Eugene C. Barker
Encyclopedia
Eugene Campbell Barker was a distinguished professor
of Texas
history
at the University of Texas
at Austin
. He was the first living person to have a UT campus building, the Eugene C. Barker Texas History Center, named in his honor. The structure is part of the Center for American History and was relocated in 1971 to Sid Richardson
Hall. Barker was renowned for his scholarship
, research
, classroom teaching, and in the formation of both the Texas State Historical Association
and the American Historical Association
.
The Eugene C. Barker Texas History Collection was authorized in 1945 and opened to researchers in 1950. It includes books, manuscript
s, map
s, newspaper
s, photograph
s, broadsides, and recordings. It is the most extensive collection of Texas-related material in existence. The collection also houses the Eugene Campbell Barker Papers, which cover the period from 1812, his earliest research materials, until 1959, three years after his death.
in Walker County
in east Texas
. As a young man, he worked in the railroad shops in Palestine
in Anderson County
. When he arrived at UT as a student in 1895, he was still a night mail clerk for the Missouri Pacific Railroad
. Barker received the bachelor of arts
and the master of arts
from UT in 1899 and 1900, respectively. He procured his Ph.D.
from the private University of Pennsylvania
in Philadelphia
, founded by Benjamin Franklin
. He also studied at Harvard University
in Cambridge, Massachusetts
, and taught for a time there at Radcliffe College
.
In 1940, Barker received an honorary LL.D. from Transylvania College
in Lexington, Kentucky
, the ‘’alma mater
’’ of Stephen F. Austin, whom Barker considered to have been the most important person in Texas history. Barker was elected to Phi Beta Kappa
and was a member of the Phi Delta Theta
social fraternity
.
and tenure
. While he was tolerant of individual failings, he stood steadfastly behind his principles. Before the faculty, Barker would present his views concisely and quietly, but if opposition persisted, he would overwhelm his critics in forceful rhetoric and expression. He once likened a colleague’s reference to "academic courtesy" as "damned cowardice". He influenced colleagues because of the confidence that most had in him as well as through his own ability to express his ideas. A "university man", he would not bend to the winds of popularity and compromise.
Barker was an academic specialist in dozens of subject areas, including but not limited to the following:
The writings of frontier
historian Frederick Jackson Turner
.
Barker was a UT tutor
from 1899 to 1901, an instructor from 1901 to 1908, an adjunct professor from 1908 to 1911, associate professor from 1911 to 1913, and full professor and subsequently chairman of the history department from 1913 until his retirement in 1951. He was professor emeritus for the last five years of his life. When the title “distinguished professor” was established at UT in 1937, Barker was among the first three faculty members given such designation.
the Mississippi Valley Historical Association
and served in 1923 as president of the organization. He focused his studies on Texas history, then a wide-open field. Before he began writing his biography of Austin he assembled Austin’s papers from the period 1765–1836, which were published by the American Historical Association in four volumes between 1924 and 1928. His The Life of Stephen F. Austin was published in 1925 and is still considered a classic, the best single piece of scholarship yet done on a Texas topic. Though Barker greatly admired Austin, there is little praise of his subject because of Barker’s strict principles of' historical objectivity. He wrote of Austin:
“He was a man of warm affections, and loved the idea of home, but he never married. Texas was home and wife and family to him. He died on a pallet on the floor of a two-room clapboard shack, a month and twenty-four days past his forty-third birthday. His work was done, but he was denied the years so hardly earned for the enjoyment of its fruits. . . . “
, reborn in 1962 and based on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University
in Nacogdoches
.
Barker served as managing editor from 1910 to 1937 of The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, published by the Texas State Historical Association. He not only edited the magazine
but contributed many of the articles. He showed how Texas impacted national development and westward expansion. He repudiated those who claimed that the westward expansion of the United States, the acquisition of Texas, and the Mexican Cession
of 1848, were the results of a conspiracy of southerners to expand slave territory. He also rejected those who claimed that the Texas Revolution
and the Mexican War were caused primarily by Mexico.
Barker was also responsible for the University of Texas library becoming a repository of authentic sources on the American Civil War
. Much of those works were possible from the George W. Littlefield
Fund, an initial $125,000 donation from the legendary Texas cattleman
and bank
er, who sought to tell the "Southern" side of history. UT hence also became a major repository of the history of the American South
.
