Mary Kilbourne Matossian Explained

Mary Kilbourne Matossian
Birth Name:Mary Allerton Kilbourne
Birth Date:July 9, 1930
Birth Place:Los Angeles, California
Death Date:July 9, 2023 (age 93)
Death Place:Portola Valley, California
Occupation:Historian, college professor
Notable Works:Poisons of the Past (1989)
Relatives:Fanny Andrews Shepard (great-aunt)

Mary Allerton Kilbourne Matossian (July 9, 1930 – July 9, 2023) was an American historian who was perhaps best known in the fields of Soviet and Armenian studies for her pioneering research on the history of Soviet Armenia.[1] In her later career, she was also known for her interest in interdisciplinary approaches, as exemplified in her book Poisons of the Past: Molds, Epidemics, and History (1989).

Early life and education

Kilbourne was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Norman J. Kilbourne and Katharine Rebecca Hillix Kilbourne. Her father was a physician, and her mother was active in the YWCA. Her first and middle name were chosen in memory of Mary Allerton, a Mayflower ancestor. Medical missionary and botanist Fanny Andrews Shepard was her great-aunt. She graduated from Stanford University in 1951.[2] She earned a master's degree in Near East history from the American University of Beirut, and completed doctoral studies in history at Stanford University in 1955.[3]

Career

Matossian was a professor in the history department at the University of Maryland, College Park, for 31 years.[4] [5] She was president of the UM Tenured Faculty Women's Association, and outspoken on issues affecting women professors.[6] In 1962, Matossian published the book The Impact of Soviet Policies in Armenia, a groundbreaking study that influenced scholars such as Ronald Grigor Suny. The work "stood virtually alone for two decades as the main Anglophone source on Soviet social reforms in Armenian life."[1] She was an early member of the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), joining in 1955, soon after its founding.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Matossian became known for her study on the role of food contamination in historical events such as the Salem witchcraft panic (following on the earlier work of Linnda R. Caporael) and the Great Fear of 1789. These later works drew from medical history, environmental history, women's history, and religious history, and gained significant attention in the popular press.[7] [8] [9]

Publications

Matossian's interdisciplinary interests are reflected in the wide range of academic journals where her work was published, including Slavic Review,[10] Medical History,[11] Quaker History,[12] Journal of Social History, Middle East Journal, Economic Development and Cultural Change', Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, and Free Inquiry.

