Gilbert Harry Doane was born in Fairfield, Vermont on January 28, 1897, the descendant of a Mayflower family. His long identification with libraries began in high school with a part time position in the Springfield, Vermont public library. In 1918 he earned a degree from Colgate University. From 1918 to 1920 he attended the U.S. Naval Training School in Newport, Rhode Island. In 1921, Doane received his library certificate from the New York State Library School. He married Susan Howland Sherman in 1923, and they became the parents of two children, Cynthia D. Nickerson and John P. Doane.
Doane worked in library administration at the University of Arizona, 1921-1922; the University of Michigan, 1922-1925, and the University of Nebraska, where he also served as a professor, from 1925 to 1937. In 1937, he became the director of libraries at the University of Wisconsin. In addition, he served as the director of the UW Library School from 1938 to 1941. In 1957 he was designated as the first University of Wisconsin archivist. During Doane's nearly 20-year tenure, the UW libraries flourished. Doane was also instrumental in relocating the General Library housed in the State Historical Society to the new Memorial Library.
In addition to his library work, Doane had a clerical career. Although born in the Congregational Church, he became an Episcopalian during his service in the Navy during World War I. He became a deacon in 1943 and in 1956 was ordained to the Episcopal priesthood by Donald H. V. Hallock, bishop of the Milwaukee Diocese. In this capacity, Doane assisted with the services at St. Andrew's and Grace Episcopal churches in Madison. He also received an honorary doctorate from Nashotah House. Doane retired in 1962, and eventually relocated to Rhode Island. He died on March 7, 1980 after a long illness.
Because of his status as a member of the Episcopal clergy and an accomplished librarian and genealogist, the State Historical Society of Wisconsin contracted with Doane in 1945 to prepare a biography of Jackson Kemper, the first Episcopal Bishop of Wisconsin. From 1945 through 1968 Doane was involved in research for this project, completing a calendar and an index to the Kemper Papers at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. However his biography was never published.
Doane did publish extensively about rare books and genealogy. His credits include The Legends of the Book, 1924, and About Collecting Bookplates, 1941. He contributed to the field of genealogy by serving as editor of The Prairie Schooner and American Genealogist. While in retirement in Rhode Island, he was editor of the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Most notably, Doane's Searching for your Ancestors, 1937, is considered an invaluable research tool.