Barker wrote textbook
s used from third grade to high school
. In 1912, Barker, C.W. Ramsdell and C.S. Potts published A School History of Texas, the state-adopted text for many years. Among his associates in writing the school textbooks were Henry Steele Commager
, who later became an academic critic of U.S. Senator Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin
; William E. Dodd, later U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
's ambassador to Nazi Germany
; and Walter Prescott Webb
, an East Texas native who had studied western history under Barker. As department chairman, Barker concentrated on making the UT history department second to none in its field nationally. He encouraged scholars to work in one another’s fields as their research interests so led them. He disdained any scholar claiming virtual "ownership" of a particular field of study.
colonial home at 2600 San Gabriel Street in Austin. The structure was a model of architectural beauty and was furnished with carefully selected antiques.
Barker was a golf
er and a fisherman
. He found time to fish throughout the Austin area as well as at the resort community of Port Aransas
near Corpus Christi
. He also maintained a summer home for fishing and a respite from the summer Texas heat, in Boulder, Colorado
.
Barker was known for his generosity. It was said that few who ever went to him in personal distress failed to receive assistance. He lent money to any needy student and never required a promissory note. All the money, he once said, was paid back, sometimes twenty years later. A struggling graduate student outside of the history department once lost his child when an aviator
flew an airplane
into their cottage in west Austin. Barker called in the student and offered financial help.
Barker was an opposition leader to Democratic
Governor James Edward “Pa” Ferguson
, who was impeached
by the Texas House of Representatives
in 1917, convicted by the Texas State Senate
of ten counts of wrongdoing, and forced from office. A bank
er from Temple
in Bell County
, Ferguson’s troubles began when he punitively used the line-item veto
against the UT appropriations bill and attempted to dismiss unfavored faculty members. Barker also opposed Franklin Roosevelt, a highly popular figure in Texas. He supported the conservative regents, including Republican
Orville Bullington
, when they discharged President Homer P. Rainey
, who thereafter was an unsuccessful candidate for governor in the 1946 Democratic primary election
, having lost to Beauford Jester.
Among the historians who studied under Barker were J. Evetts Haley
, known for his study of the cattleman Charles Goodnight
as well as political writings against Lyndon B. Johnson
, and Rupert N. Richardson
, later the president of Hardin-Simmons University
in Abilene
, Texas.
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
at the University of Texas
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
at Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. He was the first living person to have a UT campus building, the Eugene C. Barker Texas History Center, named in his honor. The structure is part of the Center for American History and was relocated in 1971 to Sid Richardson
Sid W. Richardson
Sid Williams Richardson was a Texas oilman, cattleman, and philanthropist known for his association with the city of Fort Worth....
Hall. Barker was renowned for his scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
, research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
, classroom teaching, and in the formation of both the Texas State Historical Association
Texas State Historical Association
The Texas State Historical Association or abbreviated TSHA, is a non-profit educational organization, dedicated to documenting the rich and unique history of Texas. It was founded on March 2, 1897. As of November 2008, TSHA moved from Austin to the University of North Texas in Denton.The executive...
and the American Historical Association
American Historical Association
The American Historical Association is the oldest and largest society of historians and professors of history in the United States. Founded in 1884, the association promotes historical studies, the teaching of history, and the preservation of and access to historical materials...
.
The Eugene C. Barker Texas History Collection was authorized in 1945 and opened to researchers in 1950. It includes books, manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
s, map
Map
A map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes....
s, newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s, photograph
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
s, broadsides, and recordings. It is the most extensive collection of Texas-related material in existence. The collection also houses the Eugene Campbell Barker Papers, which cover the period from 1812, his earliest research materials, until 1959, three years after his death.
Early years and education
Barker was born near RiversideRiverside, Texas
Riverside is a small city in Walker County, Texas, United States. The population was 425 at the 2000 census. Two famous natives of Riverside are singer-actress Jennifer Holliday , best known for her creation of the role of Effie in the successful Tony-award winning Broadway musical...
in Walker County
Walker County, Texas
Walker County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2010, its population was 67,861. Its county seat is Huntsville.Initially, Walker County was named for Robert J. Walker, a legislator from Mississippi who introduced into the United States Congress the resolution to annex Texas...
in east Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. As a young man, he worked in the railroad shops in Palestine
Palestine, Texas
Palestine is a city in Anderson County, Texas, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 17,598, and 18,458 in the 2009 estimate. It is the county seat of Anderson County and is situated in East Texas...
in Anderson County
Anderson County, Texas
Anderson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of 2000, the population was 55,109. Its county seat is Palestine. Anderson county was organized in 1846, and is named in honor of Kenneth L. Anderson who had been Vice President of the Republic of Texas.-Geography:According to the...
. When he arrived at UT as a student in 1895, he was still a night mail clerk for the Missouri Pacific Railroad
Missouri Pacific Railroad
The Missouri Pacific Railroad , also known as the MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers, including the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway , Texas and Pacific...
. Barker received the bachelor of arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
and the master of arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
from UT in 1899 and 1900, respectively. He procured his Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
from the private University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, founded by Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
. He also studied at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, and taught for a time there at Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was the coordinate college for Harvard University. It was also one of the Seven Sisters colleges. Radcliffe College conferred joint Harvard-Radcliffe diplomas beginning in 1963 and a formal merger agreement with...
.
In 1940, Barker received an honorary LL.D. from Transylvania College
Transylvania University
Transylvania University is a private, undergraduate liberal arts college in Lexington, Kentucky, United States, affiliated with the Christian Church . The school was founded in 1780. It offers 38 majors, and pre-professional degrees in engineering and accounting...
in Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
, the ‘’alma mater
Alma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...
’’ of Stephen F. Austin, whom Barker considered to have been the most important person in Texas history. Barker was elected to Phi Beta Kappa
Phi Beta Kappa Society
The Phi Beta Kappa Society is an academic honor society. Its mission is to "celebrate and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences"; and induct "the most outstanding students of arts and sciences at America’s leading colleges and universities." Founded at The College of William and...
and was a member of the Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta , also known as Phi Delt, is an international fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, Beta Theta Pi, and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad. The fraternity has about 169 active chapters and colonies in over 43 U.S...
social fraternity
Fraternity
A fraternity is a brotherhood, though the term usually connotes a distinct or formal organization. An organization referred to as a fraternity may be a:*Secret society*Chivalric order*Benefit society*Friendly society*Social club*Trade union...
.
Academic pursuits
Through his administrative duties at UT, Barker became an authority on academic freedomAcademic freedom
Academic freedom is the belief that the freedom of inquiry by students and faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy, and that scholars should have freedom to teach or communicate ideas or facts without being targeted for repression, job loss, or imprisonment.Academic freedom is a...
and tenure
Tenure
Tenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior academic's contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause.-19th century:...
. While he was tolerant of individual failings, he stood steadfastly behind his principles. Before the faculty, Barker would present his views concisely and quietly, but if opposition persisted, he would overwhelm his critics in forceful rhetoric and expression. He once likened a colleague’s reference to "academic courtesy" as "damned cowardice". He influenced colleagues because of the confidence that most had in him as well as through his own ability to express his ideas. A "university man", he would not bend to the winds of popularity and compromise.
Barker was an academic specialist in dozens of subject areas, including but not limited to the following:
- Fredonia RebellionFredonia (Texas)The Fredonian Rebellion, between December 21, 1826 – January 31, 1827, was the first attempt by Anglo settlers in Texas to secede from Mexico. The settlers, led by Empresario Haden Edwards, declared independence from Mexican Texas and created the Republic of Fredonia near Nacogdoches...
- Texas finances
- Sam HoustonSam HoustonSamuel Houston, known as Sam Houston , was a 19th-century American statesman, politician, and soldier. He was born in Timber Ridge in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, of Scots-Irish descent. Houston became a key figure in the history of Texas and was elected as the first and third President of...
- The Mexican Army
- Battle of GoliadBattle of GoliadThe Battle of Goliad was the second skirmish of the Texas Revolution. In the early-morning hours of October 10, 1835, rebellious Texas settlers attacked the Mexican Army soldiers garrisoned at Presidio La Bahía, a fort near the Mexican Texas settlement of Goliad...
- Tampico ExpeditionTampico ExpeditionThe "Battle of Tampico" was fought November 15, 1835, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Gregorio Gómez and the Mexican Centralist garrison engaged Gen. José Antonio Mejía and 150 American volunteers.-Background:...
