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John Warner Barber
In the mid-1800s, John Warner Barber wrote and illustrated a number of books on United States history and geography based on his personal research and direct observation. They offer excellent overviews of many places as they were at the time, incorporating local and regional sources.
Barber was born in Windsor in 1798 and began an apprenticeship at age 15 across the river in East Windsor (now South Windsor) with engraver Abner Reed in 1813. Reed regularly employed a number of apprentices, and over the next seven years, Barber learned all aspects of the engraving trade while honing his artistic abilities.
The illustration above is titled “South view Congregational Church East Windsor” and the caption reads “Congregational Church in East (now South) Windsor Conn. Drawn by J.W. Barber from the North window in A. Reed's Engraving shop which was attached to his dwelling house.” It is dated 1814 and I’m assuming Barber drew it when he was 16, but curiously, the caption notes the creation of South Windsor, so it must have been added sometime after 1845. (The drawing is in the collections of the Connecticut Historical Society and is online here.) Reed’s house is located at 932 Main Street.
Donald C. O’Brien describes in detail Barber’s apprenticeship in South Windsor in his very informative monograph, “Training in the Workshop of Abner Reed,” published in 1995 by the American Antiquarian Society (it’s available in the Wood Library collection and is also online here). When he was 21, Barber left the employ of Reed and relocated to New Haven. Barber “became well known as a historical writer and illustrator of many books,” O’Brien writes. “Yet he never forgot the benevolence of his old mentor. Barber often visited Mr. and Mrs. Reed at their [South] Windsor home, and the elderly couple were frequent house guests of the former apprentice in New Haven over the next thirty years.”
Below, left: Of particular value to students of local Connecticut history is Barber’s classic work, Connecticut Historical Collections, first published in 1836, and available online here. It gives an overview of Connecticut history, has descriptions of every town and city, and includes over 190 illustrations. Even at price of $3 a copy (which is roughly $71 today), it sold well.
Below, right: For the chapter on East Windsor (and present-day South Windsor), he provided an engraving of the Theological Institute of Connecticut, which indicates its significance to the town. Ordinarily, he included views of streets and the landscape. You can see how Barber incorporates the portions of the Institute’s catalog into his text, which I discuss in tomorrow's edition of the Daily Dose.
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