Lucy T. Shoe Meritt (1906- 2003) was an acclaimed archaeologist, scholar, teacher and editor who received her B.A, M.A, and Ph.D degrees from Bryn Mawr. During her life time, Shoe Meritt taught at Mount Holyoke College and the University of Texas at Austin, was a fellow at the American Academy of Rome, and served as the Editor of Publications for the American School of Classical Studies in Athens. Additionally, she was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study and the American Institute of Archaeology. She received the Gold Medal of the Archaeological Institute of America for Distinguished Archaeological Achievement in 1976. The collection is largely comprised of Shoe Meritt's correspondence with her family and notable scholars who were her contemporaries. It also includes diaries, publications, academic and professional papers, as well as photographs, postcards and scrapbooks.
Phyllis Pray Bober (b. 1920) received her B.A. from Wellesley College in 1941. In 1973 she accepted the position of Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Bryn Mawr College which she held until 1980. Bober's life long interest in culinary history led to courses, "historical banquets", and a book: Art, Culture, and Cuisine: Ancient and Medieval Gastronony. The collection consist of miscellaneous materials on Bober's career, miscellaneous research notes, typescripts, materials course notes, lecture scripts, correspondence (organized by subject matter), miscellaneous correspondence filed chronologically, tapes and disks for her talks, and materials from her own graduate and undergraduate education.