Patronage
For this research, Liebregts, a graduate in classics and literary studies, delved into the world of patronage. For although the series can support itself just fine these days, it was not initially a profitable project. "It was expensive to have texts translated and printed, but the books had to be marketed at an affordable price."
Nevertheless, the project was able to survive, mainly thanks to generous donations from US banker James Loeb. Loeb funded other major projects, such as the Juilliard School in New York and the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry in Munich, but remarkably, the Loeb Classical Library is the only project to which he so visibly attached his own name. According to Liebregts, this has everything to do with the wealthy banker's personal interest.
Better to be a poor banker
"Loeb himself studied at Harvard at the time of the discussions on classical language education in the nineteenth century. His heart was in antiquity." Yet he did not embark on an academic career. "There are two stories about him; as a Jewish researcher he could not get an appointment at the university because of anti-Semitism, or his father forced him into the business," Liebregts says. "One doesn't completely rule out the other either."
Remarkably, this life course led precisely to Loeb being able to have a huge impact on the humanities. "He jokingly said it himself in a letter to his sister: "It's a good thing I became a poor banker instead of possibly a good archaeologist." Because, as an archaeologist, he would have had no money to finance the whole thing..."
Joining forces
In her thesis, Liebregts paints a picture of the Loeb Classical Library as an inspiring international enterprise. "It is a great historical example of people joining forces to boost the humanities. The initiators all had different ideas about what exactly the classics were, why they were important, or how they should be translated. But in the end, they all had one common goal in mind: making the texts accessible."
An example for others?
With the perspective of patronage studies, the research especially also shows that financial decisions made by rich people can have a major impact on history. "It is fascinating that someone thought: I think this is so important that I am going to pay for it myself. Today, we still see this. Well-known philanthropists like Bill Gates have a lot of impact, by funding one thing and not another."
The Loeb Classical Library already found followers during Loeb's lifetime as other publishers also started publishing Greek and Latin literature with translations into French, German, or Catalan. But its influence can be drawn more broadly: the project showed that individuals can make a difference when they join forces. "Perhaps the initiative can still provide inspiration in the twenty-first century too," Liebregts concludes. "After all, there are still opportunities to improve the accessibility of language and cultural education so that anyone interested in it can come into contact with it."
Want to know more? The summary of Liebregts' dissertation Behind the Red and the Green. Unraveling the history of the Loeb Classical Library (1911-1939) is available for download (in Dutch).
