Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve papers
Collection
Identifier: MS-0005
Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve (October 23, 1831 – January 9, 1924), was an American classical scholar. This collection spans the years 1847 to 1925 and consists of correspondence, newspaper clippings, biographic data, diaries, notes, notebooks, drafts, published and unpublished writings, books and offprints, addresses, translations, students seminary papers, and index cards with citations for the Syntax of Classical Greek.
Dates
- 1847-1925
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is housed off-site and requires 48-hours' notice for retrieval. Please contact Special Collections for more information.
Collection is open for use.
Collection is open for use.
Conditions Governing Use
Single copies may be made for research purposes. Researchers are responsible for determining any copyright questions. It is not necessary to seek our permission as the owner of the physical work to publish or otherwise use public domain materials that we have made available for use, unless Johns Hopkins University holds the copyright.
Extent
16.4 Cubic Feet (12 letter size document boxes, 25 legal size document boxes, 1 custom box (9.5 x 8 x 2 inches))
Biographical Note
Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve, American classical scholar and Professor of Greek and Latin, was born in 1831 in Charleston, S.C., the son of a Presbyterian evangelist. Gildersleeve began his academic career at the College of Charleston in 1845. He later was sent to Jefferson College at Canonsburg, Pa. (now Washington and Jefferson), where he was a sophomore at the age of 15. In 1847 he transferred to Princeton receiving his A.B. in 1849 and his A.M. in 1852. It was while at Princeton that he began the study of German and became passionately interseted in Germany. From 1859-1853, he studied and travelled throughout Germany with excursions to Austria and Italy. In 1853, he received his Ph.D at Gottingen. From 1856- 1876 he was professor of Greek at the University of Virginia and professor of Latin from 1861-1867. During the Civil War, he fought in the Confederate Army and was wounded in the leg in the Shenandoah Valley campaign. From 1876-1915 Gidersleeve was Professor of Greek at the Johns Hopkins University. He founded (in 1880) and edited (1880-1920) the American Journal of Philology. At Johns Hopkins University he was Francis White Professor from 1904-1915 and Emeritus from 1915-1924. He received the following honorary degrees: LLD William and Mary 1869; Harvard 1886: Universoty of Chicago 1901; Yale 1901; University of Pennsylvania 1911; DCL University of the South 1884; LHD Princeton 1899; Litt. D. Cambridge 1905; Oxford 1905.
According to the Johns Hopkins University Department of Classics website: "During the Civil War, Gildersleeve penned unsigned editorials for the Richmond Examiner that, even considering their time and place, stand out for the malevolence of their racism. Gildersleeve remained an advocate for the Confederacy throughout his academic career, and the Johns Hopkins University Press republished his “The Creed of the Old South” (1896) and “A Southerner in the Peloponnesian War” (1897) on the occasion of his retirement from the university. Both essays draw liberally on Gildersleeve’s classical learning, culminating the career of a classicist who, despite his noteworthy contributions as a scholar, teacher, and educational innovator, repeatedly lent material and moral support to the forces of racial oppression."
He considered the main work of his life to be "The Historical Syntax of Classical Greek." This was begun and finished while at The Johns Hopkins University. The first part was brought out in 1900 and a second part in 1911. In 1909 "Hellas and Hesperia" was published and followed in 1915 by "The Creed of the Old South." Gildersleeve had a wide knowledge not only of Greek syntax and composition, but of Roman, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish literature. After teaching for more than 60 years, he retired from active work at The Johns Hopkins University in 1915. During his last years his hearing grew steadily worse and his eyesight failed. He died on January 9, 1924, aged 92 years.
Source: “Gildersleeve.” Department of Classics. Johns Hopkins University, February 12, 2019. https://classics.jhu.edu/about/gildersleeve/.
According to the Johns Hopkins University Department of Classics website: "During the Civil War, Gildersleeve penned unsigned editorials for the Richmond Examiner that, even considering their time and place, stand out for the malevolence of their racism. Gildersleeve remained an advocate for the Confederacy throughout his academic career, and the Johns Hopkins University Press republished his “The Creed of the Old South” (1896) and “A Southerner in the Peloponnesian War” (1897) on the occasion of his retirement from the university. Both essays draw liberally on Gildersleeve’s classical learning, culminating the career of a classicist who, despite his noteworthy contributions as a scholar, teacher, and educational innovator, repeatedly lent material and moral support to the forces of racial oppression."
He considered the main work of his life to be "The Historical Syntax of Classical Greek." This was begun and finished while at The Johns Hopkins University. The first part was brought out in 1900 and a second part in 1911. In 1909 "Hellas and Hesperia" was published and followed in 1915 by "The Creed of the Old South." Gildersleeve had a wide knowledge not only of Greek syntax and composition, but of Roman, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish literature. After teaching for more than 60 years, he retired from active work at The Johns Hopkins University in 1915. During his last years his hearing grew steadily worse and his eyesight failed. He died on January 9, 1924, aged 92 years.
Source: “Gildersleeve.” Department of Classics. Johns Hopkins University, February 12, 2019. https://classics.jhu.edu/about/gildersleeve/.
