George Dudley Seymour

George Dudley Seymour (October 6, 1859 – January 21, 1945) was an American historian, patent attorney, antiquarian, author, and city planner. He was the noted authority and foremost expert on Nathan Hale, the American Revolutionary War hero.

Biography

George Dudley Seymour was born in Bristol, Connecticut, the son of Henry Albert Seymour and Electa Churchill. He practiced patent law in Washington, D.C., and then in New Haven, Connecticut."Connecticut Journal", The New York Times, January 4, 1981 Seymour was a law graduate of Columbian College in Washington, D.C., and received an honorary Master of Arts degree from Yale University in 1913."The Man Who Remembered Hale", Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library, 2009 He was a member of the Walpole Society,"Early American Houses: With A Glossary of Colonial Architectural Terms", Isham, Norman Morrison, 1928 the American Antiquarian Society,"GEORGE DUDLEY SEYMOUR", The American Antiquarian Society - OBITUARIES, Page 45, April, 1945 the Century Association,"Reports, Constitution, By-laws and List of Members of the Century Association", Century Association (New York, N.Y.), 1911 the Cosmos Club,"Act of Incorporation and By-laws with a List of Officers and Members", Cosmos Club (Washington, D.C.), 1911 and the Acorn Club."FORMER ACORN CLUB MEMBERS SINCE 1899", ‘’acornclubct.org’’ Seymour was a former vice president of the American Federation of Arts, a trustee of the Wadsworth Atheneum, and chairman of the State Commission of Sculpture."George Dudley Seymour", Connecticut Historical Society Museum & Library"The American Bar", J.C. Fifield Company, 1921 He was a close friend of William Howard Taft, John Singer Sargent,"Past to Present", The New Haven Museum and Historical Society, Summer 2007 and Gifford Pinchot, and a cousin of Yale President Charles Seymour.

Seymour extensively researched the life of the patriot Nathan Hale. He led the campaign for the statue of Hale on the Old Campus at Yale, and convinced the federal government to print a Nathan Hale postage stamp in 1925."Nathan Hale: The Life and Death of America's First Spy", Phelps, M. William, 2014"Revolutionary times: New Haven’s role at America’s beginning", New Haven Register, July 19, 2018 In 1914, Seymour purchased the Nathan Hale Homestead in Coventry, Connecticut, which he restored and gifted to the Antiquarian & Landmarks Society. Upon his death, Seymour gifted to the United States government the life-size bronze statue of Nathan Hale by sculptor Bela Lyon Pratt;"Captain Nathan Hale, (sculpture).", Smithsonian American Art Museum the statue is located at the south facade of the United States Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, D.C.Seymour was a leading figure in the municipal development of New Haven, and was the city's most fervent proponent of the City Beautiful movement."A Modern History of New Haven and Eastern New Haven County, Volume 1", Hill, Everett Gleason, 1918"A Guide to Historic New Haven, Connecticut", Caplan, Colin M., 2007 The City Beautiful influence in New Haven was responsible for a series of formal public buildings, such as the New Haven County Courthouse and the New Haven Free Public Library, with traditional columns and pediments that reinforced the role of the green as a civic center of classical dignity."Tomorrow is Here: New Haven and the Modern Movement", The New Haven Preservation Trust, 2008 In 1908, Seymour persuaded Yale to open the Peabody Museum of Natural History and the Yale University Art Gallery to the public on Sunday afternoons. He died on January 21, 1945, in New Haven, Connecticut and was buried in the Grove Street Cemetery."G. SEYMOUR, EXPERT ON HALE'S LIFE, DIES", The New York Times, January 22, 1945

The George Dudley Seymour Papers, Seymour's collection of correspondence, writings, photographs, research files, and printed material, are housed within the Manuscripts and Archives in Sterling Memorial Library at Yale.

A 1925 portrait of Seymour titled The Green Cloak by Cecilia Beaux is on display at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford.

George Dudley Seymour State Park in Middlesex County, Connecticut is named after him.

George Dudley Seymour

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