A very orderly collection of papers which comprehensively records Barrett's life, friendships and dual careers as an historian and a South Australian country minister during the 1950s and 1960s. Included are papers relating to his three publications "That better country : the religious aspect of life in eastern Australia, 1835-1850", "Falling in : Australians and "boy conscription', 1911-1915" and "We were there : Australian soldiers of World War II", as well as materials concerning his membership of the editorial board of the "Journal of Australian studies." A large body of correspondence reflects Barrett's association with a number of prominent 20th century Australian historians including Russel Ward, Hugh Stretton, Douglas Pike, Manning Clark, Allan Martin, Roger Joyce, John Hirst, Ken Inglis, Peter Cook, Sir Keith Hancock, W. W. Phillips, Leonie Foster and Inga Clendinnen.
Historian, academic and Methodist minister. Born in Yorketown, South Australia in 1931, Barrett studied at the University of Adelaide before serving as a Methodist minister in Snowtown and Naracoorte between 1956 and 1968. He obtained a doctorate from the Australian National University in 1964, and after resigning from the church in 1968, held lectureships and a readership in the History Department at La Trobe University from 1969 to 1990.
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