Chauncey Brewster Tinker

Born in Auburn, Maine, in 1876, he studied at Yale, earning his BA, MA, and PhD there before joining the faculty. He went on to become Sterling Professor of English Literature and taught at Yale for decades, retiring in 1945.

His early scholarship included work on Old English literature, but he became especially known for eighteenth-century studies, particularly his writing on Samuel Johnson and Boswell. Alongside his teaching, he played an important part in Yale’s rare-book culture, helping establish a rare books collection and contributing to the founding of the Elizabethan Club.

Remembered as both a scholar and a collector, he left behind papers, correspondence, and photographs that document a long academic life. He died in 1963 and was buried in New Haven’s Grove Street Cemetery.