Perfect sight is a concept as compelling as its history. The Roman Philosopher, Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BC- 65 AD) wrote, "letters, however small and dim, are comparatively large and distinct when seen through a glass globe filled with water,” and he used this observation to “read all of the books of Rome” ("History of Eyeglasses and Sunglasses”). Seneca allegedly gave such glasses to the Roman Emperor, Nero (Lewis). While, at the time, the magnification may have been falsely attributed to the water, crystals in the shape of lenses have been discovered as early as 100 AD. Scholars still debate the origin and properties of the first lenses; however, they agree that the observed magnifying properties of crystals were used to enhance vision around 700 AD (Lewis). Their non-perforated centers and a plano-convex form help distinguish lenses from glass jewelry. While it is known that ancient people recognized the magnifying powers of crystal, it is surprising that there is a lack of written history. This leads some scholars to believe lenses were not used for any commercial purpose in ancient times ("History of Eyeglasses and Sunglasses”).

There are three different schools of thought in Optical Science, none of them usurping the others: Emission Theory, Intro-Mission Theory, and Geometrical Optics. All three of these mindsets were laid to rest after the fall of the Roman Empire; at this time, scientists continued to research different properties of light in conjunction with the magnifying properties of crystals (Lewis). It was in 1284 that Italian crystal workers developed “reading crystals.” Two years later, Friar Salvino D’armate of Pisa created wearable eyeglasses by setting two magnifying glasses into bone, metal, or leather that could be balanced on the bridge of one’s nose. The production of different types of lenses, magnifying glasses, and eyeglasses increased rapidly in the following centuries until they took the form of eyeglasses that are known today ("History of Eyeglasses and Sunglasses”).

Dr. Alfred Fremont Barfoot’s eyeglasses are classified as a Pince-Nez model. This “pinch nosed” style was developed in France in 1850 and imported to America within the next several decades (“Museum of Vision”). In the late 19th century, glasses were seen as unfashionable and evidence of old age (Øydegaard). Pince-Nez eyeglasses were popular, inexpensive, and worn by two-thirds of the eyeglasses wearing population in the United States. Theodore Roosevelt was notorious for sporting these glasses during his presidency. The spectacles lacked temples but enabled the owner to set the glasses

upon his or her nose rather than use the old-fashioned Lorgnette that required holding the eyeglasses to one’s face (“Museum of Vision”). A law was passed in 1905 that required all jewelers to stamp their gold and silver, and the lack of any stamping on the nosepiece of Dr. Barfoot’s glasses is particularly puzzling. It is likely that these glasses were purchased before 1905. The other alternative is that it was created with high-carat gold and the stamping has worn off or was lost over the course of several adjustments or repairs. The lack of stamping could also indicate that the nosepiece is a different metal, but considering the common use of gold in glasses, this is unlikely (Jewelers Vigilance Committee). The Pince-Nez takes the shape of a “Crank design.” This upside down U shape spreads half an inch in diameter before two straight pieces of metal connect it to the lenses (Øydegaard).

The two oval lenses of Barfoot’s glasses are connected through the nosepiece. Together, they span four inches—the same length as a size three child’s shoe—and fit easily in the palm of one’s hand. The right lens has a small hole drilled along the upper outside edge to accommodate a langelier, which is a chain that attaches the glasses to the wearer’s shirt or jacket. Since the Pince-Nez design of the nosepiece and the lack of earpieces provide little stabilization for the eyeglasses, many owners used a chain so the glasses would not fall and break. As a doctor, Barfoot would additionally find himself removing his glasses often in order to interact with his patients. The eyeglasses have a high magnification, and whether the doctor adopted his spectacles when he was a young man with hyperopia (farsighted vision) or to help alleviate the strain on his eyes in his later years is difficult to say.

The black leather case is embossed with gold foil. The foil reads, “Dr. A. F. Barfoot” in a smooth script, and below “Decorah, Iowa” in Helvetica typeface. The dual font leaves nothing to be desired; it identifies the case owner as a person of class since they could afford such an intricate case, but remains compact and comfortable for the doctor to carry on his way to visit his patients. This  4.5 inch by 1.5 inch case carefully wraps the glasses in purple velvet to protect them as Barfoot carried out his busy schedule. The case is well worn in many places, and has no identification of the manufacturer of the glasses. The two major producers of the Pince-Nez eyeglasses were The American Optical Company and Bausch & Lomb (“History of Eyewear”). It is likely that Albert received his glasses from one of these companies.

