Partner Richard David Cowan, buried together
Queer Places:
Harvard University (Ivy League), 2 Kirkland St, Cambridge, MA 02138
University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 3PA
276 Marlborough St, Boston, MA 02116, USA
Mount Auburn Cemetery, 580 Mt Auburn St, Cambridge, MA 02138, Stati Uniti
Stewart Mitchell (November 25, 1892 – November 3, 1957) was an American poet, editor, and scholar of English literature whose life intersected with the highest echelons of early 20th-century American modernism. Best remembered today for his pivotal early editorship of The Dial and his decades of quiet dedication to historical editing, Mitchell’s personal life offers a profound window into the realities of middle-class gay life, queer survival, and artistic camaraderie during an era of rigid social repression.
Born into an impoverished old Cincinnati family on November 25, 1892, Mitchell managed to secure an elite education, entering Harvard University in 1911. He quickly distinguished himself within the institution's vibrant literary circles, serving as editor of the prestigious Harvard Monthly and graduating cum laude.
During his undergraduate years, Mitchell was at the center of a historic literary cohort. He was one of the founding members of the Harvard Poetry Club and the creative force behind Eight Harvard Poets (1917), an influential anthology featuring his own work alongside future luminaries like E. E. Cummings, Cuthbert Wright, John Wheelwright and John Dos Passos.
Biographer Robert S. Kennedy noted that among the tightly knit, homoerotic literary networks of Harvard and later New York, Mitchell stood out as uniquely overt about his homosexuality. Yet his relationships endured across decades; most notably, he maintained a lifelong, deeply devoted friendship with E. E. Cummings. Mitchell acted as an early confidant, informal agent, and financial benefactor to Cummings, famously gifting him a substantial sum of money as late as 1949.
Following his graduation in 1916, Mitchell briefly taught English literature at the University of Wisconsin. He resigned in protest over institutional corruption—specifically after being pressured to pass an undeserving student because of his political connections—before enlisting in the U.S. Army and serving as a field artilleryman in France during World War I.
Upon returning to the United States after the war, Mitchell was hired by Scofield Thayer and James Sibley Watson as managing editor of The Dial. Alongside Gilbert Seldes, Mitchell managed the magazine from 1919 to 1920.
His appointment marked a monumental turning point for the publication: under his guidance, The Dial shifted its primary focus from political commentary to cutting-edge artistic and literary modernism. Mitchell utilized his platform to publish his own poetry, later collecting and releasing a volume of verse in 1921.
However, Mitchell's early adulthood was marred by a difficult financial compromise. To fund his postgraduate education amid his family's destitution, he entered into a restrictive arrangement with a wealthy older woman, Georgine Holmes Thomas. Agreeing to serve as her platonic "walker" and forgo marriage, Mitchell bound himself to a lifestyle that friends like Dos Passos viewed with profound sorrow and frustration.
Seeking distance, Mitchell resigned from The Dial in 1922 to pursue studies abroad at the University of Montpellier in France and Jesus College, Oxford (often noted in records interchangeably with Cambridge).
Returning to the United States, Mitchell immersed himself in rigorous academic pursuits. He became a Harvard tutor in 1925, balancing intense teaching schedules while completing his Ph.D. in Literature, which he earned in 1933 at the age of forty-one.
Throughout the early 1920s, Mitchell and his close friend, poet Robert Hillyer, frequently corresponded about the intersections of art, will, and homosexuality. While Hillyer believed sheer willpower could conquer forbidden desire, Mitchell argued more cynically that desire always found a way, writing that he refused to live a furtive life "lurking around urinals and water closets," preferring authentic emotional connections instead.
Mitchell found that authentic connection in Richard David Cowan. A Cornell University graduate (class of 1933), Cowan moved to Boston at Mitchell's invitation, where Mitchell rented him an apartment. Cowan's surviving diaries offer a rare, poignant glimpse into mid-century Boston queer life, detailing meetings with young men at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Copley Theatre, and the Public Garden, even as he recorded his deep affection for Mitchell.
Professionally, Mitchell found his true calling in historical editing. While finishing his doctorate, he served as editor for the New England Quarterly (1928–1929) before taking over the publication program of the prestigious, staid Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS). Blessed with a sharp ear for prose, a keen memory, and a dry wit, Mitchell excelled as its director and historical editor.
His career at MHS came to a dramatic halt in 1939. Following the tragic suicide of his longtime partner, Richard Cowan, Mitchell suffered a severe emotional breakdown. Though ostensibly forced out by MHS directors due to struggles with alcohol, private board complaints targeted his openness about his homosexuality. Devastated, Mitchell wrote to his confessor, Spence Burton: "There is no running away from a broken heart."
Despite this turbulent departure, the society recognized his irreplaceable value. Mitchell was recalled to his post in 1947, serving successfully as Director and editor for another eleven years.
Stewart Mitchell died on November 3, 1957, in Brookline, Massachusetts. He was laid to rest at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts—buried alongside Richard Cowan, ensuring that in death, as in life, they remained together.
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