Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1773

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

• .2 linear feet
• 1 box(es)

Language Note:

Collection is almost entirely in English, but some letters contain a few words of Greek.

Preferred Citation:

Cora E. Lutz letters, Ms. Coll. 1773, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1975-1979 (inclusive)

Creator:

Lutz, Cora E. (Cora Elizabeth), 1906-1985

Form:

Correspondence

Abstract:

Cora Elizabeth Lutz (1906 – 1985) was a professor of classics at Wilson College and a medievalist who catalogued the Beinecke Library's collection of pre-1600 manuscripts in the 1970s after her retirement from Wilson. This small collection consists of letters written by friends, colleagues, and students to Cora Lutz from 1975 to 1979.

Cora Elizabeth Lutz (1906 – 1985) was a professor of classics at Wilson College and a medievalist who catalogued the Beinecke Library's collection of pre-1600 manuscripts in the 1970s after her retirement from Wilson. Born in Rockville, CT, Lutz received her A.B. from Connecticut College for Women and her Ph.D. in classics from Yale University in 1935. She spent most of her career as a professor of classics at Wilson College in Chambersburg, PA, teaching Latin and Greek there from 1937 until her retirement as full professor and chair of the Department of Classical Languages in 1969. Upon her retirement from Wilson, Lutz took a position in the Beinecke Library of Yale University where she catalogued the library's collection of pre-1600 manuscripts. In addition to eight books, she published many essays and articles, including several library-related essays inspired by her work at the Beinecke. During the period covered by this collection, Lutz published Schoolmasters of the Tenth Century (1977) as well as several articles and essays, and she was elected a Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America (1975).

Sources: Newspaper clipping from an unknown source in the Barbara A. Shailor papers and copied in the Cora E. Lutz letters collection file, "Dr. Cora Lutz will come to Yale", Wilson College Summer 2022 News, 8/24/2022,"Two Authors Inducted into Author's Hall of Fame" viewed on 6/24/2026, and "Cora Elizabeth Lutz (1906 – 1985) Magistra Egregii" in Women Medievalists and the Academy, Chance, Jane, ed.(2005)

This small collection consists of letters written by friends, colleagues, and students to Cora Lutz from 1975 to 1979. Most of her correspondents were associated with Wilson College, Connecticut College, or Yale University. The letters discuss family and college news and Lutz's articles, among other topics. A 1979 letter from the collection's donor, Barbara A. Shailor, includes a press release describing Shailor's Bucknell University Class of 1956 Lecture entitled "Helen of Troy: A Feminine Archetype Reconsidered". Letters are in alphabetical order by correspondent.