- Texas-Mexican relations
- The AlamoAlamoThe Battle of the Alamo was a battle fought during the Texas Revolution.Alamo may also refer to:-Places:*Alamo Mission in San Antonio, Texas*Alamo, California*Alamo, Georgia*Alamo Township, Michigan*Alamo, Nevada*Alamo, New Mexico...
- Signers of the Texas Declaration of IndependenceTexas Declaration of IndependenceThe Texas Declaration of Independence was the formal declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico in the Texas Revolution. It was adopted at the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 2, 1836, and formally signed the following day after errors were noted in the...
- Stephen F. AustinStephen F. AustinStephen Fuller Austin was born in Virginia and raised in southeastern Missouri. He was known as the Father of Texas, led the second, but first legal and ultimately successful colonization of the region by bringing 300 families from the United States. The capital of Texas, Austin in Travis County,...
- The Republic of TexasRepublic of TexasThe Republic of Texas was an independent nation in North America, bordering the United States and Mexico, that existed from 1836 to 1846.Formed as a break-away republic from Mexico by the Texas Revolution, the state claimed borders that encompassed an area that included all of the present U.S...
and its foreign relations
The writings of frontier
Frontier
A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. 'Frontier' was absorbed into English from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"--the region of a country that fronts on another country .The use of "frontier" to mean "a region at the...
historian Frederick Jackson Turner
Frederick Jackson Turner
Frederick Jackson Turner was an American historian in the early 20th century. He is best known for his essay "The Significance of the Frontier in American History", whose ideas are referred to as the Frontier Thesis. He is also known for his theories of geographical sectionalism...
.
Barker was a UT tutor
Tutor
A tutor is a person employed in the education of others, either individually or in groups. To tutor is to perform the functions of a tutor.-Teaching assistance:...
from 1899 to 1901, an instructor from 1901 to 1908, an adjunct professor from 1908 to 1911, associate professor from 1911 to 1913, and full professor and subsequently chairman of the history department from 1913 until his retirement in 1951. He was professor emeritus for the last five years of his life. When the title “distinguished professor” was established at UT in 1937, Barker was among the first three faculty members given such designation.
In search of Stephen F. Austin
Barker was a member of the editorial board ofthe Mississippi Valley Historical Association
Organization of American Historians
The Organization of American Historians , formerly known as the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, is the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of American history. OAH's members in the U.S...
and served in 1923 as president of the organization. He focused his studies on Texas history, then a wide-open field. Before he began writing his biography of Austin he assembled Austin’s papers from the period 1765–1836, which were published by the American Historical Association in four volumes between 1924 and 1928. His The Life of Stephen F. Austin was published in 1925 and is still considered a classic, the best single piece of scholarship yet done on a Texas topic. Though Barker greatly admired Austin, there is little praise of his subject because of Barker’s strict principles of' historical objectivity. He wrote of Austin:
“He was a man of warm affections, and loved the idea of home, but he never married. Texas was home and wife and family to him. He died on a pallet on the floor of a two-room clapboard shack, a month and twenty-four days past his forty-third birthday. His work was done, but he was denied the years so hardly earned for the enjoyment of its fruits. . . . “
Other scholarly efforts
After his book on Austin, Barker published in 1928 Mexico and Texas 1821-1835) and in 1929, Readings in Texas History. He and Miss Amelia Williams undertook the collection of the Sam Houston papers, which were published in eight volumes between 1938 and 1943, under the title The Writings of Sam Houston. From 1927 to 1932, he was active in the short-lived East Texas Historical AssociationEast Texas Historical Association
The East Texas Historical Association is an organization of professional historians and interested laypersons dedicated to the preservation of the overall history of East Texas, generally defined as that portion of the state east of Interstate 35. The association was founded in 1962 after a long...
, reborn in 1962 and based on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University
Stephen F. Austin State University
Stephen F. Austin State University is a public university located in Nacogdoches, Texas, United States. Founded as a teachers' college in 1923, the university was named after one of Texas' founding fathers, Stephen F. Austin. Its campus resides on part of the homestead of another Texas founding...
in Nacogdoches
Nacogdoches, Texas
Nacogdoches is a city in Nacogdoches County, Texas, in the United States. The 2010 census recorded the city's population to be 32,996. It is the county seat of Nacogdoches County and is situated in East Texas. Nacogdoches is a sister city of Natchitoches, Louisiana.Nacogdoches is the home of...
