The Jane L. Barney papers are comprised of materials documenting her professional and personal life. The Professional Files include organization meeting minutes, correspondence, notes, flyers, manuals, press articles, and personnel files, as well as other administrative papers and reports for the organizations she worked to establish, develop, and run. Also found here are speeches, papers relevant to her work with churches, marginalized ethnic and racial groups, and gerontology.
Jane L. Barney's personal papers largely include correspondence with friends, co-workers, politicians, and family, as well as notebooks, diplomas, hospital and assisted living documentation, and photographs.
Jane Lockwood Barney was a social and political activist who worked to establish, build, and run a number of organizations aimed to improve the lives of the people of the Ann Arbor area. Her causes included access to high quality health care for marginalized ethnic and racial groups and the elderly, homelessness, hunger, job skills training, and Democratic political activism.
Barney was born on June 15, 1914 in Medford, Massachusetts. After graduating from Wellesley College in 1937, Barney attended Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where she earned a BA of Divinity in 1940. It was at the Seminary that she met Reverend Roger Warren Barney, whom she married in 1941. They had four children; Alice B., James O., Jonathan L., and Daniel R.
In 1941 they moved to northern New Hampshire, where the Reverend worked at a small Episcopal church. In 1948 the family moved to the Parishfield Community in Brighton, Michigan. Parishfield was a community devoted to the "renewal of the church" where Reverend Barney was one of three clergy in charge of community management. The family lived at Parishfield until around 1956. After their children left home, the Barneys relocated to Detroit. While in Detroit, the couple became involved in education reform and anti-war movements. In 1967 they moved to Ann Arbor. Roger worked at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church and Jane enrolled in the University of Michigan's (U-M) Master of Social Work program, graduating with a specialist in aging certificate in 1970. She worked at the U-M Institute of Gerontology from 1970-1989 where she focused on nursing home improvement both locally and at the state level.
Barney's husband Roger died in 1978. That same year, Barney founded the Michigan Association of Nursing Home Community Councils, which provided enrichment activities for nursing home residents. Around that same time Barney took a seat on the advisory council for U-M's Turner Geriatric Services outpatient clinic, where she served for about 20 years.
Over the course of her career, Barney held leadership roles in a variety of organizations. She was on the boards of the Hospice of Washtenaw County, Washtenaw Housing Alliance, Community Council Association, Housing Bureau for Seniors, and the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County/Ann Arbor. She was co-founder and President of the Avalon Housing Board, co-Chair of the Turner African American Services Council (where she helped develop the concept for the New Hope Outreach Clinic), and on the committees for the Washtenaw Housing Bureau for Seniors and the Washtenaw County Retired Senior Volunteer Program.
Barney earned many accolades for her advocacy work. She received the Liberty Bell Award from the Washtenaw County Bar Association, research awards from the College of Nursing Home Administrators, the Michigan Public Health Department Award, U-M Geriatrics Center Anthony V. DeVito II Memorial Award, and community service awards from the Washtenaw County Job Training program, Housing Bureau, and Area Agency on Aging. In 2008, Barney received the Award for Servant Leadership in Building a Beloved and Just Community from the Church of the Good Shepherd, United Church of Christ in Ann Arbor.
Jane Barney passed away on July 7, 2018.
