Gordon W. Miller Collection on Gabriel Thomas Barbee

Access and use

Location of collection:
James Madison University
Second Floor Room 203, MSC 1704
Carrier Library
James Madison University
880 Madison Drive
Harrisonburg, VA 22807
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Tiffany Cole
Phone: (540) 568-3444
Phone: (540) 568-3612
Fax: (540) 568-3405
Restrictions:

Collection is open for research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the James Madison University Special Collections Library to use this collection.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have been transferred to the James Madison University Special Collection Library. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library Reference Desk (library-special@jmu.edu).

Preferred citation:

[identification of item], [box #, folder #], Gordon W. Miller Collection on Gabriel Thomas Barbee, 1787-2005, SC 0193, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA

Summary

Extent:
0.66 cubic feet 2 boxes
Creator:
Miller, Gordon W. (Gordon Wayne), 1938-
Abstract:
Photocopies of materials documenting Gabriel T. Barbee's influence in the Virginia Farmers' Alliance, 1887-1894.
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[identification of item], [box #, folder #], Gordon W. Miller Collection on Gabriel Thomas Barbee, 1787-2005, SC 0193, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA

Background

Scope and content:

These materials were gathered by Gordon W. Miller, history reference librarian at JMU's Carrier Library from 1977-2003, during more than a decade of research on the life of Gabriel Thomas Barbee and in particular Barbee's role as primary organizer of the Virginia Farmers' Alliance, 1887-1894. Except for Mr. Miller's original publication on Barbee, all materials are photocopies, and represent an in-depth research effort to compile information from all possible sources.

Biographical / historical:

Gabriel Thomas Barbee was born in Rappahannock County, Virginia, in 1814. In 1834 he moved to Petersburg in Hardy County (then Virginia, now West Virginia), where he worked as a merchant and a dealer in land. He served in the Virginia Senate from 1847-1851. After a short and apparently unsuccessful stint in wholesale trade in Baltimore in the 1850s, Barbee returned to Hardy County and resumed his business interests there, including a small amount of farming. In the 1860s Barbee moved to Lynchburg, Virginia, but also purchased land in Bridgewater, VA and moved there in the 1870s, where he and his family ran a hotel called the Barbee House. In 1878 he was elected major of Bridgewater and from 1880-1883 served as editor of The Bridgewater Journal. In 1887, after a trip to Texas where he came into contact with Farmers Alliance leaders, Barbee began holding meetings in Bridgewater to form a sub-alliance in Virginia. For the next three years he devoted most of his time to organizing a state Farmers' Alliance, serving as president in 1889 and 1890, by which time the organization had over 30,000 members in 85 county alliances. He also organized members in several other states, notably WV, and served on the Credentials Committee of the National Alliance. Barbee continued to be highly active on the state and national levels but the populist movement peaked by about 1894 and declined thereafter. Barbee died in 1908 in Romney, West Virginia, and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Bridgewater, Virginia.

Acquisition information:
Donated by Gordon W. Miller in January 2005.
Processing information:

In order to streamline the process of applying collection numbers, Special Collections staff completed a large-scale renumbering campaign in 2017-2018. This collection was previously cataloged as SC 5014.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in three series:

  1. Biological and Genealogical Data on G.T. Barbee
  2. Farmer's Alliance, 1889-1894
  3. Research Trail, 1990-1993
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard