Author, critic, and member of the Columbia English Department Faculty from 1891-1924. Matthews was an influential figure in the literary and dramatic worlds of New York and London from the 1880s throughtout his life. He was a member of numerous social and literary organizations, serving as president of the Dunlap Society, the Modern Language Association, and the National Institute of Arts and Letters, among others.

James Brander Matthews was born in New Orleans on February 21, 1852 to Edward and Virginia Brander Matthews. The family was in New Orleans due to the Father's business interests but Matthews raised in New York with long stays in Europe always considered New York his home. Matthews's father intended that his son become a gentleman of leisure and educated him accordingly. He received a baccalaureate in 1871 and a law degree in 1873 both from Columbia University.

In 1873, Matthews married Ada Smith an English actress who had come to America under the stage name of Ada Harland in the 1868-1869 season with the popular troupe Lydia Thompson and the English Blondes. The same year Matthews's father began to experience a reversal of fortune as a result of the financial panic. Matthews was uninterested in law but passionate about theater and literature. He earned a Master of Arts in Literature at Columbia University in 1874 and turned to writing to support his family. He began by reviewing plays and eventually became a respected author of novels plays short stories poems essays and biographies. He was a frequent contributor to such periodicals as The Nation, Puck, The Critic, Scribner's Monthly, and Harper's Monthly. Some of his more successful plays include Marjory's Lovers (1884), A Gold Mine (1887), and On Probation (1889), the last two written with G. H. Jessop. Of note also are the several books depicting old New York including Vignettes of Manhattan (1894), His Father's Son: a Novel of New York (1895), and Vistas of New York (1912).

Matthews was a social being who very much enjoyed his membership in the New York social clubs--the Kinsmen, the Century and the Round Table. He was the co-founder of the Authors' Club organized to bring together the literary men of New York. Through this club Matthews helped form the American Copyright League which successfully lobbied for legislation to provide foreign authors with copyright protection. He was one of the founders of the Players' Club a meeting place for those interested in the theatrical arts and the Dunlap Society established in 1885 to print books about theater. A devoted bibliophile he was also a member of the Grolier Club.

Matthews began lecturing in the Columbia University English Department in 1892. He was appointed Professor of Dramatic Literature in 1900, the first such professorship established in the United States. He continued to publish books on theater and literature such as The Historical Novel (1901), The Development of the Drama (1903), Moliere: His life and Work (1910), and Shakspere as a Playwright (1913).

Columbia University established the Brander Matthews Dramatic Museum in 1911, the first such museum in the United States. Matthews had been inspired by an exhibition he had first seen at the Paris Exposition of 1878. In 1881 he revisited the display at its permanent home in the Paris Opera. He was greatly impressed by the models which formed the major part of the exhibition. In his autobiography These Many Years (p. 213), he describes the experience: "The more I studied the series of models representing sets in the successive epochs of the French stage, the more illuminative I found them. An old play seemed to start to new life when I was thus enabled to visualize its original performance." Matthews envisioned a similar type of museum to illustrate the history of the English speaking theater. When Columbia University gave Matthews the opportunity to fulfill his dream, he expanded its scope to include worldwide theatrical practice. Matthews donated books, playbills, and other theatrical memorabilia from his own collection. He had models of theaters and sets made, considering them the centerpiece of the museum. He set up an endowment to be administered by the English Department which would ensure the continuation of this theatrical resource of which he was so proud.

Matthews received many honors in the latter part of his life including honorary degrees from Columbia University in 1900, from Yale University in 1901 and from the University of Miami in 1909. In 1907 the Government of France decorated him with the Legion of Honor for his work in French literature and theater. He was President of the Modern Language Association in 1910 and President of the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1913. He was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was the first chairman of the Simplified Spelling Board.

Brander Matthews resigned his professorship at Columbia University in 1924 shortly after the death of his wife. His only daughter had passed away in 1922. He continued an active life of writing and lecturing. He also devoted a considerable amount of time and resources to the Brander Matthews Dramatic Museum. Matthews died at age seventy-five on March 31, 1929.