The Biographical Dictionary of America/Barton, Edmund Mills

​BARTON, Edmund Mills, librarian, was born in Worcester, Mass., Sept. 27, 1838, son of Ira M. and Maria W. (Bullard) Barton. He was educated at the Valentine hoarding school, Northborough. Mass., followed mercantile pursuits in Boston, St. Louis and New York, and in 1863 engaged in hospital work in the Army of the Potomac. He visited Gen. John A. Dix and accompanied him upon his expedition to Bottom Bridge, near Richmond. The battle of Gettysburg called him at once to that field for hospital work, and there he was commissioned field relief agent of the United States sanitary commission under the authority of the secretary of war, and was assigned to the care of the 5th army corps, army of the Potomac. This position he held until the end of the war, accompanying the surgical staff of the Maltese cross corps on all general movements and special raids. He returned to Worcester about July 1, 1865, where, after some months of travel, he entered the service of the American antiquarian society as assistant librarian, April 1, 1866. On April 24, 1883, he was unanimously elected librarian to succeed Samuel Foster Haven, who for forty-three years had held the position with distinguished honor. For his literary work see "Bibliography of the Works of Members of the American Historical Association," of which he was a life member, as he also was of the American antiquarian society, of the American library association, and of the Massachusetts library club.