John Hendley Barnhart
John Hendley Barnhart (October 4, 1871 – November 11, 1949) was an American botanist and writer who specialized in biographies of botanists.
He was born in Brooklyn, New York, to John Wesley Barnhart and Emma Miller Barnhart. He studied at Wesleyan University, earning an A.B. in 1892 and an A.M. in 1893, and then earned an M.D. from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1896, though he never practiced medicine, thanks to a substantial private income.
In 1897 he married Emma Gertrude Platt of Southampton, New York. The couple lived in Tarrytown, New York, and later moved to the Bronx in 1914.
Barnhart began his career at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) as an editorial assistant in the library in 1903. He became the NYBG librarian in 1907, and from 1908 to 1926 and again in 1932 he served as library vice president. During his time as librarian, the collection grew and he donated his own 1,900-volume private library, including many rare works. In 1913 he was named Bibliographer of the Garden, a title he held for 30 years, and he created the Barnhart bibliographic file, about 50,000 cards with bibliographic information that formed the basis of his later biographical books. In 1916 he helped found Addisonia, a botanical journal, along with George Valentine Nash.
Barnhart also kept careful records of his own publications and retired from the NYBG in 1942. He died in his home in Southampton, Long Island, in 1949 and was survived by his wife. He was buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery in Newburgh, New York.
His work contributed to the study of North American flora and to botanical bibliography, including a taxonomic citation style still used in the Index to American Botanical Literature.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 23:54 (CET).