Mrs. Gordon Barker

Dr. Gordon H. Barker was born on November 2, 1905 in Chicago, and married his wife Victoria Siegfried on June 19, 1948. He came to the University of Colorado in 1940 and during his time at the University of Colorado he served as department chairman of: economics, political science, sociology and anthropology, social science and sociology.

Dr. Barker was a specialist in criminology and juvenile delinquency and wrote many articles on these subjects. He conducted a survey in France and Italy on the possibilities for research on youth groups for the U.S. Department of State. He served as a consultant to the Iraq government on a National Youth Program and made many speeches to youth groups in various countries including: Cyprus, Nicosia, Djakarta, Indonesia, Thailand, Manila, Tokyo, Hawaii, Singapore, Malaysia, Burma, India, Ceylon, Afghanistan, Iran, Qatar, Egypt, Hungary, East Germany, Greece, Bulgaria and England.

Dr. Barker served as a technical consultant to the Colorado White House Conference on Children and Youth and was co-chairman of the section on family. He was an official Colorado delegate to the White House Conference on Children and Youth in 1960. Dr. Barker also worked on various projects including acting as a consultant to a project sponsored by the Vocational Rehabilitation Agency in work with federal probationers in Denver, and he participated in the Federal Offenders Rehabilitation Project.

Dr. Barker was on the advisory committee of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education and he was a consultant to the University of Denver Juvenile Delinquency Demonstration and Training Project and the Juvenile Delinquency section of the Denver Metropolitan Council.

Dr. Gordon H. Barker received his BA (1929), MA (1938) and PhD (1940) from Northwestern University. He was a member of: the American Association of University Professors, Pi Gamma Mu, American Sociological Society, Colorado Conference of Social Welfare, American Society of Criminology (Vice President), and the Institute International de Sociologie. He is also listed in: Who’s Who in Colorado, Who’s Who in American Education, Who’s Who in the West, World Who’s Who in Science, Directory of American Scholars, and Leaders in American Science.

From the guide to the Gordon Barker Collection, 1940-1979, (University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries. Archives Dept.)