.
Barker served as managing editor from 1910 to 1937 of The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, published by the Texas State Historical Association. He not only edited the magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
but contributed many of the articles. He showed how Texas impacted national development and westward expansion. He repudiated those who claimed that the westward expansion of the United States, the acquisition of Texas, and the Mexican Cession
Mexican Cession
The Mexican Cession of 1848 is a historical name in the United States for the region of the present day southwestern United States that Mexico ceded to the U.S...
of 1848, were the results of a conspiracy of southerners to expand slave territory. He also rejected those who claimed that the Texas Revolution
Texas Revolution
The Texas Revolution or Texas War of Independence was an armed conflict between Mexico and settlers in the Texas portion of the Mexican state Coahuila y Tejas. The war lasted from October 2, 1835 to April 21, 1836...
and the Mexican War were caused primarily by Mexico.
Barker was also responsible for the University of Texas library becoming a repository of authentic sources on the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. Much of those works were possible from the George W. Littlefield
George W. Littlefield
George Washington Littlefield was a Confederate officer, cattleman, banker, and regent of the University of Texas. Born in Mississippi, Littlefield moved to Texas with his family as a boy.-Early life:George W...
Fund, an initial $125,000 donation from the legendary Texas cattleman
Ranch
A ranch is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in the western United States and Canada, though...
and bank
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
er, who sought to tell the "Southern" side of history. UT hence also became a major repository of the history of the American South
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
.
Barker wrote textbook
Textbook
A textbook or coursebook is a manual of instruction in any branch of study. Textbooks are produced according to the demands of educational institutions...
s used from third grade to high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
. In 1912, Barker, C.W. Ramsdell and C.S. Potts published A School History of Texas, the state-adopted text for many years. Among his associates in writing the school textbooks were Henry Steele Commager
Henry Steele Commager
Henry Steele Commager was an American historian who helped define Modern liberalism in the United States for two generations through his forty books and 700 essays and reviews...
, who later became an academic critic of U.S. Senator Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
; William E. Dodd, later U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
's ambassador to Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
; and Walter Prescott Webb
Walter Prescott Webb
Walter Prescott Webb was a 20th century U.S. historian and author noted for his groundbreaking historical work on the American West. As president of the Texas State Historical Association, he launched the project that produced the Handbook of Texas...
, an East Texas native who had studied western history under Barker. As department chairman, Barker concentrated on making the UT history department second to none in its field nationally. He encouraged scholars to work in one another’s fields as their research interests so led them. He disdained any scholar claiming virtual "ownership" of a particular field of study.
Personal life and political views
On May 6, 1903, Barker married the former Matilda LeGrand Weeden. The couple had a son, David Barker. They lived in a fieldstoneFieldstone
Fieldstone is a building construction material. Strictly speaking, it is stone collected from the surface of fields where it occurs naturally...
colonial home at 2600 San Gabriel Street in Austin. The structure was a model of architectural beauty and was furnished with carefully selected antiques.
Barker was a golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
er and a fisherman
Fisherman
A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishermen and fish farmers. The term can also be applied to recreational fishermen and may be used to describe both men...
. He found time to fish throughout the Austin area as well as at the resort community of Port Aransas
Port Aransas, Texas
Port Aransas is a city in Nueces County, Texas. The population was 3,370 at the 2000 census.-Early history:Karankawa Indians played a key role in the early development of the Texas Gulf Coast. The Karankawa Indians inhabited the Gulf Coast of Texas from Galveston Bay all the way to Corpus Christi Bay...
near Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi, Texas
Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas. The county seat of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio counties. The MSA population in 2008 was 416,376. The population was 305,215 at the 2010 census making it the...
. He also maintained a summer home for fishing and a respite from the summer Texas heat, in Boulder, Colorado
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...
.
