Photo of James Wilson Bright courtesy of The Ferdinand Hamburger Archives of The Johns Hopkins University.

James Wilson Bright was born at Aaronsburg, Pennsylvania on October 2, 1852, to Samuel and Eve Margaret Bright.  James attended Lafayette College where he studied with Professor Francis A. March, one of the best Anglicists in America.  In 1882, Bright received his doctorate at Johns Hopkins University of Baltimore, where he studied English, Old Saxon, Icelandic, German, Gothic and Sanskrit.  The same year, he was appointed assistant professor of German at Hopkins, the same year that the English and German departments were combined.

Three years later, Bright taught what he called “the first. . .lectures on the science of English Philology.”  In a letter sent to Daniel Coit Gilman, first president of Johns Hopkins, Bright claims, “When I began giving instruction here in 1886, the idea of a University course in English was wholly undeveloped.  My lectures in English language. . .represent the first attempt in America to teach the subject in a scientific way. . .with [the] direct aim at higher academic discipline.”  Bright’s claim is backed not only by his syllabi, but also by his extensive collection of books, purchased mostly in Europe. 

Bright demonstrated his commitment to developing the field of English studies in a variety of ways.  For his pioneering work at Hopkins he achieved the title of Emeritus.  His involvement with Modern Language Notes, where he served on the original board of directors and later as its editor-in-chief (1886-1925), and with the Modern Language Association helped to shape the course of English studies in America.  Bright’s written and editorial contributions to many literary publications focusing on Anglo Saxon, Middle English and literary criticism, as well as the nine books he authored and co-authored, are testament to his rigorous scholarship and the richness of his collection.

According to his will, dated 1911, Bright intended to leave his collection to Hopkins.  For unknown reasons, Bright struck a deal with Goucher College President William Guth and Professor of English Ernest P. Kuhl to sell the collection to the college upon his death.  Bright died on November 29, 1926, at the age of seventy-four.