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This collection consists primarily of incoming personal and professional correspondence received by John Barbour, an Episcopal minister and professor at Berkeley Divinity School, concerning religious life in Connecticut in the late 1800s.

This collection consists primarily of approximately 1,150 incoming personal and professional letters received by John Barbour, an Episcopal minister and professor at Berkeley Divinity School, concerning religious life in Connecticut in the late 1800s. The papers also include 5 photographs, 4 printed portraits, and a small group of additional printed items.

The Correspondence series spans most of Barbour's career. The bulk is comprised primarily of letters John Barbour received between 1883 and 1899, reflecting the everyday lives of clergy in Connecticut and New England, as well as Barbour's work with the Episcopal Church and at Berkeley Divinity School. Many of the letters contain professional inquiries and reports of the writers' daily lives and work with local churches. Several relate to Barbour's role as the librarian of the Berkeley Divinity School, including factual questions and inquiries about specific volumes. Other letters request his services as a minister, including several from the Connecticut Hospital for the Insane in Middletown, Connecticut, and from other clergy requesting substitutes. Additionally, many of the letters concern religious education and mention prominent bishops and others in the Episcopal Church.

Two early items relate to John Barbour's father, Henry S. Barbour, and to administrative affairs of the town of Torrington, Connecticut, in 1852 and 1857. The series also includes a timetable for trains between Hartford, Connecticut, and New York City, and a manuscript complaint from attorney John R. Wittig to the Rt. Rev. Bishop Williams, issued against John Barbour, claiming that Barbour colluded with Wittig's wife in a conspiracy to "get rid" of him and seize his property (March 17, 1885).

The Photographs and portraits series holds 5 carte-de-visite photographs of members of the Barbour family, including Henry S., Sylvester, Herman H., Julia, and Joseph L. Barbour, as well as 4 printed portraits of Episcopal clergy.

The Printed items series contains biographical sketches of bishops, Episcopal clergy, and other figures, removed from published books and newspapers. Among those represented are Bishop John Williams and librarian Melvil Dewey. The series also includes approximately 20 invitations, programs, circular letters, and advertisements. One advertising card for the Fannie C. Paddock Memorial Hospital of Tacoma, Washington Territory, bears an engraved image of the facility.

This volume is the draft of a novel entitled Rocktop: or The Lord Will Direct, written by Smith Bartlett Goodenow in January 1870. The novel concerns the formative years of a New England boy named Bartlett ("Bartie") Golden, who leaves his home at the age of 10 for Providence, Rhode Island, and eventually decides to become a minister.

This volume contains a 136-page draft of a semi-autobiographical bildungsroman entitled Rocktop: or The Lord Will Direct, written by Smith Bartlett Goodenow in January 1870. The protagonist, Bartlett ("Bartie") Golden, left his fictional New England hometown of "Scotta" for Providence, Rhode Island, at the age of 10. After working a number of odd jobs and receiving an elementary education, Golden decided to enter the ministry; much of the book is devoted to his religious pursuits. The novel concludes with Golden's return home soon after his acceptance to Brown University, following a successful personal evaluation by its president, Francis Wayland. The subtitle, "The Lord Will Direct," is a repeated motif throughout the work. This draft includes small annotations and additions, as well as an authorial note indicating that the story is "true throughout." The volume includes pencil illustrations entitled "Rocktop," "Grandfather's Farm," and "Beneficent Church," as well as an inscription and table of contents.