James C. Barber Papers
Collection
Identifier: MS438
Two document cases of notebooks, lab reports, workbooks, and textbooks used during James C. Barber's time as a student at the Georgia School (now Institute) of Technology.
(two document cases containing 19 folders of notebooks)
None.
Permission to publish materials from this collection must be obtained from the Head of Archives and Special Collections.
0.8 Linear Feet
This collection contains 16 notebooks, two workbook/textbooks, one calculations book, and numerous laboratory reports from courses in physics, chemistry, mathematics, and chemical, mechanical, and electrical engineering. The diagrams, calculations, notes, and reports included in the materials document James C. Barber's studies while he was pursuing an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering at the Georgia School (now Institute) of Technology from 1935-1938. Most of the materials date from 1935-1938, but four of the notebooks are undated.
James Corbett Barber was born on November 28, 1916, in Ruskin, a small community near Waycross, Georgia, to Edward Albert (1877-1957) and Mamie Corbett Barber (1887-1979). He enrolled at the Georgia School (now Institute) of Technology and graduated with a co-operative degree in Chemical Engineering in 1938. While a student at Georgia Tech, Barber was a member of the Co-op Club and worked for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) at the National Fertilizer Development Center in Sheffield, Alabama.
After graduation, Barber was hired to work for the TVA full time. During his 40-year tenure with the TVA, his chief research interest was phosphorus. He obtained many patents relating to the element, and, according to his obituary, co-authored “the definitive book on the production of elemental phosphorus by electric-furnace method.”
After retiring from TVA, he started his own consulting company, James C. Barber and Associates, in Florence, Alabama. The company specializes in phosphorus technology and still exists today.
Along with his professional interests, Barber was also a member of the Florence Kiwanis Club (and a past president), the American Chemical Society, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Florence, Alabama.
Barber married Frances Partin in 1946, and together they had three daughters: Ann, Gay (born 1950), and Beth (born ca. 1955). Mrs. Barber died in 1990, at the age of 71.
James C. Barber died on November 3, 2007, at the age of 90.
A print copy of this finding aid is available in the Georgia Tech Archives reading room.
This collection of personal papers was donated in 2008; accession no. 2008.092. One Chemical Engineering 40 report comes from accession no. 2002.020.
Textbooks that also form part of this accession will be processed separately.
(two document cases containing 19 folders of notebooks)
Christine de Catanzaro, Lindsay Resnick, and Wendy Hagenmaier processed this collection in November 2012.
Part of the Archives and Special Collections, Library, Georgia Institute of Technology Repository