Scope and Contents
The collection spans the years 1847 to 1925. The material consists of correspondence, newspaper clippings, biographic data, diaries, notes, notebooks, drafts, published and unpublished writings, books and offprints, addresses, translations, students seminary papers, and index cards with citations for the Syntax of Classical Greek.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The papers of Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve were deposited by him in the Johns Hopkins University Library circa 1915.
Processing Information
This collection was processed by M.C. Beecheno in 1988 and updated by Kristen Diehl in 2021.
- Adams, Charles Kendall, 1835-1902
- Alderman, Edwin Anderson, 1861-1931
- Bell, Alexander Graham, 1847-1922
- Bloomfield, Maurice, 1855-1928
- Briggs, Charles A. (Charles Augustus), 1841-1913
- Brown, Francis, 1849-1916
- Browne, William Hand, 1828-1912
- Buck, Carl Darling, 1866-1955
- Butcher, S. H. (Samuel Henry), 1850-1910
- Capps, Edward, 1866-1950
- Carter, Franklin, 1837-1919
- Churchill, William, 1859-1920
- College teachers
- Collitz, Hermann, 1855-1935
- Collitz, Klara Hechtenberg, 1863-1944
- Cook, Albert S. (Albert Stanburrough), 1853-1927
- Cooper, Lane, 1875-1959
- Dewey, John, 1859-1952
- Diaries
- Drisler, Henry, 1818-1897
- Ellis, Robinson, 1834-1913
- Fabian, Franklin, 1853-1939
- Frank, Tenney, 1876-1939
- Garnett, James M. (James Mercer), 1840-1916
- Garrison, Wendell Phillips, 1840-1907
- Gildersleeve, Basil L. (Basil Lanneau), 1831-1924
- Gilman, Daniel C. (Daniel Coit), 1831-1908
- Goodwin, William Watson, 1831-1912
- Gudeman, A. (Alfred), 1862-
- Gummere, Francis Barton, 1855-1919
- Hale, William Gardner, 1849-1928
- Hall, G. Stanley (Granville Stanley), 1844-1924
- Harris, J. Rendel (James Rendel), 1852-1941
- Harrison, James Albert, 1848-1911
- Haupt, Paul, 1858-1926
- Higginson, Henry Lee, 1834-1919
- Holt, Hamilton, 1872-1951
- Holt, Henry, 1840-1926
- Hopkins, Edward Washburn, 1857-1932
- Hurd, Henry M. (Henry Mills), 1843-1927
- Hübner, Ernst Willibald Emil, 1834-1901
- Jackson, A. V. Williams (Abraham Valentine Williams), 1862-1937
- Jastrow, Morris, Jr., 1861-1921
- Jennings, H. S. (Herbert Spencer), 1868-1947
- Johns Hopkins University. Department of Classics
- Johns Hopkins University. Greek Seminary
- Johnson, Robert Underwood, 1853-1937
- Keidel, George C. (George Charles), 1868-1942
- Kittredge, George Lyman, 1860-1941
- Lewis, Charlton Thomas, 1834-1904
- Miller, Charles William Emil, 1863-1934
- Mills, Lawrence Heyworth, 1837-1918
- Münsterberg, Hugo, 1863-1916
- Newcomb, Simon, 1835-1909
- Oliphant, Samuel Grant, 1864-1936
- Philologists
- Pritchett, Henry S. (Henry Smith), 1857-1939
- Rand, Edward Kennard, 1871-1945
- Robinson, David M. (David Moore), 1880-1958
- Seymour, Thomas D. (Thomas Day), 1848-1907
- Shear, Theodore Leslie, 1880-1945
- Shorey, Paul, 1857-1934
- Sihler, E. G. (Ernest Gottlieb), 1853-1942
- Sloane, William Milligan, 1850-1928
- Smith, Edgar F. (Edgar Fahs), 1854-1928
- Smith, Kirby Flower, 1862-1918
- Smyth, Herbert Weir, 1857-1937
- Sterrett, J. R. Sitlington (John Robert Sitlington), 1851-1914
- Sturtevant, Edgar H. (Edgar Howard), 1875-1952
- Tabb, John B. (John Banister), 1845-1909
- Taylor, Robert Tunstall, 1867-1929
- Thomas, M. Carey (Martha Carey), 1857-1935
- United States
- Venable, F. P. (Francis Preston), 1856-1934
- Warren, Minton, 1850-1907
- Welch, William Henry, 1850-1934
- Westermann, William Linn, 1873-1954
- Wheeler, Benjamin Ide, 1854-1927
- White, John Williams, 1849-1917
- Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Ulrich von, 1848-1931
- Wood, Francis Asbury, 1859-1948
- Woodbridge, Frederick James Eugene, 1867-1940
- Woodward, Robert Simpson, 1849-1924
- clippings (information artifacts)
- correspondence
- drafts (documents)
- indexes (reference sources)
- lectures
- memorabilia
- notebooks
- reprints
- speeches (documents)
Creator
Repository Details
Part of the Special Collections Repository
Contact:
The Sheridan Libraries
Special Collections
3400 N Charles St
Baltimore MD 21218 USA
specialcollections@lists.jhu.edu
The Sheridan Libraries
Special Collections
3400 N Charles St
Baltimore MD 21218 USA
specialcollections@lists.jhu.edu