Johanna Mestorf

Johanna Mestorf (17 April 1828, Bad Bramstedt, Duchy of Holstein – 20 July 1909, Kiel) was a German prehistoric archaeologist, the first female museum director in the Kingdom of Prussia and usually said to be the first female professor in Germany.

Life and career

Johanna was the youngest of four surviving children of the physician and antiquarian Jacob Heinrich Mestorf and his wife Sophia Katharina Georgine, née Körner. When he died in 1837, she moved with her mother to Itzehoe, where she attended the Blöcker Institute upper school for girls. In 1849 she went to Sweden as a governess to the family of Count Piper at Ängsö Castle, and there also studied Scandinavian languages. In 1853 she returned to Germany, and during the next few years travelled to France and Italy several times as the companion of an Italian countess who was related to the Piper family. Beginning in 1859, she lived with her brother Harro in Hamburg, where in 1867 she took a position as a secretary for foreign correspondence. While working, she became a well educated self-taught archaeologist.