Born in Saginaw, Michigan on January 1, 1907, James Hayes came to Chicago in 1926 to attend the School of the Art Institute, where his mentor was Ernst F. Detterer, later Custodian of the John M. Wing Foundation at the Newberry Library. Hayes wanted to train as a lettering artist but recalled in later years that his only option was to take the entire course of the Printing Arts Department, which Detterer had established in 1921. From 1932 to 1940 he worked in the display department of Marshall Field & Co., doing some freelance calligraphy on the side. He worked exclusively as a freelance lettering artist from 1940 to 1943; and after returning from military service in 1946, he continued to work as a free-lancer. Major clients included Ryerson Steel, R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. (for which he organized a much-admired exhibit on The Roman Letter in 1951-1952), the American College of Hospital Administrators, the Bank Marketing Association, The Newberry Library, and Rush Presbyterian St. Luke's Hospital. Hayes lettered diplomas for Kendall College and the Frances W. Parker School for many decades. Hundreds of other clients included airline companies, publishers, churches, colleges and universities, and libraries. After the death of Ernst Detterer in 1947, Hayes directed the Newberry Library's Calligraphy Study Group until it disbanded in 1960. Famous as a designer of calligraphic bookplates, he exchanged plates with collectors around the world. His work was widely exhibited and included in published collections of contemporary calligraphy from the 1950s until his death in 1994. He moved his family to Woodland Park, Colorado in 1971 where he continued to work, largely for Chicago clients. After death his extensive collection of manuscript fragments and books on lettering and paleography went to the University of Colorado, Boulder.