Personal life

Kilbourne married Garabed Setrak "Garo" Matossian, an Armenian physician; they met during her graduate work in Beirut. They had four children. They later divorced.[25] She died in 2023, on her 93rd birthday, in Portola Valley, California.[1]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Matossian . Lou Ann . 2023-08-10 . Armenian studies pioneer Mary A. Kilbourne Matossian passes away . 2023-12-09 . The Armenian Weekly . en-US.
  2. News: 1949-10-29 . Southland Students Win Stanford School Honors . 20 . The Los Angeles Times . 2023-12-09 . Newspapers.com.
  3. Web site: In Memoriam: Mary Allerton Kilbourne Matossian (1930-2023) . 2023-12-08 . NAASR.
  4. News: 1966-11-24 . Seminar Set to Discuss Russ Peasant . 18 . The Van Nuys News and Valley Green Sheet . 2023-12-09 . Newspapers.com.
  5. News: 1976-01-04 . Henry VIII and Modern Family Life/Gerri Kobren . 177 . The Baltimore Sun . 2023-12-09.
  6. News: Hamilton . Susan . 1984-04-20 . UM women charge salary inequity . 31 . The Evening Sun . 2023-12-09 . Newspapers.com.
  7. News: August 29, 1982 . New Study Backs Thesis on Witches . en . 30 . The New York Times . 2023-12-09.
  8. News: 1989-11-23 . Historian blames French Revolution panic attack on rye wheat fungus . 28 . Southern Illinoisan . 2023-12-09 . Newspapers.com.
  9. News: Hudson . Lou . 1982-10-01 . Witchin' linked to rye whit; Bedevilment due to poisoned grain . 1 . Fort Worth Star-Telegram . 2023-12-09 . Newspapers.com.
  10. Matossian . Mary . December 1957 . Two Marxist Approaches to Nationalism . American Slavic and East European Review . en . 16 . 4 . 489–500 . 10.2307/3000775 . 3000775 . 1049-7544.
  11. Matossian . M. K. . January 1981 . Mold poisoning: an unrecognized English health problem, 1550-1800 . Medical History . 25 . 1 . 73–84 . 10.1017/s0025727300034116 . 0025-7273 . 1138987 . 7012476.
  12. Matossian . Mary K. . 2007 . Why the Quakers Quaked: The Influence of Climatic Change on Quaker Health, 1647-1659 . Quaker History . en . 96 . 1 . 36–51 . 10.1353/qkh.2007.0012 . 17508460 . 1934-1504.
  13. Matossian . Mary . April 1958 . Ideologies of Delayed Industrialization: Some Tensions and Ambiguities . Economic Development and Cultural Change . en . 6 . 3 . 217–228 . 10.1086/449767 . 0013-0079.
  14. Matossian . Mary Kilbourne . 1973 . In the Beginning, God Was a Woman . Journal of Social History . 6 . 3 . 325–343 . 10.1353/jsh/6.3.325 . 3786544 . 0022-4529.
  15. Web site: The Transformation of Armenian Society under Stalin (1980) . 2023-12-08 . Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; Kennan Institute Occasional Paper Series #100. en.
  16. Magnarella . Paul J. . 1983 . Review of Armenian Village Life before 1914 . Middle East Journal . 37 . 2 . 260–261 . 4326566 . 0026-3141.
  17. Matossian . Mary K. . 1982 . Views: Ergot and the Salem Witchcraft Affair: An outbreak of a type of food poisoning known as convulsive ergotism may have led to the 1692 accusations of witchcraft . American Scientist . 70 . 4 . 355–357 . 27851542 . 0003-0996.
  18. Matossian . Mary Kilbourne . 1986 . Did Mycotoxins Play a Role in Bubonic Plague Epidemics? . Perspectives in Biology and Medicine . en . 29 . 2 . 244–256 . 10.1353/pbm.1986.0000 . 3951959 . 1529-8795.
  19. Matossian . Mary Kilbourne . Autumn 1986 . Climate, Crops, and Natural Increase in Rural Russia, 1861–1913 . Slavic Review . en . 45 . 3 . 457–469 . 10.2307/2499051 . 2499051 . 11618114 . 0037-6779.
  20. Kiple . Kenneth F. . 1991 . Review of Poisons of the Past: Molds, Epidemics, and History . The American Historical Review . 96 . 3 . 826 . 10.2307/2162439 . 2162439 . 0002-8762.
  21. Matossian . Mary Kilbourne . 1991 . Fertility Decline in Europe, 1875-1913: Was Zinc Deficiency the Cause? . Perspectives in Biology and Medicine . en . 34 . 4 . 604–616 . 10.1353/pbm.1991.0026 . 1923698 . 1529-8795.
  22. Book: Matossian, Mary Allerton Kilbourne . Shaping World History: Breakthroughs in Ecology, Technology, Science, and Politics . 1997 . M.E. Sharpe . 978-0-7656-0062-2 . en.
  23. Web site: Matossian . Mary K. . August–September 2009 . Visions and the Origins of Christianity . 2023-12-09 . Free Inquiry 29(5) . en-US.
  24. Web site: Plants, Stars and the Origins of Religion: With a Decipherment of the Phaistos Disk (Hardcover) . 2023-12-09 . Book Culture . en.
  25. Web site: 2004 . Garo Matossian Obituary . 2023-12-09 . Ann Arbor News, via Legacy.com.

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