11 December 1904 in Brunswick County, Virginia
Document restorer and founder and director of the W.J. Barrow Research Laboratory for the study of paper permanence, 1961-1977
| 1925-1931 | Employee and manager, Barrow Corporation |
| 1931-1932 | Unemployed |
| 1932-1967 | Owner, Barrow Restoration Shop |
| 1940-1967 | Vendor of the Barrow Lamination Process (laminator, training, and oversight of the alkalization process, and assistance with acquisitions of lamination supplies) |
| 1940-1967 | Consultant to numerous libraries and archives nationally and, following World War II, internationally |
| 1957-1967 | Recipient of grants from Council of Library Resources and from the American Library Association, Office of Library Technology, Reports |
| 1904-1925 | Brunswick County, Virginia, near Dundas, Virginia |
| 1935-1940 | Newport News, Virginia |
| 1940-1967 | Richmond, Virginia (30 Albemarle Avenue) |
| 1925-1931 | Employee and manager, Barrow Corporation's work clothes factories in Lynchburg, Virginia; St. Louis, Missouri; Tacoma Washington; and Oakland, California |
| 1931-1932 | Student in bookbinding and restoration, Marion Lane Studio, Washington, D.C. (over the winter) |
| 1932 | Opened Barrow Restoration Shop in the Virginia State Library in Richmond, Virginia |
| 1935 | Moved the Restoration Shop to Mariners Museum in Newport News, Virginia |
| 1935-1941 | Learned about paper, paper permanence, and experimental techniques for studying paper permanence from NBS and GPO paper chemists |
| 1937 | Prototype of roller laminator produced from surplus ship parts at Mariners Museum |
| [1938] | Addition of Japanese paper to lamination sandwich |
| 1940 | Addition of alkalization of documents prior to lamination |
| 1940 | Moved the Restoration Shop to the new Virginia State Library building in Richmond Virginia |
| 1940- | Promoted and advertised his restoration method including alkalization nationally and internationally for the rest of his life |
| 1942 | Patent granted for Barrow method of restoration (U.S. patent #2301996) |
| 1957 | First CRL grant to Barrow to study paper impermanence and longevity predictions for modern paper and books |
| 1960 | CRL grant for a joint project between the Barrow (W.J.) Laboratory, the paper industry's Herty Foundation in Georgia, and the Standard Paper Company in Richmond to develop techniques using alkaline size for the commercial production of a permanent, durable printing grade paper |
| 1961 | Third CLR grant for the establishment of the W. J. Barrow Laboratory for the study of paper permanence in the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia |
| Mid 1960s | Grants from American Library Association, Office of Library Technology, Reports |
| June 1961 | Hospitalized for heart disease for 2 weeks |
| 25 August 1967 | Suffered heart attack in evening at home, pronounced dead later that night at St. Mary's Hospital, Richmond, Virginia |
River View Cemetery in Albert Barrow's family plot, Blackstone, Brunswick County, Virginia
| 1935 | Life member of the Virginia Historical Society |
| 1936 | Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts |
| 1961 | Honorary member of the Randolph-Macon College chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society |
| 1966 | Honorary doctoral degree from Randolph-Macon College |
| 1966 | Fellow of the American Institute of Chemists |
| 1966 | Award of merit from the American Association for State and Local History |
Who Knows and What in America
American Men of Science
Who's Who in the American Library World
Leaders in Science
Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science
| Religious affiliation | Episcopalian |
| Political party | [Conservative Southern] Democrat |
| Father | Bernard Barrow, physician, born 15 December 1874 near Paole, Virginia on the Barrow family plantation and died 13 June 1954 near Dundas in Brunswick County, Virginia |
| Mother | Sallie Virginia Archer, housewife and mother, born 5 October 1877 in Petersburg, Virginia and died in 1968. |
| Sibling | Sarah Barrow Davey, Teacher and administrator, born 1901 in Brunswick County, Virginia |
| Economic status | Economically comfortable, socially high (landed gentry) |
| Wife | Married 6 April 1935, in Richmond, Virginia, Ruth Abbott Gibbs, born 24 December 1912 in Bedford County, Virginia, (daughter of Morris Winston Gibbs, Physician, and Willie Neolia Abbott), and died 1 July 1988, Virginia Beach, Virginia |
| Sons | Bernard Gibbs Barrow, 1937- |
| William Archer Barrow, 1943- | |
| James Abbott Barrow, 1943- |
Formal Education:
| 1923 | Graduated, Randolph-Macon Academy |
| 1923-1925 | Attended, Randolph-Macon College |
Informal Education:
| 1931-1932 | Bookbinding and restoration at Marian Lane Studio, Washington, D.C.; observation of restoration at Library of Congress and Folger Shakespeare Library |
| 1935-1941 | Learned from B. W. Schribner, National Bureau of Standards basic paper chemistry and experimental techniques |
Influential persons:
| 1923- | Albert Barrow, President of the Barrow Corporation, cousin, and business mentor. |
| 1931-1935 | Henry Read McIlwaine, Librarian, Virginia State Library, encouraged Barrow's plan to learn restoration, and arranged shop space and rental discount arrangement for the Barrow Restoration Shop in the Virginia State Library |
| 1931-1959 | Martha Woodroof Hiden, socialite, active member of many patriotic societies that sponsored restoration projects of Virginia's county records done at Barrow's Restoration Shop |
| 1935-1941 | B. W. Scribner, Head, Paper Section, National Bureau of Standards, provided chemical information, introductions to other chemical experts, and step-by-step oversight of Barrow's adaptation of cellulose acetate lamination and alkalization to lamination product |
| 1950s | Randolph Church, Librarian, Virginia State Library, wrote and edited research articles for the dissemination of the results of Barrow's studies of paper permanence |
| 1940s-1967 | Verner W. Clapp, Deputy Librarian of Congress and President, Council of Library Resources (CLR), helped to promote Barrow's image as an internationally recognized expert in paper chemistry, funded through CLR Barrow's research, the Barrow (W. J.) Laboratory, and the development of permanent, durable paper on a commercial scale |
Principal memberships:
American Association for the Advancement of
Science
American Institute of Chemists
Association for the Preservation of Virginia
Antiquities
Bibliographical Society of the University of
Virginia
Consulting Chemists and Chemical
Engineers
First Families of Virginia
International Centre for the Study of the
Preservation and the Restoration of Cultural Property, Paper Committee (Rome,
Italy)
International Council on Archives
Kappa Alpha Order (Southern Social
Fraternity)
Royal Society of Arts
Society of American Archivists
Sons of the Colonial Wars
Sons of the Revolution
Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper
Industry
Virginia Historical Society
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