Artist, original printmaker, author and publisher, John Warner Barber (1798-1885) was responsible for all aspects of his books. For his Historical Collections of Connecticut, published in 1836, Barber traveled widely throughout the state, making sketches of characteristic buildings and views and obtaining information from local sources. Barber developed his rough pencil sketches into more detailed wash drawings, which were subsequently transferred directly to small blocks of boxwood, on which he engraved the designs. These wood engravings were used to illustrate his 500-page text. Born in East Windsor, Connecticut, Barber studied with the East Windsor printmaker Abner Reed, before settling in New Haven in 1823. The Graphics Collection contains approximately 350 of his drawings of Connecticut towns, including rough preliminary sketches and more highly finished studies, as well as several original woodblocks used in the printing of his illustrations.

Churches and schools figure prominently in Barber's views. This view of Colchester includes not only the Congregational Church and Bacon Academy, but also a small "school for colored children" located to the right of the church beneath the trees.
Ref. # 1953.5.47 N1799

Typical of Barber's many distant views of Connecticut towns, this panorama of Farmington seen from across the Farmington River, includes the figure of the artist sketching.
Ref. # 1953.5.96 N1828

The monument, which was erected in 1830, just six years before the publication of Barber's illustration of it, was erected to commemorate the American troops who were massacred by the British following the surrender of Fort Griswold during the American Revolution.
Ref. # 1953.5.116 N2067

According to Barber's account, there were 15 or 20 of these sea-weed covered huts lining the shore when he visited Milford in 1836. The huts were used by oystermen during the winter months, when oysters were harvested in Long Island Sound.
Ref. # 1953.5.320 N1770

The Mohegan Chapel was quite a new building when Barber depicted it in 1836. It was constructed in 1831 at the expense of "benevolent ladies in Norwich, Hartford and New London" as a place of worship for the Mohegan and white residents of the reservation in Montville.
Ref. # 1953.5.173 N1869

This modest 18th-century house belonged to the Mohegan preacher and teacher, Samson Occom (d. 1792). One of the few illustrations of private houses included in Barbers's Historical Collections.
Ref. # 1953.5.175 N1870