During this time he introduced many improvements. He raised the status of the technical staff and negotiated for them the same rank and pay as the officials of the British Museum. He added students' rooms to all departments, and a steady stream of catalogues and guides was begun. Official guide lecturers were instituted and sponsored special exhibitions such as the Franco-British Exhibition of 1921 were introduced. It was under his directorship that the museum acquired the Salting collection, the Rodin sculptures (now transferred to the Tate Gallery), the Talbot Hughes collection of costumes, the Alma Tadema library, the Le Blon Korean pottery and the Pierpont Morgan stained glass. Other offices A year after his retirement Harcourt-Smith was appointed advisor for the Royal Art Collections and from 1928 until 1936 he was also Surveyor of the Royal Works of Art. He played a leading part in the foundation of the Central Committee for the Care of Churches, he was chairman of the committee of the Incorporated Church Building Society, and vice-chairman of the British Institute of Industrial Art and the British Society of Master Glass Painters. He was also vice-president of the Hellenic Society, president of the Society of Civil Servants and British representative on the International Office of Museums. He was an honorary member of the British Drama League and an honorary associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects. As well as contributing to many of the British Museum departmental catalogues, he wrote for the art journals and also published a number of monographs: The Collection of J. Pierpont Morgan (1913), The Art Treasures of the Nation (1929), and The Society of the Dilettanti: its Regalia and Pictures (1932). Smith was knighted in 1909, appointed CVO in 1917, and advanced to KCVO in 1934. He died on 27 March 1944 at age 84. References Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Obituary of Sir Cecil Harcourt Smith from The Times, 29 March 1944. V&A Directors British archaeologists Directors of the Victoria and Albert Museum Employees of the British Museum Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order People educated at Winchester College Surveyors of the Queen's Works of Art 1859 births 1944 deaths Directors of the British School at Athens