Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard (1809-1889) was President of Columbia College from 1864 until 1889. He was born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, and graduated from Yale University in 1828. Prior to his appointment at Columbia, he was a professor of mathematics, chemistry, natural philosophy, and natural history at the University of Alabama (1838-1854) and Chancellor of the University of Mississippi (1856-1861). He was also ordained in the Episcopal Church in 1854. In 1857, a controversy erupted over his acceptance of the testimony of Jane, an enslaved woman owned by Barnard, against that of two students who had assaulted her. Barnard moved north in 1861, when the University of Mississippi closed after its entire student body enlisted in the Confederate army. Barnard oversaw the rapid growth of Columbia College and advocated for the education of women. As a result, he is the namesake of Barnard College. He served in various other public capacities as well, including President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1866, commissioner to the 1867 and 1878 Universal Expositions in Paris, and President of the American Metrological Society. He married Margaret McMurray (1820-1891) in 1847. They had no children. He died in New York City on April 27, 1889.

Correspondence, manuscripts, and printed material by and about Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard (1809-1889), spanning his adult life from 1831 to 1889. The majority of the correspondence covers his positions as President of the University of Mississippi, 1856-1861, and President of Columbia College, 1864-1889.