Dessamae Lorrain

Dessamae Lorrain
Born	Dessie Mae Hart July 25, 1927 Elkhart, Indiana, U.S.
Died	July 23, 2011 (age 83) Alpine, Texas, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Archaeologist, nurse

Dessamae Hart Lorrain (July 25, 1927 – July 23, 2011) was an American archaeologist. She was a staff archaeologist at Southern Methodist University's Anthropology Research Center. Most of her projects involved salvage work, excavating Texas historic sites ahead of major construction in the 1960s and 1970s.

Early life and education

Dessie Mae Hart was born in Elkhart, Indiana, the daughter of R. E. Hart and Crystal Edessa Young Hart. She attended Newcomb College,[1] and graduated from Tulane University with a degree in physics. She pursued graduate studies in archaeology at the University of Texas.[2][3]

Career

Lorrain was a staff archaeologist at Southern Methodist University's Anthropology Research Center,[4] and a member of the Texas Archaeological Salvage Project.[5] She investigated sites in Texas which were about to be disrupted or destroyed by highway or reservoir construction in the 1960s.[2] For example, the National Park Service supported her work at prehistoric sites in Cooke County, before they were flooded to create Hubert H. Moss Lake in 1966.[6] In 1965, she directed the Texas Archeological Society's fourth annual field school.[7] She spoke at the annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology, held in Williamsburg in 1968.[8] In the 1970s, she led an excavation at Fort Richardson in Jacksboro, Texas.[9] She was also chief field archaeologist at Fort Griffin in Shackelford County.[10][11][12]

By 1980, Lorrain was a nurse based in Ava, Missouri.[13][14]

Publications

• "A Cache of Blades from Carrollton, Texas" (1963)[15]
• Bonfire Shelter: A Stratified Bison Kill Site, Val Verde County, Texas (1965, with David S. Dibble)[16]
• "Bonfire Shelter Fauna" (1966)[17]
• "Bone and Shell Artifacts" and "Animal Remains" (1967)[18]
• "The Lower Rockwall Site, Rockwall County, Texas" (1968, with Norma Hoffrichter)[19]
• "An Archaeologist's Guide to Nineteenth Century American Glass" (1968)[20]
• "Archeological Excavations in Northwestern Crockett County, Texas, 1966-1967" (1968)[21]
• "Archaeological Excavations in the Fish Creek Reservoir" (1969)[22]

Personal life

Hart married Paul Henry Lorrain in 1949.[23] They had three children and divorced in 1977. She died in 2011, at the age of 83, in Alpine, Texas.[3]

References

1. "Social item (brief)". Jefferson Parish Times. 1948-02-10. p. 7. Retrieved 2024-10-14 – via Newspapers.com.
2. Crawford, Odene (1967-06-11). "Archaeologist Digs to Satisfy Curiosity". San Angelo Standard-Times. p. 24. Retrieved 2024-10-14 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Obituary for Dessamae Hart Lorrain". The Douglas County Herald. 2011-08-04. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-10-14 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "Archaeologists to Dig Near Pecos River Site". Grand Prairie Daily News. 1966-11-28. p. 5. Retrieved 2024-10-14 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "UT Faculty Members Eye El Paso Meet". Austin American-Statesman. 1964-10-15. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-10-14 – via Newspapers.com.
6. Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). "Hubert H. Moss Lake". Texas Almanac. Retrieved 2024-10-14.
7. "Gaulding Site". Texas Beyond History. Retrieved 2024-10-14.
8. "Historical Archeology Society to Hold First Meeting at CW". Daily Press. 1968-01-03. p. 17. Retrieved 2024-10-14 – via Newspapers.com.
9. Davis, Katie. "Fort Richardson". SMU Archaeology Research Collections. Retrieved 2024-10-14.
10. Susan C. Olsen and Catherine Yates, eds. Archeological Investigation at Fort Griffin (National Park Service 1975): Introduction.
11. "Team Digging for Remains of Civil War Fort". The Vernon Daily Record. 1972-07-26. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-10-14 – via Newspapers.com.
12. "Civil War Fort Site is Sought". Corpus Christi Times. 1972-07-26. p. 19. Retrieved 2024-10-14 – via Newspapers.com.
13. "Local Nurse Attends Program on Strokes". The Douglas County Herald. 1980-11-27. p. 13. Retrieved 2024-10-14 – via Newspapers.com.
14. "Ava Nurses Attend Educational Conf". The Douglas County Herald. 1980-09-11. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-10-14 – via Newspapers.com.
15. Lorrain, Dessamae. "A Cache of Blades From Carrollton, Texas." The Record 18, no. 1 (1963): 2-7.
16. Dibble, David S., and Dessamae Lorrain. Bonfire shelter: a stratified bison kill site, Val Verde County, Texas. University of Texas, Texas Memorial Museum, 1965.
17. Lorrain, Dessamae. "Bonfire Shelter Fauna" in Dee Ann Story and Vaughn M. Bryant Jr., eds., A Preliminary Study of the Paleoecology of the Amistad Reservoir Area (National Science Foundation 1966).
18. Lorrain, Dessamae. "Bone and Shell Artifacts" and "Animal Remains", in "The Gilbert Site: A Norteño Focus Site in Northeastern Texas" Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society 37 (1966): 212-219, 225-243.
19. Lorrain, Dessamae, and Norma Hoffrichter. The Lower Rockwall Site, Rockwall County, Texas. Salvage Project of Southern Methodist University, 1968.
20. Lorrain, Dessamae (1968). "An Archaeologist's Guide to Nineteenth Century American Glass". Historical Archaeology. 2: 35–44. ISSN 0440-9213.
21. Lorrain, Dessamae. "Archeological Excavations in Northwestern Crockett County, Texas, 1966-1967". No. 12. State Building Commission, Archeological Program, 1968.
22. Lorrain, Dessamae. Archaeological Excavations in the Fish Creek Reservoir. No. 4. Southern Methodist University, 1969.
23. "Loyola Wedding of Local Interest". The Town Talk. 1949-07-27. p. 8. Retrieved 2024-10-14 – via Newspapers.com.