The collection consists primarily of letters exchanged by Joel Allen Barber and his parents from 1854 to 1865. The letters by Allen--as he was known in his family, to distinguish him from his uncle--were written from Superior, Ashland, and La Pointe and contain many references to economic conditions and pioneer life in northern Wisconsin in the 1850's, to Indian affairs, and to Catholic and Protestant missions. In letters from Vermont, his parents commented on these matters as well as related news of eastern business and politics. G. A. Barber served several terms as judge in Lamoille County, and represented the town of Cambridge in the Vermont House of Representatives in 1858 and 1859. The collection includes numerous letters which he wrote from Montpelier during the sessions. He had also visited Allen in the fall of 1856, and his letter of November 3, 1856, was written during a rough voyage down Lake Superior and Lake Michigan in the famed steamboat “Lady Elgin.” Included in the collection are also Civil War letters written by Allen from Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia.
Miscellaneous items in the collection include: a copy of the pension statement, 1832, for Revolutionary War service by Elias Green of Massachusetts; will of Elias Green, 1840; letters in 1890 and after by Amherst Willoughby Barber relating some genealogical data on the Green family; two letters, dated September 4 and 27, 1870, written by Joseph C. Cover, United States consul at Fayal in the Azores, to his son John at Lancaster; and a printed memorial address by Col. Clement A. Lounsberry, Amherst Willoughby Barber (Washington, D.C., 1921).
