John Oliver Crompton Phillips (born 1947) is a New Zealand

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

and

encyclopedist An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles or entries that are arranged alphabetically by artic ...

. He was the general editor of '' Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand'', the official encyclopedia of New Zealand.

Career

Born and raised in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

, Phillips graduated with a BA at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

, followed by a MA and

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

in 1978. Returning to

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

was a Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and Reader in History at Victoria. He was founding director of the Stout Research Centre (established by the will of the grandson of

Robert Stout Sir Robert Stout (28 September 1844 – 19 July 1930) was a New Zealand politician who was the 13th premier of New Zealand on two occasions in the late 19th century, and later Chief Justice of New Zealand. He was the only person to hold both ...

). Moving to the

Department of Internal Affairs The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA; ) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with issuing passports; administering applications for citizenship and lottery grants; enforcing censorship and gambling laws; registering births, ...

in 1989, Phillips was Chief Historian (1989–1997 and 2000–2002) and General Manager, Heritage (Acting) (1997–2000). He was Conceptual Leader (history) for

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. Usually known as Te Papa ( Māori for ' the treasure box'), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum of New Zealand ...

1994–1998, in the lead-up to its radical transformation, accompanying its move to new waterfront premises. From 2002 to 2011, Phillips was general editor of Te Ara, (New Zealand's online encyclopedia) and then its managing editor of content from 2011 to 2014. Phillips was mentioned in leaked diplomatic cables as an expert on New Zealanders' attitude to war: and

Honours, awards and posts

* Awarded the 2014 Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in non-fiction, for his role as general editor of ''Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand''. * Appointed an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit () is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have r ...

, for services to historical research and publishing, in the 2013 Queen's Birthday Honours * 2011 recipient of the

Royal Society of New Zealand Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal ...

's Pou Aronui Award for service to the humanities-aronui * Member of the Council of the

by election by the Court of Convocation * Member of the New Zealand-US Education Foundation since 1995 * President of the National Library Society in 1994

Published works

Te Ara Blog
contributions by Jock Phillips. November 2007– * Phillips, Jock. ''Biography in New Zealand'',

Allen & Unwin George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It became one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and established an Australian ...

. . 1985. * Jock Phillips and Ellen Ellis. ''Brief Encounter: American forces and the New Zealand people, 1942–1945''. Historical Branch, Dept. of Internal Affairs. , 1992. * Phillips, Jock. The '51 Lockout: The Last Hurrah. David Grant, ''The Big Blue: Snapshots of the 1951 Waterfront Lockout''. Canterbury University Press, Labour History Project. . 2004. * Phillips, Jock. Aberhart, Laurence. et al. ''The Caravan''. McNamara Gallery. . 2002. * Phillips, Jock. Dalley, Bronwym. ''Going Public: The Changing Face of New Zealand History''.

Auckland University Press Auckland University Press is a New Zealand publisher that produces creative and scholarly work for a general audience. Founded in 1966 and formally recognised as Auckland University Press in 1972, it is a publisher based within the University ...

. , 2001. * Phillips, Jock. Boyack, Nicholas. Malone E.P. ''Great Adventure: New Zealand Soldiers Describe the First World War''.

. . 1988. * Phillips, Jock. Maclean Chris. ''In the Light of the Past: Stained Glass Windows in New Zealand Houses''.

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. , 1983. * Phillips, Jock. ''Man's Country? The Image of the Pakeha Male, A History''.

Penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...

, 1987. , 1996. * Phillips, Jock. ''New Worlds? The Comparative History of New Zealand and the United States''. NZ-US Education Foundation; Stout Research Centre, c1989. * Phillips, Jock. ''New Zealand Memorial: 11 November 2006''. Ministry for Culture & Heritage, 2006. * Phillips, Jock ''Royal Summer: The Visit of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

and

Prince Philip Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from h ...

to New Zealand, 1953–54''. Historical Branch, Dept. of Internal Affairs; Daphne Brasell Associates Press. , 1993. * Phillips, Jock. Hearn Terry. '' Settlers: New Zealand immigrants from England, Ireland & Scotland, 1800–1945''.

. . 2008. * Phillips, Jock. Maclean Chris. ''Sorrow and the Pride: New Zealand War Memorials''; editor Debbie Willis. : Historical Branch; GP Books. c1990. * ''Unique Sort of Battle: New Zealanders Remember Crete'' / edited by Megan Hutching; with Ian McGibbon, Jock Phillips and David Filer; foreword by

Helen Clark Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008 and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...

. HarperCollins New Zealand / History Group,

Ministry for Culture and Heritage The Ministry for Culture and Heritage (MCH; ) is the department of the New Zealand Government responsible for supporting the Creative New Zealand, arts, Culture of New Zealand, culture, New Zealand Historic Places Trust, built heritage, Sport Ne ...

. , 2001. * Phillips, Jock. ''Te Whenua, Te Iwi: The Land and the People''.

/ Port Nicholson Press / Stout Research Centre. , 1987. *Phillips, Jock. ''Making History: a New Zealand Story.''

. , 2019. * Phillips, Jock. ''A History of New Zealand in 100 Objects''.

, 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Jock 1947 births Living people Harvard University alumni Victoria University of Wellington alumni Academic staff of Victoria University of Wellington 20th-century New Zealand historians Encyclopedists Writers from Christchurch New Zealand public servants Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit People associated with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 21st-century New Zealand historians