George Washington

William Roscoe Thayer was an American author, editor, and historian born in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 16, 1859. He received early education at St. Mark's Academy in New Hampshire and furthered his studies in Europe with a private tutor before graduating from Harvard University in 1881. Early in his career, he served as assistant editor of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin and later returned to Harvard to earn an A.M. degree in 1886. Thayer became the founding editor of the Harvard Graduates' Magazine, a role he held from 1892 to 1915, and represented Harvard and the American Historical Association at international historical congresses in Rome and Milan. He served on the Harvard Board of Overseers from 1913 to 1919, was president of the American Historical Association from 1918 to 1919, and was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. Thayer passed away on September 7, 1923, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.