James Sibley Watson

James Sibley Watson, Jr. (August 10, 1894 – March 31, 1982) was an American medical doctor, philanthropist, publisher, editor, photographer, and early experimenter in motion pictures.

Born in Rochester, New York, James Sibley Watson, Jr. was an heir to the Western Union telegraph fortune created by his grandfathers, Don Alonzo Watson and Hiram Sibley. Don Alonzo and Hiram Sibley were such close friends and business partners that they named their sons after each other: James Sibley Watson Sr. and Hiram Watson Sibley. In 1891, J.S. Watson Sr. married Emily, the daughter of his father's longtime business partner.Emily Sibley Watson was a prestigious figure in Rochester who singlehandedly established the city's Memorial Art Gallery. Their son J.S. Watson Jr. thus inherited both fortune and fame, and grew up in a rich home that cultivated appreciation for art and encouraged generous and active membership in the Rochester community.

Watson graduated from Harvard on June 22, 1916, and served on the Board of Editors of the Harvard Monthly. At Harvard, Watson made two lifelong friends: his future business partner Scofield Thayer, poet E. E. Cummings. A few months after he graduated, Watson married Hildegarde Lasell Watson, who shared her husband's enthusiasm for the arts and joined him in generously supporting various artists, including Marianne Moore, Kenneth Burke, and Gaston Lachaise. In 1918, Watson and Hildegarde had a son, Michael Lasell Watson, and a daughter in 1921, Jeanne Quackenbush. Despite his shy personality and natural reticence, Watson was a man of many talents and interests, and pursued several successful careers during his life. He not only became a medical doctor, but also contributed significantly to both the publishing and film industries. In his spare time he was also an artist, flyer, expert marksman and inventor.

Watson was directly involved in the Modernist literary movement in America through his association with the modernist little magazine, The Dial. His sojourn at The Dial began as an editorial reader while Francis Browne owned the magazine, but Watson's role grew far more substantial when Scofield Thayer approached him in 1918 with an invitation to co-purchase The Dial from financially strapped owner Martyn Johnson. Their joint venture produced its first issue in January 1920 and featured works by friends of Thayer and Watson such as Cummings and Gaston Lachaise. Though Thayer was officially editor and Watson was president, Watson in reality served as co-editor from 1920-1929 when the magazine ended. In addition to his editorial duties, Watson also published in The Dial, either anonymously or as "W.C. Blum" This pseudonym was a tribute to William Carlos Williams, whom Watson admired and championed despite Thayer's disagreement. Watson also translated foreign pieces for the magazine, including Rimbaud's A Season in Hell. After Thayer suffered a nervous breakdown and Marianne Moore took his place as editor in 1926, Watson assisted Moore and kept in contact with Thayer. Under the expert editorship of these three figures, The Dial developed into one of the most influential magazines in American Modernism.

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