Lana Branton, creator and former director of the docent and community education program at the Harvard Art Museums at Harvard University, died on Feb. 5 in Lexington, Massachusetts. She was 91.
When Branton arrived at Harvard’s Fogg Museum in 1983, there were no scheduled public tours and no trained team to work with visitors or local school groups. She transformed that reality by creating and implementing a rigorous year-long training program for an initial class of 15 docents.
Branton believed in engaging the public through curiosity and close looking rather than scripted facts. She emphasized art-historical study through weekly meetings with curators and professors, extensive reading, in-depth object research, presentation coaching, and sustained looking—so guides could help visitors truly see the art.
A winter 2002 article in the Harvard art museum newsletter noted that establishing the docent program was not easy, citing skepticism about docents’ qualifications. Branton’s diplomacy and vision ultimately produced a program that thrived.
Before Harvard, Branton led the docent and outreach program at the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts, where she directed the Learning Through Art program for local middle schoolers.
After earning her BA in art history from Cornell University, Branton taught in the Oakland, California public schools. She later earned a master’s degree in education from Cambridge University.
Lana Lenore Brennan was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her love of the arts began early. She studied piano, violin, and viola, trained in modern dance including work with May O’Donnell (protégé of Martha Graham), and sang throughout her life—from Scarsdale High School musicals and Cornell’s a cappella chorus to the Oakland Symphony chorus. Branton sang at family gatherings with her sisters and duets with her father — with “O Holy Night” a Christmas favorite. The eldest of four sisters—the Brennan girls—Lana was known for her beauty, style, and poise.
In 1973, Branton and her family settled in Lexington, Massachusetts, where she lived for 52 years. A devoted exerciser, she practiced Pilates for more than three decades. She loved returning to favorite travel spots: spending later winters with her husband Dan in Carmel, California, and time each summer on Lake Maggiore in Switzerland. She loved ballet; she and her daughter Hilary frequented Boston and Miami ballet productions. And an avid reader, she shared book titles with her son Ben.
“She had a regal quality,” said her nephew Randolph Richardson. “She was dignified, intellectually curious, and a real leader.”
Branton leaves her husband of nearly 70 years, Professor Daniel Branton; her daughter Hilary and her husband Baldo Pellicer; grandchildren Michelle and her husband Logan Durant, Alexandra Pellicer, and Daniel Pellicer; great-grandsons Zachary and Leo Durant; and her sister, Victoria Sullivan. Her son Benjamin David died in 2018. She was predeceased by her sisters Cordelia Ursone and Alison Brennan; and her parents, Martin and Lenore Brennan of Scarsdale, New York.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Planned Parenthood, online or by phone at (800) 798-7092.