The collection was compiled by Frederick Barkas during his retirement. It consists of 66 volumes of typescript copies of letters and diaries interleaved with original photographs, watercolours, sketches, school and university records, ephemera collected on holidays, musical and dramatic programmes, various society publications, and church material. The source material drawn on consists largely of Frederick's own letters and diaries, but also includes eighteen volumes of Mary Rushton Barkas' letters, as well as several volumes of letters written by Amy Barkas and other friends and relatives

The Library also holds material relating to the Barkas family at Library references ATL-Group-00528, MS-Group-0175, and PAColl-2704.

Arrangement: As Barkas completed each volume he had it bound and inscribed with a title. He then arranged the volumes thermatically into series, assigning to each volume both a series number (eg C3) and a number showing the place within the whole collection. Both numbering sequences have been retained in the inventory. As well as these volumes the Library also received a number of certificates and diplomas awarded to Mary, and copies of Frederick's and Mary's passports. These have been included in two folders at the end of the collection and have been assigned item numbers, but not series numbers

Frederick Barkas gained a degree in chemistry at Durham University, emigrated to Sydney in 1880, and arrived in Christchurch in July 1881 to take up a position at Canterbury College of Agriculture. He remained there till Aug 1883, and in Nov 1883 he began working for the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company. He stayed there till his retirement in 1919.

In 1887 Frederick married Amy Parker. Amy found colonial life dull and spent most of her life in London. Frederick, despite his fondness for travel, preferred the quiet life offered by Timaru. The two corresponded until Amy's death in Jan 1920.

Their daughter, Mary Rushton Barkas, was born in 1889. In adult life she pursued a promising medical career in Europe. For a time she studied under Carl Jung, and eventually achieved the distinction of being appointed Medical Superintendent at the Lawn Psychiatric Hospital in Lincoln. Her involvement in the intellectual circles of Britain, including the Fabian Society, makes her letters a rich source of information for those studying this aspect of Britain's history in the early 1900s.

Mary returned to New Zealand when her father died in 1932 and decided to retire here. For the remainder of her life she lived at Thames and devoted her time to the study of Chinese philosophy, having discovered serious discrepancies in both the German and English translations with which she was familiar. She died in 1961

Quantity: 69 folder(s).

Finding Aids: Paper inventory which was previously available in reading room was removed on 5 December 2014 as it contained no extra information. A copy is available in the staff backfile..