Scofield Thayer

Scofield Thayer (12 December 1889 – 9 July 1982) was a wealthy American poet and publisher, best known for his art collection, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and as a publisher and editor of the literary magazine The Dial during the 1920s.

Thayer was born in Worcester, Massachusetts on 12 December 1889 to Edward D. Thayer and Florence Scofield Thayer. The Thayers were a prominent and wealthy Massachusetts family. Scofield's father was the owner of several area wool mills, a founding investor in the Crompton & Thayer Loom Company, and a director of the Worcester Trust Company. Scofield's uncle Ernest Thayer was the author of the well-known poem "Casey at the Bat".

Thayer entered Harvard University in 1913. His Harvard years would prove formative; during them Thayer would serve on the staff of the Harvard Monthly. During these years Thayer would also meet many other young poets and authors, including E. E. Cummings, Alan Seeger, Lincoln MacVeagh, and Gilbert Seldes. A large dormitory for freshmen at Harvard, in which E. E. Cummings once roomed (room 306), is named after the Thayer family. After Harvard, he went to Oxford at the same time as T. S. Eliot.

Thayer married Elaine Orr on 21 June 1916. He commissioned his friend E. E. Cummings to write his poem "Epithalamion" as a wedding present. The marriage did not last long, however, as by 1919 Elaine was having an affair with Cummings, even giving birth to a daughter, Nancy, by Cummings in December of that year.

Thayer's involvement with The Dial began in April 1918 when he purchased $600 USD worth of stock in the magazine. In late 1919, Thayer and his fellow Harvard alumnus Dr. James Sibley Watson, Jr. purchased The Dial from the owner, Martyn Johnson, who was experiencing financial trouble. Dr. Watson became the magazine's president while Thayer took up the post of editor. The Watson/Thayer-produced Dial released its first issue in January 1920. The issue featured works from E. E. Cummings, Gaston Lachaise, and Carl Sandburg.

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