Barker was known for his generosity. It was said that few who ever went to him in personal distress failed to receive assistance. He lent money to any needy student and never required a promissory note. All the money, he once said, was paid back, sometimes twenty years later. A struggling graduate student outside of the history department once lost his child when an aviator
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
flew an airplane
Fixed-wing aircraft
A fixed-wing aircraft is an aircraft capable of flight using wings that generate lift due to the vehicle's forward airspeed. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft in which wings rotate about a fixed mast and ornithopters in which lift is generated by flapping wings.A powered...
into their cottage in west Austin. Barker called in the student and offered financial help.
Barker was an opposition leader to Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Governor James Edward “Pa” Ferguson
James E. Ferguson
James Edward "Pa" Ferguson, Jr. , was a Democratic politician from the state of Texas.- Early life :Ferguson was born to the Reverend James Ferguson, Sr., and Fannie Ferguson near Salado in south Bell County, Texas. He entered Salado College at age twelve but was eventually expelled for...
, who was impeached
Impeachment
Impeachment is a formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity, the outcome of which, depending on the country, may include the removal of that official from office as well as other punishment....
by the Texas House of Representatives
Texas House of Representatives
The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Texas Legislature. The House is composed of 150 members elected from single-member districts across the state. The average district has about 150,000 people. Representatives are elected to two-year terms with no term limits...
in 1917, convicted by the Texas State Senate
Texas Senate
The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing 31 single-member districts across the state with populations of approximately 672,000 per constituency. There are no term limits, and each term is four years long. The Senate meets at the...
of ten counts of wrongdoing, and forced from office. A bank
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
er from Temple
Temple, Texas
Temple is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. Located near the county seat of Belton, Temple lies in the region referred to as Central Texas. Located off Interstate 35, Temple is 65 miles north of Austin and 34 miles south of Waco. In the 2010 Census, Temple's population was 66,102, an...
in Bell County
Bell County, Texas
Bell County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. Bell County was founded in 1850. It is part of the Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 2000, the county's population was 237,974; in 2010 the U.S. Census Bureau reported that its population had reached...
, Ferguson’s troubles began when he punitively used the line-item veto
Line-item veto
In United States government, the line-item veto, or partial veto, is the power of an executive authority to nullify or cancel specific provisions of a bill, usually a budget appropriations bill, without vetoing the entire legislative package...
against the UT appropriations bill and attempted to dismiss unfavored faculty members. Barker also opposed Franklin Roosevelt, a highly popular figure in Texas. He supported the conservative regents, including Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Orville Bullington
Orville Bullington
Orville Bullington was an attorney and businessman in Wichita Falls, Texas, who was the unsuccessful Republican gubernatorial nominee in 1932 against former Governor Miriam Wallace "Ma" Ferguson....
, when they discharged President Homer P. Rainey
Homer Rainey
Homer Price Rainey was a U.S. college president and professor. He was born in Eliasville in Young County, Texas, and served as the president of the University of Texas at Austin from 1939 to 1944, when he was fired after a lengthy battle over academic freedom with the university regents...
, who thereafter was an unsuccessful candidate for governor in the 1946 Democratic primary election
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
, having lost to Beauford Jester.
Among the historians who studied under Barker were J. Evetts Haley
J. Evetts Haley
James Evetts Haley, Sr., usually known as J. Evetts Haley , was a Texas-born political activist and historian who wrote multiple works on the American West, including an enduring biography of legendary cattleman Charles Goodnight...
, known for his study of the cattleman Charles Goodnight
Charles Goodnight
Charles Goodnight, also known as Charlie Goodnight , was a cattle rancher in the American West, perhaps the best known rancher in Texas. He is sometimes known as the "father of the Texas Panhandle." Essayist and historian J...
as well as political writings against Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
, and Rupert N. Richardson
Rupert N. Richardson
Rupert Norval Richardson, Sr. , was an American historian and a former president of Baptist-affiliated Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas...
, later the president of Hardin-Simmons University
Hardin-Simmons University
Hardin–Simmons University is a private Baptist university located in Abilene, Texas, United States.-History:Hardin–Simmons University was founded as Abilene Baptist College in 1891 by the Sweetwater Baptist Association and a group of cattlemen and pastors who sought to bring Christian higher...
in Abilene
Abilene, Texas
Abilene is a city in Taylor and Jones counties in west central Texas. The population was 117,063 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Abilene Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 2006 estimated population of 158,063. It is the county seat of Taylor County...
, Texas.