Stuart LeRoy Thayer (March 27, 1926 – June 24, 2009) was a historian of American circuses.

Biography

He was born on March 27, 1926, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Louise and Lyle O. Thayer (1901-1968). Thayer served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

after which he graduated with a degree in literature from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. He operated an insurance agency in Ann Arbor until his late 40s, when he retired to devote the remainder of his life to documenting the history of the American

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclis ...

. He began writing articles on circus history in '' Bandwagon'', the journal of the Circus Historical Society, in the late 1960s, one a piece on Ringling cages co-authored by Richard Conover, then the leading student of American field shows. His first major work was ''Mudshows and Railers'', an account of the 1879 circus season based mainly on a close reading of the ''

New York Clipper The ''New York Clipper'', also known as ''The Clipper'', was a weekly entertainment newspaper published in New York City from 1853 to 1924. It covered many topics, including circuses, dance, music, the outdoors, sports, and theatre. It had a ...

'', the industry's trade paper, and metropolitan dailies. The first of his three groundbreaking books on the history of the American

Circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclis ...

before 1860, ''Annals of the American Circus'', came out in 1976. It was the first extensively researched, comprehensive account of the ante-bellum American circus, obsoleting virtually all previous secondary work on the subject. He later co-authored books with fellow historians Fred Dahlinger and

William L. Slout William Lawrence Slout (July 17, 1923 – February 4, 2017) was an American professor of theater at California State University, San Bernardino. He wrote ''Olympians of the Sawdust Circle'' and other reference books on circus history. Biography S ...

, and continued to publish in '' Bandwagon''. ''Traveling Showmen'', his masterpiece, was published in 1997. The distillation of his thirty years of research, the book analyzed the economic and operational aspects of pre-

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

circuses. A companion volume on the performance and performers appeared in 2006. At the time of his death, he was finishing a biography of

Adam Forepaugh Adam John Forepaugh (born Adam John Forbach; February 28, 1831 – January 22, 1890) was an American horse trader and circus owner. From 1865 through 1890 his circus operated under various names including Forepaugh's Circus, Forepaugh's Gigantic ...

, the late 19th century circus manager. Thayer died in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

, on June 24, 2009. He was survived by his wife Boyka, son Preston, stepdaughter Katherine Davis, stepson Jon Davis, and grandchildren Amin, Nilofar, Aydan, and Thayer.

Publications

* “One Sheet,” Bandwagon 18, no. 5 (1974): 23.
Annals of the American Circus: 1830-1847
(1976)
A capsule history of the Washtenaw County farm
(1976) with Rhonda Barnat * “The Keeper Will Enter the Cage: Early American Wild Animal Trainers,” Bandwagon 26, no. 6 (1982): 38.
Annals of the American Circus: 1793-1829
(1986) * “The Elephant in America Before 1840,” Bandwagon 31, no. 1 (1987): 20-26. * “The Elephant in America, 1840-1860,” Bandwagon 35, no. 5 (1991): 34-37.
Annals of the American Circus: 1848-1860
(1992)
Grand Entree: The Birth of the Greatest Show on Earth, 1870-1875
(1997) with

Traveling showmen: the American circus before the Civil War
(1997)
Badger State showmen: a history of Wisconsin's circus heritage
(1998) with Fred Dahlinger

References

External links

Stuart Thayer's American Circus Anthology
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thayer, Stuart 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 1926 births 2009 deaths University of Michigan alumni 20th-century American male writers