Joel Barber
Encyclopedia
Joel David Barber was an early 20th century architect from New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 who is best known as an early collector and promoter of duck decoys as folk art
Folk art
Folk art encompasses art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring tradespeople. In contrast to fine art, folk art is primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic....

.

Barber began collecting the carved wooden decoys in 1918 after finding one by accident near his Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

 boathouse. In addition to collecting and exhibiting the works, Barber organized decoy carving competitions and produced works of his own. But his most enduring contribution was his 1934 book Wild Fowl Decoys
Wild Fowl Decoys
Wild Fowl Decoys is an art reference book by American collector Joel Barber, first published in 1934 by The Derrydale Press.This heavily illustrated book aimed to be a comprehensive guide to the carved wooden duck decoy. Used by early American waterfowl hunters, this type of decoy was promoted by...

which is considered the seminal work on the subject, and remained the definite collector's guide for many decades after its publication. He also wrote a lesser known work of short stories and poetry, Long Shore, based on his experiences as an outdoorsman in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

.

Following his death in 1952, Barber's collection of about 400 decoys was given to the Shelburne Museum
Shelburne Museum
Shelburne Museum is a museum of art and Americana located in Shelburne, Vermont, United States. Over 150,000 works are exhibited in 39 exhibition buildings, 25 of which are historic and were relocated to the Museum grounds...

 in Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

.

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