The Horace Albert Barker Collection, 1930-1997, consists primarily of materials documenting Barker's long career in the field of Microbiology at the University of California, Berkeley. The bulk of the collection consists of research notes and reports on Barker's innovative experiments. The collection also contains a considerable amount of correspondence, notes for lectures, seminars and courses, administrative information from UC Berkeley departments, and limited amounts of personal materials. The collection has been divided into six series: Correspondence, Lectures and Seminars, UC Berkeley, Research, Professional Associations, and Personal Papers.

Horace Albert Barker was one of the most important microbiologists of the 20th century. During his career he contributed to several breakthroughs in the areas of oxidative assimilation by bacteria, the biological formation of methane, the carbon dioxide utilization of heterotrophic bacteria, the synthesis and degradation of lower fatty acids, and the fermentations of amino acids and purines. He was a member of the team that, in 1944, discovered the enzymatic steps that living cells take when they synthesize sucrose, and his work with the coenzyme B-12 earned him a nomination for the Nobel Prize in 1975.

Number of containers: 11 Linear feet: 13.75

Copyright has been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-6000. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and the copyright. Copyright restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.

Collection is open for research.