Claude-Anne Lopez, scholar of Benjamin Franklin's papers, dies at 92

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (AP) -- Author and scholar of Benjamin Franklin's papers Claude-Anne Lopez has died at age 92.

Lopez started her studies of Franklin's papers at Yale University with secretarial-type work and rose to a top editor's job. Her son, Larry Lopez, says she had Alzheimer's disease and died Friday at her New Haven home.

Lopez spent years working on The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, a project at the university to collect, edit and publish Franklin's writings. She specialized in the American founding father's private life, and wrote a handful of books about him.

Former Yale colleague Jonathan Dull ranks Lopez as one of the 20th century's great Franklin scholars.

She also helped found a Philadelphia-based network of people interested in Franklin's life.