Sara Yorke Stevenson (February 19, 1847 – November 14, 1921) was an American archaeologist specializing in Egyptology, one of the founders of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, suffragist and women's rights activist, and a columnist for the Philadelphia Public Ledger.

As a scholar, Stevenson published books and articles on Egyptology and the material culture of the ancient Near East, as well as a memoir about the reign of Maximilian I of Mexico.

[3] During this time she met the Duke of Morny, half-brother of Napoleon and prominent figure in the French Intervention in Mexico, a conflict with which she would soon become profoundly familiar.

In 1862, Sara departed France for Mexico by sea, about which she wrote: There were only forty passengers on board, and, comparatively speaking, little of the animation that usually precedes the outgoing of an ocean steamer.

I found without difficulty the French banker and his Mexican wife who had kindly consented to chaperon me during my lonely journey; and I soon discovered that she and I were the only women passengers on board.

Stevenson's first-hand account of the Second Mexican Empire, Maximilian in Mexico: A Woman's Reminiscences of the French Intervention 1862-1867 (New York, 1899), gave great insight into the inner workings of court life during that time.

Her counsel was based on an experience of the world which included half a century of real intimacy with brilliant and wise people who sought her as a companion; it was poignant with interludes of the Mexican capital, Parisian days and Egyptian excavations.

[10] Stevenson was part of a group of internationally known Philadelphia elite scholars, known as the Furness-Mitchell Coterie, who were a driving force in many areas, especially anthropology, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The group included musicians, physicians, writers, scholars, anthropologists, and educators and was "unusual in its acceptance of accomplished women as intellectual equals".

[3] Because of her involvement in the coterie, Stevenson was able to form close relationships and work collaboratively with other members of the group, including Horace Howard Furness, Owen Wister, S. Weir Mitchell, Talcott Williams, and Agnes Irwin.

'), reflected on the ongoing struggle for women's suffrage, writing:A Chinese philosopher, a disciple of Laotse, once said: “Man is like a child born at midnight who when he sees the sunrise, thinks there was no yesterday.” There are many persons in the community even today, who regard the present movement in favor of equal suffrage as a transitory, hysterical agitation of a demagogic nature, of which the impulse has been received in the United States from the outbreaks of militant partisans in England.

In the minds of these persons, the movement in the past is vaguely associated with eccentric clothing and more or less ridicule; in the present, with the restlessness of what is regarded as an unwomanly demonstration.

While believers in equal suffrage in this country have taken advantage of the interest aroused in every part of the world by the news from the militant suffragists of England, the movement can claim a respectable history and a fairly long pedigree.

While listening to the words of a strong man who, in 1851, had the courage to support an unpopular cause in the interest of justice and fair play, it is hoped that encouragement will be given to those who today are fighting in the ranks.

S[11]With regard to her active role in the women's rights movement, Stevenson said the following: "The days of useless martyrdom are over, also those of heroic sacrifice where it is not needed.

"[14] She mentored with Frederick Ward Putnam, who had just established Harvard's anthropology department, along with Franz Boas, Zelia Nuttall, and Alice Fletcher.

In her position as curator, Stevenson was concerned with collections acquisitions and in 1898 she travelled to Egypt and purchased 42 cases of artifacts for the American Exploration Society, mostly from the ancient site of Dendereh, including the Penn Museum's first papyrus.

[10][15] In 1905, Stevenson, along with more than 125 supporters, resigned from her position at the museum following controversy surrounding Herman Hilprecht's personal appropriations and fraudulent publication of antiquities.