Roger Barney's papers date from his youth in the late 1920s up to his death in 1978, and document his personal interests and activities, his education, his time in the armed forces during World War II, and his professional life as an Episcopal minister. Likewise, the papers of Jane Barney date from the 1930s to the early 2000s, and document her education, her family life, and her work with the University of Michigan's Institute of Gerontology and other organizations concerned with senior citizens. The collection is comprised of the following series: Roger Warren Barney Files, Jane Lockwood Barney Files, and Correspondence.
Roger Warren Barney was born on June 11, 1916 in Boston, Massachusetts. He grew up in the nearby community of Dorchester where he attended the Gilbert Stuart School and later Boston English High School. After graduating high school, Barney attended Dartmouth College where he was introduced to the Episcopal Church through the ministry of Father Leslie Hodder. He was eventually confirmed, and along with other students, served small churches in the area. Barney graduated Dartmouth in 1937, and continued his studies at Union Theological Seminary, where he made the acquaintance of Jane Lockwood, of Buchanan, Virginia.
After graduating from Union Theological Seminary with a master of divinity degree in 1940, Barney was ordained to the Episcopal Ministry as a deacon in Trinity Church, New York City in 1940, and later as a priest by Bishop John Dallas at St. John the Baptist Church in Sanbornville in 1941. In June of 1941, Barney was wed to Ms. Lockwood, and the two moved to New Hampshire, where Barney served at Christ Church in North Conway, and Saint Andrew's in the Valley in Tamworth.
In 1943, Barney joined the United States Navy as a chaplain. For a time, he was stationed at Parris Island, South Carolina, and eventually saw action in the Pacific Theatre, including the battle of Iwo Jima.
After the war, Barney returned to New Hampshire, where he became rector of St. Mark's, Ashland and director of the Mountain Mission by Mail, a program that served children in remote areas with weekly mailings, radio programs, and personal visits. In 1950, Barney was asked to become Archdeacon and Executive Secretary of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire, and the Barneys moved to Concord with their then young children, Alice, James, Jonathan, and Daniel. In the summer of 1955, while vacationing at MacMahan Island, Barney contracted polio. He spent the next 14 months in treatment at Mary Hitchcock hospital in Hanover.
In 1957, after being released from the hospital, Barney and his family moved to Brighton, Michigan, where he served on the staff of the Parishfield Community with colleagues Francis Ayres, and Jim Guinan. The Parishfield community was a semi-independent agency of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan established to create a ministry of lay people who would further the mission of the church in society. The community hoped to renew the church through an awareness of society's critical issues, focusing on topics such as religion, industry, corrections, freedom, and poverty. At the disbanding of the Parishfield community in 1967, Barney became Associate Rector for Administration of St. Andrew's Church in Ann Arbor, a post he held until his death in 1978.
Barney was survived by his four children, and his wife Jane, who, for many years preceding and following Barney's death, worked with the University of Michigan's Institute of Gerontology. Mrs. Barney was very active in working with senior centers and advocating senior citizens' issues.
