Archives West Finding Aid
Table of Contents
James Louis Barker papers, 1916-1966
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- Barker, James Louis, 1880-1958
- Title
- James Louis Barker papers
- Dates
- 1916-1966 (inclusive)19161966
- Quantity
- 0.5 linear feet
- Collection Number
- MS 0611
- Summary
- The James Louis Barker papers (1916-1966) include letters of praise, professional correspondence, research materials, and published articles reflecting the personal and professional life of one of the world's most accomplished phoneticians.
- Repository
-
University of Utah Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library
University of Utah
295 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City, UT
84112-0860
Telephone: 8015818863
special@library.utah.edu - Access Restrictions
-
Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.
- Languages
- English
Historical NoteReturn to Top
James Louis Barker was born on 27 July 1880 in North Ogden, Utah, to Henry and Margaret Stalle Barker. He received his early education in the Weber County School District, and at age 15 moved to Salt Lake City to attend the University of Utah. Upon graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the U of U in 1901, Barker left for Switzerland to serve a four-year mission for the LDS Church. After his return in 1904, he began an extensive study of foreign languages with part-time post-graduate work at such notable schools as Universite de Neuchatel, College de France, and the Sorbonne in Paris. In 1906, he married Kate Montgomery, and together they moved to Paris where he enrolled as a full-time doctoral student at the Sorbonne. Upon his return to the United States with two academic diplomas, Barker was hired as principal of Weber Academy and later as chair of BYU's fledgling language department. In 1919, he was appointed head of the University of Utah's Modern Language Department, a position he held for almost three decades. James L. Barker died in 1958.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
The James Louis Barker papers (1916-1966) include letters of praise, professional correspondence, research materials, and published articles reflecting the personal and professional life of one of the world's most accomplished phoneticians.
Use of the CollectionReturn to Top
Restrictions on Use
The library does not claim to control copyright for all materials in the collection. An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR, part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). For further information, please review the J. Willard Marriott Library’s Use Agreement and Reproduction Request forms.
Preferred Citation
Collection Name, Collection Number, Box Number, Folder Number. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah.
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Box | Folder | |
| 1 | 1 | Biographical Information
The "Letters of Tribute" bond folder of folder 1 contains personal letters of tribute sent soon after Barker's untimely death in May 1958. Of particular interest is the letter sent to LDS Church President David O. McKay by Dr. Rene' Belle', Chairman of University of Southern California's Department of French. The other two bond folders contain dated and undated "Statements of Recommendation" from 1925 to 1940. Most of the statements were sent to Barker in response to his request for a critical review of a new text entitled, "English Pronunciation-Part 1, Our Language."
|
| 1 | 2 | Correspondence
The most recent item in this collection, dated 8 September 1966, is a letter to Kate Barker, Barker's wife, from one of his former colleagues. It is included in the "Personal" bond folder. The remaining five bond folders, entitled, "Professional," include letters from the Linguistic Society of America's Administrative Committee, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service regarding the text they commissioned him to write, and critical letters of review concerning his manual on English pronunciation.
|
| 1 | 3-4 | Research Materials
The ten bond folders within these two folders contain Barker's textual rough drafts, handouts and comments from and about fellow phoneticians, proposed texts nearing final stage, and a summary of instructors' reports on "How I Teach Pronunciation."
|
| 1 | 5-6 | Published Articles
The "Published Articles" folder covers a broad segment of Barker's professional life. His first article was published in November 1916 while serving as chair of BYU's Language Department. His last, and perhaps most famous, entitled "Dynamic vs. Static Phonetics," was published in June 1940. Although this collection contains only a portion of those articles actually written by Barker, they do sufficiently reflect his research focus and innovative ideas.
|
| 1 | 7 | News Clippings
During the ten-year period from December 1925 to December 1935, Barker's reputation grew to expansive proportions with his creative approach to the teaching of foreign languages. Statements from newspaper clippings in this bond folder are taken from local newspapers and from newspapers as far away as Columbia University's Teachers College.
|
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Language and languages--Study and teaching--Utah
- Phonetics--Study and teaching--Utah
- Speech--Study and teaching--Utah
Personal Names
- Barker, James Louis, 1880-1958--Archives
Corporate Names
- Unversity of Utah--Faculty
Form or Genre Terms
- Articles
- Correspondence
- Notes
Finding aid created by Janet Smoak and Keith Morgan
1991 (last modified: 2019)