Albert Barfoot grew up farming with his family outside of Decorah, Iowa; Decorah had a population of around 2,000 (Bureau of Labor Statistics). In 1862, when Albert was born, there was no indication that he, the sixth of seven children, would become a doctor (“Historical Records and Person Search”). He was expected to become a farmer, and in the census of 1879, he was listed as a laborer. Alfred was a social climber; six years later in 1885, Barfoot graduated with thirty-five other students from Iowa State University, and in four more years he found himself on the Iowa Board of Medical Examiners with four other doctors. Thus, in a short decade, Albert found himself scaling the social ladder from a farm laborer to one of the most distinguished doctors in Iowa (Iowa State Medical Reporter).

With a reasonable amount of success under his belt, Dr. Barfoot decided to settle down. August 27, 1891 marked the day of his marriage to Rebecca H. Holmes. Rebecca, one year Albert’s junior, was an only child and immigrant from Canada. Her parents, originally from England, immigrated during the revolutionary period to Canada and then to the United States when Rebecca was only two years old. At seventeen years old, Rebecca became a schoolteacher. Albert and Rebecca were married in Medord, Minnesota, and shortly thereafter, Dr. Barfoot became a physician in Waterloo, Iowa. The couple was married for seven years before they had their first child. Dorothy Barfoot was born on October 7, 1898. Shortly after her birth, Albert and Rebecca decided to move back to Albert’s hometown. Broadway Street, Decorah Ward 4 became the home to Dorothy and her parents (“Historical Records and Person Search”).

Decorah was a small city compared to the Barfoot’s former home. Waterloo had a population of about 12,500 people in 1900, while Decorah recorded only a quarter of the people—3,300 (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Perhaps their new house seemed too quiet compared to their formerly busy lives, because in 1901 Albert and Rebecca were blessed with their second and final child, Dorothy’s sister, Marjory. Mary Holmes, Rebecca’s mother and a 74-year-old widow, came to live with her daughter in 1920 (“Historical Records and Person Search”). Dr. Barfoot’s family was small, but he passed on his drive for success to his eldest daughter, Dorothy.

Albert lost his lifelong companion when Rebecca died early on February 11, 1934. She was buried in the Phelps cemetery in Decorah. Her mother, however, lived on for another three years before she died on May 12, 1937.  Mary, too, was buried in Phelps Cemetery, and two and a half years later, both mother and daughter were reunited with Albert Barfoot on November 20, 1939 (“Historical Records and Person Search”).

Dorothy and Marjory both attended school at Decorah High School. Marjory chose to attend the University of Iowa from 1923-1927. This was the first university to accept men and women in to their programs on an equal basis in 1855 (Undergraduate Admissions - The University of Iowa). Marjory’s presence at this university almost 75 years later is not a coincidence. The Barfoot women were born into an upper class family, and they expected to attend progressive universities. After Marjory’s graduation, she married Franklin Windle—two years her junior—on June 30, 1927. Mr. Windle was originally from Owatonna, Minnesota, but he and his wife moved to St. Louis, Missouri after their wedding (“Historical Records and Person Search”). Dorothy, on the other hand, chose to continue her education at St. Katherine’s School for Girls in Davenport, Iowa. This Episcopal school is now on the National Register of Historic Places, but in 1917, it was the first post-secondary school that Ms. Barfoot had graduated from. At this point in history, women studying after high school had to be referred to as “coeds.” At the land grant colleges that Dorothy attended in both Iowa and Kansas, domestic arts, known today as home economics, was the first department open to women (Thorne). After her Bachelor of Arts degree was completed in 1922 from Iowa State University, Dorothy began teaching. She started out at rural schools in Iowa and Park Rapids, Minnesota. Perhaps it was encouragement from her family to pursue a higher degree, or her own innate draw to produce more than arts and crafts, but Dorothy found herself across the country in New York City at Columbia University. In 1890, the United States claimed that 10 percent of graduate students were female. Over thirty years, this number increased to 41 percent. In the 1920s, the state of New York boasted 63, 637 female teachers and 21,915 female nurses. However, they only had eighteen workers in technology-related fields. These numbers show that, while 41 percent of all graduate students in the United States were female, in New York—and likely the rest of the nation—women were still falling into traditional gender roles (Chafe). In New York, Dorothy was among other women that were trying to make a name for themselves outside of traditionally feminine roles. While her degree in art is considered a female role, her position as a graduate student was not. In 1928, Dorothy graduated with her Masters of Arts degree. She also studied advanced art at the University of Arizona, the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, and Herron Art School (Kansas State University Media Relations). At the time when Dorothy was completing these degrees, 18.6 percent of collegiate faculty members were women; her awareness of the path she was following would have been heightened by her presence in universities during this monumental shift (Thorne). While she never completed a doctoral program, Dorothy indulged her thirst for knowledge by taking graduate-level classes for over half of her career.

