Mead Schaeffer

Mead Schaeffer (1898 – 1980) was an American illustrator from the early to mid-twentieth century. He lived in New Rochelle, New York, a community favored by artists, illustrators and writers from the period, where he was a neighbor and personal friend of Norman Rockwell. Mead Schaeffer and his family often posed as models for many of Rockwell's Saturday Evening Post illustrations and paintings.

Schaeffer was born in Freedom Plains, New York, in 1898, and grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts. Schaeffer enrolled in the Pratt Institute in 1916, where he was influenced by Harvey Dunn, who also critiqued many of Schaeffer's projects. While a student at Pratt, Scaheffer illustrated the first of seven 'Golden Boy' books authored by L.P. Wyman.

At age 24, he was hired to illustrate a series of books for publisher Dodd-Mead, including Moby Dick, Typee, and Omoo by Herman Melville, The Count of Monte Christo, and Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. Schaeffer's career from 1922 and 1930 focused on these illustrations for classic novels.

For the next two decades, Schaeffer abandoned illustrating adventure novels in favors of focusing on real people in real settings. During this time period, Schaeffer received commissions from magazines: Good Housekeeping, McCall's, Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal, Country Gentleman, and Cosmopolitan. After this period focusing on realistic depictions of every-day American life, Schaeffer focused on depictions of American military personnel during World War II.

Schaeffer retired and lived the rest of his life in Vermont. He died in 1980.