Philip James (1901 - 1974)

RA Collection: People and Organisations

Librarian and arts administrator. Became Sub-Librarian of Middle-Temple in 1923. In 1925 he went to work in the Victoria & Albert Museum Library, of which he was appointed Keeper in 1936. After the outbreak of World War Two he was lent to the Ministry of Home Security for two years. He joined the Council for Education in Music and the Arts, (CEMA, (renamed after the war as the Arts Council of Great Britain), when it was founded in 1941 as deputy Secretary. He became its Director of Art in 1942. He retired from the Arts Council in 1958 and was, for a short time, first Directory of the James de Rothschild Bequest at Waddesdon Manor, before joining the Museums Association as Secretary and Editor in 1960. In 1969 he was appointed Librarian at the Royal Academy of Arts, a position he held until his death in 1974.

He was the author of several books, including Early Keyboard Instruments (London, 1930); English Book Illustration 1800-1900 (London, 1947) and Henry Moore on Sculpture (1966)

He was awarded a CBE in 1951.