In college, Rose was an intern at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. As a graduate student at Washington’s George Washington University, Rose created her own field of study by mixing ideas from archaeology, art history, conservation science, chemistry, anthropology and museum studies, and went on to show the Smithsonian how to properly take care of archaeological treasures.
Before Rose, museums which displayed archaeological objects cleaned them like art. That’s not how they were used, Rose argued, in the real world. Besides: dust often gives important clues about the object. Pollen, for instance, might indicate what sort of vegetation grew in the area, or help determine the function of the object.
She also insisted that conservation technicians wear gloves to keep from contaminating objects with modern chemicals. Rose ended up as the chair of the Institution’s anthropology department, and taught anthropological conservation at George Washington University, which the University made a study area based on Rose’s own program of study. She died August 29 from cancer at age 53.