Drucilla K. Barker papers, 1950s-2018

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Summary

Creator:
Barker, Drucilla K., 1949-2023 and Economists' Papers Archive
Abstract:
Drucilla "Drue" K. Barker (1949-2023) was a white Marxist feminist economist and labor scholar and a founding member of the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE). Collection consists of organizational materials from the International Association for Feminist Economics, Barker's early-career writings and professional materials, materials related to Barker's pedagogy and teaching at Hollins, materials from Barker's undergraduate and graduate work, personal materials, and reading materials. The bulk of this collection dates from the 1980s and 1990s, and it documents Barker's education and career as a feminist economist, including her contributions to the field, her intersectional work, and the breadth of her scholarly interests. Topics represented in the collection include: feminism, feminist economics, Marxian economics, the economic value of caregiving and women's work, and economic aspects of medical malpractice. Acquired as part of the Economists' Papers Archive.
Extent:
5 Linear Feet (3 boxes, 1 oversize folder)
Language:
Materials in English.
Collection ID:
RL.13162

Background

Scope and content:

Collection consists of some organizational materials from the International Association for Feminist Economics, Barker's early-career writings and professional materials, materials related to Barker's pedagogy and teaching at Hollins, materials from Barker's undergraduate and graduate work, personal materials, and reading materials. The bulk of this collection dates from the 1980s and 1990s, and it documents Barker's education and career as a feminist economist, including her contributions to the field, her intersectional work, and the breadth of her scholarly interests.

The International Association for Feminist Economics series contains administrative materials, publications, conference papers, and other items that document the establishment, history, and activities of IAFFE, including Barker's active roles in the organization.

The Writings and Professional Activities series represents a partial body of Barker's post-doctoral and early career work outside of teaching. Papers about tort reform and medical malpractice build upon Barker's doctoral research, while book reviews, articles, and a review essay show her scholarly and extracurricular engagement with economics and feminism. To a lesser extent, conference materials and summer seminar applications document Barker's professional development and interdisciplinary approach to scholarship.

The Pedagogy and Teaching series contains a small amount of materials from Barker's teaching at Hollins College. Sample syllabi, a handful of articles, and games for teaching the history of thought provide examples of Barker's approach to teaching and pedagogical influences. Also present are notes for a couple of lectures and a few other materials from Barker's teaching.

The Education series contains some course materials, notes, and transcripts from Barker's undergraduate and graduate education in economics in the 1980s, as well as Barker's dissertation proposal and sets of data used for that research. Also present are course materials and notes from a fiction class Barker enrolled in during the summer of 1999.

There is a very small amount of personal materials that document Barker's interest and participation in folk dancing, particularly Balkan varieties. This material includes folk dance workshop programs, music and lyrics, and dance step instructions. This is the only aspect of Barker's personal life represented in the collection.

The Reading Materials series is the largest series in the collection and consists mostly of copies of scholarly articles and book chapters on a wide variety of topics that Barker studied or was interested in. Topics range from economics (feminist, Marxian, and other schools of thought) to medical malpractice to arts and culture; together they represent Barker's wide range of studies and her intersectional approach to scholarship.

Biographical / historical:

Drucilla "Drue" K. Barker (1949-2023) was a white Marxist feminist economist and labor scholar and a founding member of the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE). Barker is known for her contributions to the field of feminist economics and for her contributions to understanding women's work and caregiving as labor. She published numerous books, chapters, and articles on economics, feminism, gender, and women's work. In addition to being a founding member of IAFFE, Barker served as a member of its Board of Directors (1998-2000), a member of the Feminist Economics editorial board (1999-2005), as IAFFE's newsletter editor, and as a conference organizer.

Drucilla Barker was born on March 12, 1949, in Akron, Ohio. She received her undergraduate degree in 1980 from Sonoma State University, where she majored in philosophy. She then pursued a master's degree in economics at Illinois State University, which she completed in 1982. Barker received her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1988. While completing her dissertation, Barker accepted a teaching position at Hollins College in Virginia, where she taught economics and women's studies from 1985 to 2006. She then moved to Columbia, South Carolina, where she was a professor of anthropology and women's and gender studies at the University of South Carolina from 2007 until her death in 2023. Barker passed away on January 12, 2023.

Drucilla Barker married Carleton Reed in 1991, and they had one child together: Alexander Barker.

Sources: Wikipedia, Virginia Marriage Records via Ancestry, and Barker's obituary via Newspapers.com (accessed 2025 September 19).

Acquisition information:
The Drucilla K. Barker papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a gift from Edith Kuiper in 2024.
Processing information:

Processed by Leah Tams, September 2025.

Accessions described in this collection guide: 2024-0124.

Arrangement:

Arranged into the following series: International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE); Writings and Professional Activities; Pedagogy and Teaching; Education; Personal Materials; Reading Materials.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

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Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the Rubenstein Library's Citations, Permissions, and Copyright guide.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Drucilla K. Barker papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

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