Stuart Thayer

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

Biography Stuart Thayer was born on March 27, 1926, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Louise and Lyle O. Thayer (1901-1968). Thayer served in World War II after which he graduated with a degree in literature from the University of Michigan. 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. 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.

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