[1] She brought Roman archaeology to her students and the public through her teaching and published translation of Latin literature.
“English Usage, as shown by the Recent revision of the Bible" was the title of her senior thesis, showing her early interest in classical studies.
Tanzer was first published in an anthology for her friend and fellow Hunter College educator, Margaret Barclay Wilson, called Essays in Honor of M.B.
She translated the letters of Pliny the Younger to give a contemporary picture of his Laurentine and Tuscan villas.
Two years later, she donated a collection of over 1,000 ancient artifacts to Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum because of her connection to its director, David Moore Robinson.