Guide to the Hamill & Barker, Inc. Collection, 1928-1996

Margery Barker (1901-1980) and Frances Hamill (1904-1987) met while working in Fanny Butcher's Chicago bookshop. In 1928 they formed a partnership to run their own antiquarian bookstore. Their successful endeavors in the book trade and their ability to network and discover authors and build client relationships with them on visits to England enabled them to acquire prominent manuscripts and literary collections, including the diaries of Virginia Woolf. Many of their clients were members of the Bloomsbury Group, including Leonard and Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey, and G.E. Moore.

Concerned with scholarly access to the papers of prominent writers, Hamill & Barker frequently offered collections to academic libraries before publicizing them to private collectors. Library collections that benefited from an association with Hamill & Barker include the Berg Collection at New York Public Library, the Lilly Library at Indiana University, Harvard University Library, and Yale University Library. The firm sold both a copy of a New Testament printed by Gutenberg and the first secular book printed by Gutenberg in 1460, the Catholicon.

During World War II Hamill and Barker decided to suspend their antiquarian operation and work as tool-grinders to help the war effort. They stored their books in 1943 and opened for business again in 1946. Their stature in the bookselling community was noted when Frances Hamill became the first woman president of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America in 1953.

Terrence A. Tanner (1948-2003) was hired by Hamill & Barker, Inc. in 1975 after gaining several years of experience as a book scout for other booksellers. He continued to work with Frances Hamill after Margery Barker's death in 1980, becoming sole proprietor of the firm after her death in 1987. He relocated the shop from Chicago to Evanston, Illinois in 1988, and operated it until his death in 2003.

• Names
  • Hamill & Barker
  • Barker, Margery, 1901-1980
  • Hamill, Frances, 1904-1987
• SubjectAntiquarian booksellers--Illinois--Chicago

The Hamill & Barker Collection was donated by Terry Tanner who succeeded Frances Hamill and Margery Barker as proprietor of Hamill & Barker, Inc. Some additional materials were donated in 2011 by Ruth B. Hutchison who wrote the essay on Hamill & Barker, Inc. for Women Buildling Chicago 1790-1990: A Biographical Dictionary.

Processed by Sigrid Pohl Perry in 1990; revised with additional material added in 1997, 1999 and 2000.

There are no restrictions on use of the materials in the department for research; all patrons must comply with federal copyright regulations.

The Hamill & Barker, Inc. Archive contains the working files and correspondence for the firm from 1928 until 2001, beginning with the partnership of Frances Hamill (1904-1987) and Margery Barker (1901-1980). Terence A. Tanner (1948-2003) joined the staff in 1975, continued with the firm after Margery Barker's death in 1980, and became sole proprietor of the firm in 1987. Except for a few files, the division of the correspondence reflects these transitions in the firm. Files include Hamill & Barker, Inc. catalogs, correspondence and information on the acquisition and sale of books and collections to libraries and individuals. Correspondence, minutes, and stolen books lists from the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA), 1977-1998, can also be found.

Personal files with photographs, essays, and correspondence related to Frances Hamill and Mergery Barker or their family members are contained in the first series. The typescript for Katherine Hamill's novel, Swamp Shadow (New York: Knopf, 1936), is in box 2.

The second and third series contain the correspondence files of the firm from 1936-1979; these files include correspondence with authors from whom Hamill & Barker acquired archives, such as David and Richard Garnett, Leonard Woolf, Gerald Brenan, Frances Partiridge, Vita Sackville-West, and James Strachey.

The fourth series consists of files related to the lawsuit, Margery Barker vs. The Trustees of Bryn Mawr College and M. Carey Thomas, President, 1921. The final series consists of the firm's files from 1941-2001; this last series of correspondence and records was not received until after the death of Terry Tanner in 2003.