Citation for Dwight Thomas (Honorary Membership)

More than fifty years ago, in 1972, a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, Dwight Thomas, began to study Edgar Allan Poe. With the guidance of dissertation director Robert Regan and readers Hennig Cohen and Daniel Hoffman, Thomas fashioned a work of enormous archival research, one of the most informative of all Poe dissertations, still consulted today: "Poe in Philadelphia 1838–1844: A Documentary Record" (1978). Then, collaborating with David K. Jackson, Thomas commenced work on the remarkable volume The Poe Log: A Documentary Life of Edgar Allan Poe 1809–1849 (1987). David K. Jackson compiled the first four chapters, covering 1809 through 1837, and Thomas compiled the subsequent seven chapters, treating 1838 to 1849. The effort was deftly guided by Joel Myerson. Thomas's invaluable unpublished work was followed by this invaluable published work. The Poe Log offers exemplary research, commentary, and documentation; it is clearly foundational for Poe study.In the course of his career, Thomas also wrote a variety of Poe articles, illuminating such figures in Poe's world as Thomas Dunn English and William E. Burton. And Thomas served as the congenial Guest of Honor at the 2009 Bicentennial Poe Conference in Philadelphia.In recognition of his superb contribution to the study of Poe, the Poe Studies Association is proud to award Dwight Thomas Honorary Membership. Poe scholars and aficionados will always be grateful to Dwight Thomas for his vital pioneering work.Thank you, Dwight!