This collection predominantly contains information about the activities in which Barton was involved between 1928 and 1958. Documents dating outside this span consist mainly of papers and correspondence of a personal nature. The collection is arranged by subject in seven series.
PERSONAL MATERIALS contains biographical information about Barton.
including correspondence from his family, mostly his sister Claire and mother May in Los Angeles, and his doctors; educational documents and transcripts; and a 300-page fictionalized manuscript describing Barton's childhood. A folder of materials relating to Rebecca Chalmers Barton contains Mrs. Barton's biographies of herself and of her husband.
DENMARK material relates to Barton's seven years with the International People's College in Elsinore, and to his later research on Danish cooperatives and folk schools. Of note are a photostat of a letter from Niels Bohr relating to the college, and Barton's unpublished research notes and report drafts on Danish rural social organization.
The series AGRICULTURE AND RURAL LIFE has information about Barton's teaching and about the rural organizations and activities in which he was involved. The largest groups of documents in this segment relate to the UW Farm Short Course, the UW Rural Sociology Department, and the 1938-19SI Rural Life conferences. The remaining papers are arranged alphabetically by topic.
RURAL ARTS relates to Barton's work with rural arts activities at the University of Wisconsin and throughout the state. Much of this segment relates to the research, writing, and publication of Rural Artists of Wisconsin, and includes correspondence with several of the book's subjects. Also present is documentation on the appointment of Aaron Bohrod as U.W. Artist in Residence and information on his predecessor, John Steuart Curry.
WISCONSIN LIBRARY COMMISSION includes minutes, correspondence, and other papers from Barton's years as a Commission member. He chaired the search for a new executive director in 1956 and this effort is particularly well documented.
ALPHABETICAL CORRESPONDENCE contains miscellaneous letters from friends, former students, faculty colleagues, and others, arranged alphabetically by correspondent. Of note are letters from August Derleth, Merle Curti, and Frank Lloyd Wright and his associates at Taliesin.
The final series consists of the PHOTOGRAPHS in the collection.
