Title: Charles I. Barber Papers

Date/Date Range :   1898-1962

Extent: 50.0 linear feet

Abstract:

This collection is comprised mainly of whole publications and clippings from periodicals saved by Charles Barber for his files. Also included are personal files, inclduing notes and projects from the University of Pennsylvania, tax forms and personal files of Blache Barber, files related to individual projects, and general correspondence.

Call number: MS-2006

Repository: University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN

Aquisition Information:

Collection was donated to Special Collections.

Access Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Copyright:

The copyright interests in this collection remain with the creator. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library.

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of Item], Charles I. Barber Papers, MS-2006. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.

Collection consists of three series:

1. Series I: Whole Publications
2. Series II: Clippings
3. Series III: Personal Files

Charles Irving Barber (1887-1962) was born in DeKalb, Illinois, the year before his family moved to Knoxvile, where his father, George Franklin Barber, started an architectural practice. Charles Barber attended the Baker-Himel Preparatory School and traveled in Europe before studying architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. He married Marian Lawrence of Jefferson City, who died in 1949; his second wife was Blache McKinney.

Barber worked briefly for his father before establishing a practice with Dean Parmelee and then Ben McMurry, Sr. Barber and McMurry's most prominent public building in Knoxville include the Tennessee General Building, the YMCA, Holston Hills Country Club, and numerous buildings for the University of Tennessee, including Hoskins Library. They were also involved with projects at Maryville College, and in the greater Knoxville area. The firm designed many apartment buildings, schools, and houses, including the John Craig, Earl Worsham, and Hugh Goforth houses, as well as Barber's own home. Barber and McMurry designed many churches throughout the Southeast, most notably the Church Street Methodist Church in collaboration with John Russell Pope of New York.

Charles Barber held various honorary and service positions throughout his career. For the Tennessee chapter of the American Institute of Architects, he served as Chairman of the Committee on Preservation, Vice-President, and ultimately President in 1936. He was the President of the Knoxville Technical Society in 1928, and served on the City Planning Commission from 1940 through the 1950s. He was a member of the Great Smoky Mountains Conservation Association and the Church Architecture Guild of America. He served as a consultant to the Tennessee Valley Authority beginning in 1933, and as their chief architect in 1935-36.

This collection is comprised mainly of whole publications and clippings from periodicals saved by Charles Barber for his files. The whole publications form Series I, and are organized by either publisher, type or subject and include some oversized books. In aaddition to govermnent and organizational publication, there are travel guides, advertising materials and three boxes of assorted issues of periodicals.

Series II consists of clippings. The first four boxes are numbered files of plates arranged according to Barber's own organizational system, and the un-numbered files are organized mainly by building type. Both oversized books and flat files are included in this series.

The personal files of Series III include notes and projects from the University of Pennsylvania, tax forms and personal files of Blache Barber's, files related to individual projects and general correspondence.

A complete folder list as well as an itemized list of drawings in the flat files can be found in the Special Collections reading room.

• Barber, Charles Irving, 1887-1962.
• Architects -- Tennessee -- Knoxville.
• Architecture -- Tennessee -- Knoxville.
• Architectural design -- Tennessee -- Knoxville.