This collection contains the papers of Charles Donald Shane, director of the Lick Observatory from 1945-1958, and his wife, Mary Lea Shane. Most of the materials are from Charles Donald Shane's professional work at the Lick Observatory and with the University of California, and include professional and personal correspondence, subject and research files, his autobiography, biographical materials on other astronomers, speeches and essays, site reports from Chile and other trips outside the United States, photographs of family members and travels, and some of his original research materials. The series of Mary Lea Shane papers contain her research on the Lick Observatory, and correspondence related to her work as the curator of the Lick Observatory Archives throughout the last half of the 20th century.

Charles Donald Shane and Mary Lea Heger Shane were key figures at the Lick Observatory during the 20th century. Both were trained in astronomy and were married in 1920, and lived on Mount Hamilton for several years. Donald served as the director of the Lick Observatory from 1945 to 1958, and was integral in the planning and development of the 120-inch reflector telescope, which was named after him in 1978. He is also known in the field of astronomy for his work supporting the existence of aggregated clusters of galaxies, now known as superclusters. Donald married Mary Lea Heger in 1920, who had been working at Lick Observatory since 1919 and went on to earn her Ph.D. in astronomy in 1924. Mary did not pursue a career as an astronomer, but was very involved in the Mount Hamilton community and welcomed visitors from all over the world to the Lick Observatory. She later initiated the preservation and organization of the archives of the Lick Observatory.

11.2 Linear Feet 17 boxes, 5 oversize boxes

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Collection is open for research.