Henry N. Barkhausen collection

Henry N. Barkhausen's life has been one of continuing involvement in the use and preservation of natural resources. A native of Green Bay, Wisconsin, Barkhausen was born in 1914 into a community actively engaged in the commercial and recreational exploitation of the Great Lakes environment. A keen eye for visualizing the interconnected state of the human and natural resources near Lake Michigan led from a boy's youthful enjoyment of sailing to the directorship of the Illinois Department of Conservation (1970-1973). Retired since 1981, Barkausen and his wife of over fifty years, Alice, still spend one month annually sailing the Great Lakes with their five children.

As a boy, the association with Illinois' natural resources began with a move from Wisconsin to the Chicago area. Following service in World War II as a lieutenant commander in the Navy, Barkhausen's business interests in heavy machinery sales and limestone quarrying from 1963 to 1981 revolved around balancing resources with preservation.

With a growing reputation as an effective business manager and as a committed environmentalist, Barkhausen was able to enter the Illinois political structure with a goal of harmonizing seemingly incompatible constituencies. His quarrying interests prospered and he also effectively preserved large sections of Illinois wetlands. Many years of effort as a state agency director and as a member of private conservation groups led to the designation of 30,000 acres as the Cypress Creek Federal Refuge. Barkhausen received the third annual National Wetlands Protection Award for his efforts. With his quarries located near the federal wetland area, Barkhausen was able to show businessmen and environmentalists a clear example of harmonized goals coming from antagonistic sources.

As an author, Barkhausen has used print media to advocate environmental preservation in numerous articles. His boyhood days in Wisconsin gave rise to an interest in the maritime history of the Great Lakes. In 1948, Wooden Sailing Ships of the Great Lakes was published as an expression of Barkhausen's accomplishments in documenting lake vessel history. The work is now considered a collector's item.

The chronicling of Great Lakes vessels has also made Barkhausen a skilled documentor of the photographs of commercial traffic on the Great Lakes taken since the nineteenth century. His donation of such materials to research centers is much valued and appreciated.

Retirement finds Henry Barkhausen as busy as ever. Construction of full-size replicas of historic lake vessels (31 feet and 16 feet so far) at his farm near the Cypress Creek Refuge occupies much of his time. He has also been instrumental in forming organizations such as the Association for Great Lakes Maritime History.