About CANE

We are a community of scholars, educators, and students who love the ancient and medieval Mediterranean world. 

Greek philosopher statue

Mission

The Classical Association of New England (CANE) is a membership organization open to scholars, educators, students, and all those with an interest in the languages, history, cultures, and literature of the ancient and medieval Mediterranean world, as well as their reception around the globe and into modern times.

CANE is committed to embracing not only the traditional understanding of “Classics” as encompassing the Greek- and Roman-centered narratives of antiquity, but also the perspectives of cultures previously under-represented and under-explored in the past several centuries of classical scholarship.

CANE hosts an annual association meeting and a summer institute; awards numerous scholarships and grants; provides a voice to classicists via its website, caneweb.org, and the New England Classical Journal; and acts as a support system for all classical studies programs, at all learning levels, in the six New England states.

Approved by the CANE Executive Committee (April 25, 2020)

History

The Classical Association of New England (CANE) was organized as part of a general movement to create regional classical associations. It came into formal existence in Springfield, Massachusetts, on April 6, 1906 as assembled classicists approved a motion of formation made by Professor Thomas D. Seymour of Yale University and seconded by Professor G.D. Chase of the University of Maine. This was the first Annual Meeting, which has been held every year since then, usually in person but sometimes on Zoom (pandemic response!).

What typifies CANE? it is the quality of collegiality that most peculiarly and deservedly characterizes CANE. We welcome everyone who is interested in the Classics – literature, culture, survival – in the ancient, Medieval or modern world.