Barb , Alfons A , 1901-1979 , librarian and cultural scholar

Alfons Barb was born in Vienna. He supported himself working as a goldsmith whilst studying at the University of Vienna and received his doctorate aged 25. He then worked as a museum director for several years until the Anschluss, when he was dismissed under the new racial laws. He moved to England with his young family in 1939 where, after time spent interned as an enemy alien and eight years working as a factory tool fitter, he eventually resumed an academic career. Barb joined the Warburg Institute in 1949 as Assistant Librarian and subsequently served as Librarian (1956-1966). He was an Honorary Fellow of the Institute from 1968 until his death in 1979. He was also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Numismatic Society, and received the Austrian Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst in 1968.