John Walton Barker was born in
Brooklyn,
New York on October 7, 1933 to John W. (Jack) Barker and Evelyn Doty Barker. He was descended from
Mayflower bond servant
Edward Doty through his mother's ancestors, while on his father's side from a Virginia-originated, Kentucky-based family of tobacco plantation owners. His ancestors fought in the
Revolutionary and
Civil Wars, during the latter on the side of the
Confederacy. Barker graduated from
Brooklyn College in 1955, received his M.A. (1956) and Ph.D (1961) at
Rutgers University and spent three fellowship years (1959–62) at
Harvard's
Dumbarton Oaks in
Washington, D.C. before joining the faculty of the History Department at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he served until retirement in 1999. He was dedicated to the history of
Medieval Europe, with teaching and research specialities in Byzantine, the
Crusades, as well as Venetian history and civilization. In 1975 he helped found the Byzantine Studies Conference (now the Byzantine Studies Association of North America), which continues to be the main venue for presenting current research on Byzantine studies in the western hemisphere. He hosted the second Byzantine Studies Conference in 1976 and the 23rd in 1997. He and his wife traveled extensively and, for a good decade, he led educational tours to Turkey, Greece, Italy, and especially
Sicily. For over three decades he was a regular broadcaster on recorded music for WHA/WERN Public Radio, and for the past 18 years was a monthly host on WORT's "Musica Antiqua". He was a co-founder of UW Opera Props and between 1981 and 2006 produced 61 issues of “The Prompter,” extended journals for the University opera productions. In addition, he sang in several local choirs including the choir at the
Assumption Greek Orthodox Church in
Madison for 47 years. Barker was married to Margaret B. Barker (born Grabowski), a retired attorney and author of non-fiction works. He is buried in the Coughlin family plot at
Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, where he joins his ancestor Thomas Joralemon (–1850) and where his neighbors include
Leonard Bernstein,
Louis Moreau Gottschalk, as well as other notables. ==Selected works==