Alma S. Wittlin (1899-1991) was an innovative museologist and educational researcher. She focused on harnessing the specific potentials of museums and exhibitions for social development and, in turn, challenged the field in an egalitarian and anti-hegemonic way. Originally an art historian and writer based in Vienna, she became an independent international scholar after her emigration in 1937.Exploring Wittlin's writings, unpublished sources, contemporary research and current literature, this multi-disciplinary biographical account re-establishes and revalidates a female contribution to museum history.