Barnhart, John D. (John Donald), 1895-1967

Born September 22, 1895, in Decatur, Illinois; son of John D. and Effie Frances (Clothier) Barnhart; A.B. degree, 1916, Illinois Wesleyan University; A.M., 1919, Northwestern University; Ph.D., Harvard University, 1930, under the direction of Arthur Meier Schlesinger and disciple of Frederick Jackson Turner; appointed as teaching assistant at University of Minnesota, 1920-1921 and Harvard 1924-1925; head of department of history at Nebraska Wesleyan University 1921-1923; associate professor of history at Indiana University 1925-1926; associate professor of history at West Virginia University 1926-1933; head of social science department at West Liberty State Teachers College, 1934-1936; associate professor of history at Louisiana State University 1936-1941; associate professor of history at Indiana University in 1941, appointed professor in 1946; chairman 1948-1953; professor emeritus, 1965-1967; editor Indiana Magazine of History, 1941-1955; historical contributions include numerous articles, book reviews, and four books, Henry Hamilton and George Rogers Clark in the American Revolution in the West (1951), Valley of Democracy: the Frontier Versus the Plantation in the Ohio Valley (1953), Indiana: From Frontier to Industrial Commonwealth (4 vols., 1954), co-authored with Donald F. Carmony, and Indiana: the Hoosier State (1959, rev. 1963), co- authored with Donald F. Carmony, et al.; chairman of Indiana Territorial Sesquicentennial Commission, 1950; member of American, Southern, and Mississippi Valley Historical Associations; member of the executive committee of the MVHA 1942-1946; member of its Board of Editors 1954-1956; president of Indiana History Teachers' Association 1947-1948; president of Indiana Historical Society 1957-1959; member of its executive committee 1949-1967; during World War II chairman of Indiana War History Commission; in 1950's and 1960's served as a member of Advisory Committee on History to the Secretary of the Navy; member of the Bloomington, Indiana, Rotary; married Zella Marie Petty, January 3, 1917; children, John Dale (deceased), Frank Alvin, Frances Mary (Zorn); died December 25, 1967, Bloomington Hospital, Bloomington, Indiana, and buried in Decatur, Illinois.

From the guide to the Barnhart mss., 1813-1962, (Lilly Library (Indiana University, Bloomington))