[1][2] After graduation, she was appointed head of the biology department at the Normal School, and then became a teacher and principal at the private all-boys Rugby Academy.
[1] At the University of Pennsylvania, she earned her doctorate and followed that degree with additional studies at several institutions, including Harvard and Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory.
[3] In 1893, she married William Powell Wilson (1844–1927) a professor of anatomy and physiology at the University of Pennsylvania and founder of the Philadelphia Commercial Museum.
She hoped to link the prehistoric remains found in the area with Native Americans living nearby.
She used her findings to create an exhibit that was shown at the Philadelphia Commercial Museum to inform public visitors about the "modern and ancient Pueblo Indian lifeways.