Overview
Papers of various members of the Lane family of Massachusetts, especially those of Harvard professor of Latin, George Martin Lane (1823-1897), and his son, Gardiner Martin Lane (1859-1914).
Dates
- Creation: 1840-1898
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English, German, and Latin.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.
This collection is not housed at the Houghton Library but is shelved offsite at the Harvard Depository. Retrieval requires advance notice. Readers should check with Houghton Public Services staff to determine what material is offsite and retrieval policies and times.
Extent
3.75 linear feet (8 boxes)Primarily the papers of George Martin Lane, including his 1847-1849 diary and transcript of this diary; extensive student notes taken while studying in Germany (Berlin, Bonn, Heidelberg, and Göttingen) between 1847-1851; letters from Lane to William Ladd Ropes and Henry A. Whitney; manuscripts assembled for his Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges, as well as materials assembled by Morris H. Morgan for the 1898 publication of this work; Harvard University examination papers from some of Lane's students of Latin; and other materials.
Also includes a journal, address book, and visiting cards belonging to Gardiner Martin Lane; will papers (1882-1894) of Mary S. Lane; and a transcript of an 1840 diary of an unidentified Lane female.
Biographical / Historical
George Martin Lane (1823-1897) was the son of Martin Lane and Lucretia Swan Lane. He was Harvard College A.B. 1846 and traveled to Germany in 1847 to study classical philology at universities in Berlin, Bonn, Heidelberg, and Göttingen. He received his Ph.D. from Göttingen in 1851. Upon his return to Cambridge, Lane was appointed Harvard University Professor of Latin, and in 1869 became Harvard's Pope Professor of Latin Language and Literature until his retirement in 1894. He is especially known for his Latin Pronunciation (1871) and his posthumously published Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges (1898). The Grammar was completed and published by Lane's pupil, Professor Morris H. Morgan. Lane was married in 1857 to Frances Eliza Gardiner (d.1876) and in 1878 to Fanny Bradford Clark. He had three children with his first wife: Gardiner Martin Lane, Louisa Greenough Lane, and Katherine Ward Lane.
Gardiner Martin Lane (1859-1914) was the son of Frances Eliza Gardiner and George Martin Lane. He was Harvard College A.B. 1881, and married to Emma Louise Gildersleeve Lane in 1898. Their only child was sculptor Katharine Ward Lane Weems (1899-1989). Gardiner worked for the Union Pacific Railway Company, later for Lee, Higginson and Company, and also was president of the Board of Trustees of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by author, then chronologically.
Physical Location
Harvard Depository
Immediate Source of Acquisition
66M-134. Source unknown; probable 1958 gift to Widener by Katharine Ward Lane Weems, with transfer from Widener to Houghton, 1966.
Brief old accession record at Houghton titled these papers: "Lane by Weems." Volumes were all accompanied by Widener Library searching report slips marked: "058*xx."
Processing Information
Processed by: Bonnie B. Salt
Part of the MS Storage project, 2008-2009.
- Title
- Lane family. Lane family papers, 1840-1898: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou02029
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
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