Italian to English. She translated it, reclassified the entire collection and prepared a complete catalogue. As she began to study Corsi Collection at the Oxford University she started to work on her own book, obtaining material first-hand while studying the collections during her visits in Rome, Naples, Brussels, Edinburgh and London.

With correspondence to William Brindley, co-director of Farmer & Brindley, an ancient stone collector and contractor, and her access to the ancient stone catalog at the museum, Porter was able to publish her first book, What Rome was Built With: A Description of the Stones Employed in Ancient Times for its Building and Decoration in 1907.[1] On the cover of the book is engraved the prominent Augustan phrase, “I found it of brick, but left it of marble” which uniquely suits the contents of Porter's well-written volume.The analysis of the plethora of stone and marble discovered from European and Asiatic countries includes the discussion of marble that were also used in the construction of the Imperial Rome.[5] Porter's book is concluded with two-indexes containing more than 115 entries and a list of works of reference. As a result of the success of her book What Rome was Built With: A Description of the Stones Employed in Ancient Times for its Building and Decoration and labor at Oxford University Porter began to receive offers from other museums abroad to classify and catalogue their collections of minerals and marbles.

Following this success, Porter was personally tutored by Miers, who wanted her to go to university for a formal education.[4] It was only in 1918, 11 years after publishing her first book, that Porter would earn her Bachelor of Science from the University of Oxford. During the summer of 1913, Porter returned to the US to work with pioneering geologist Florence Bascom at Bryn Mawr College. She returned to the UK to take up a scholarship at Somerville College, Oxford and finally in 1932 was awarded a Doctor of Science degree. She went on to be an influential crystallographer, working with Dorothy Hodgkin and co-editing with R. C. Spiller the Barker Index of Crystals.[6] A year later, Porter was appointed to the Mary Carlisle Fellowship at Somerville College.

Porter continued her research in crystallography well throughout her life, until the year 1959. During these years, Porter was a member of the Somerville College Council from 1937 to 1947 and became an honorary research fellow in the following year of 1948.[4] She was also a council member for the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain from 1918 to 1921, 1929 to 1932 and a fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America from 1921 to 1927.[4]

When her mentor, Miers, took leave, Porter attended a number of academic institutions, but began her most major work with fellow geologist Florence Bascom. It was here that Porter began training as a crystallographer and was soon put into contact with Victor Goldschmidt, at the University of Heidelberg. Soon after Porter would begin working with Dorothy Hodgkin.

Porter was at the forefront of emerging crystallography technologies, quickly embracing and contributing to the new era of X-ray crystallography. She was involved in publishing a number of research articles concerning X-Ray crystallography in journals such as Mineralogical Magazine, American Mineralogist, Proceedings of the Royal Society, Nature and Acta Crystallographica and continued to make contributions to the Corsi Collection at Oxford.[4]

She was quick to observe the lack of knowledge surrounding the stones within digs and began to record and research the stones herself at the age of 15.[1] After being tasked with translating the Corsi Collection Porter's expertise in her field grew, and she was able to publish her book, What Rome was Built With: A Description of the Stones Employed in Ancient Times for its Building and Decoration (1907), which is still relevant in today's geological studies.[1]

Hovewer, the authenticity of Porter's work was often questioned at the time of the publication of her books, regarding the lack of basis for various statements and revisions. The most critical review of her book highlights the need to check facts represented by Porter by authorities in the field.[7] Specifically, critics accentuate that there isn't an authority for Bruzza's assertion on which Porter bases her statement, that the columns of the original basilica were of marble at all.

At the same time, Porter's book found supporters like Henry Frowd who praised Porter for providing detailed descriptions of stones and their history, as well as tracing their places of origin.[8] Henry Frowd notes that Carrara marble industry is one of the most interesting sections written by Porter and that the book itself describes not only the stones of Rome, but the ancient quarries from which they came. Overall, What Rome was Built With: A Description of the Stones Employed in Ancient Times for its Building and Decoration is considered to be a good material that is in need of revisions.

She is also known as being a co-editor of the Barker Index of Crystals.

• Works by or about Mary Winearls Porter at Internet Archive