Here, Dorothy is pictured with her colleagues in the College of Human Ecology at Kansas State University. She is the second woman from the left in the middle row.

Ms. Barfoot felt an obligation to both teaching an learning. She was named the Head of Department at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, before coming to Kansas State University in 1930 as an associate professor of art in the College of Human Ecology. Nellie Sawyer Kedzie Jones was the first K-State female professor; her legacy in the College of Human Ecology was still strong when Dorothy was hired (“Kansas State University”). Dorothy must have felt that teaching was the best way to learn, because she taught six classes her first year at Kansas State University and was considered a

graduate student as well. Throughout her career, Dorothy would teach a total of twenty-seven different art classes and spend seven of her thirty-six years at the university as a graduate summer school student (Kansas State University Course Catalog).  

At the beginning of her time in Manhattan, Kansas, Dorothy rented a house at 1429 Laramie Street for $30 a month. In 1954, she bought a house, and her permanent residence became 815 Sunset Avenue. Dorothy’s world revolved around the university; she dedicated her life to her students and her colleagues recognized this. On her personal biography forms for the university, she listed her only hobby as “crafts” (Kansas State University Media Relatinos). She became a woman in a position of power during the early-to-mid twentieth century.

Dorothy worked her way up the ladder; she was a strong-willed woman in a man’s work environment. In 1932, she became the chairman of the committee for Home Economics Art Program, and she was paid $2,500 each year. Three years later, in 1935, Dorothy became the Head of the Art Department (Kansas State University Historical Index), and received a salary upgrade of $200 a year (“Historical Records and Person Search”); this is roughly equivalent to $45,500 today (“Databases, Tables and Calculators by Subject”). Dorothy was not the first female to occupy the position as the head of a department, but she played a role in one of the largest movements in female history. In the 1930s, only about 14.2 percent of professionals were female, and these women worked primarily in the education field, as 80 percent of schoolteachers, 1.6 percent of superintendents, and 16.7 percent of chairs of departments in universities were women. Despite these staggering numbers, women only occupied 4 percent of professorships. This miniscule representation of the 3.3 percent of graduate students that were women shows the marginalization that was prominent when Dorothy was chosen to become the Head of the Art Department (Chafe).

When her father died in 1939, Dorothy received his eyeglasses. It is possible that Dorothy wanted to preserve a part of her father by owning his glasses, but it is more likely that Dorothy also saw them as a symbol for much more than her father’s life. Glasses are traditionally a symbol of intelligence, class, and clarity. Dorothy spent her entire professional life dedicating herself to broadening her own mind as well as the minds of others. Dorothy was devoted to the up-and-coming female movement for higher education, and her father’s spectacles show her commitment to being an artist, teacher, and a woman in academia.

Dorothy was a force to be reckoned with, and she spread her passion for art across the globe. In her time at the university, she went on two six-month sabbaticals. These excursions led her to teach art and ceramics at the Holmann Institute of Agra, India in 1946 and 1955. She is quoted as saying, “One of the purposes of a sabbatical is to improve yourself either through further education or traveling; in this way you can improve your teaching. I learn more from traveling and seeing things in myself than I do reading about them or seeing slides. So instead of finishing my doctorate, I went around the world twice” (Kansas State University Media Relations). During her sabbaticals, Dorothy only received 50 percent of her usual salary—rather than her typical $3,800 yearly, she accepted $1,900 while she was traveling. As well as traveling around the world, Dorothy traveled around the United States to attend many conferences. In 1936, she attended a Conference on the Fine Arts at her alma mater, Iowa State University. She attended other events in Chicago, New York City, Atlantic City, and Evanston, Illinois (Kansas State University Historical Index).

Her love of travel was apparent, but Dorothy was more actively involved in the art community. She was a member of several honor societies, professional organizations, and social clubs: Delta Phi Delta (art), Phi Kappa Phi (scholarship), Kappa Delta Pi (education), Omicron Nu (home economics), the Chamber of Commerce, Adult Higher Education Alliance, Western Arts Alliance, National Association of Woman’s Artists, American Association of University Women, National Educators Association, and the Kansas State Art Teachers Association. Within these groups, Dorothy served as an active member, a committee head, and a chairman (Kansas State University Media Relations). Her time spent in these groups and teaching shows that Dorothy was not a woman that sat at home and remained passive. She was always focused on expanding her perception of the world so that she could share it with others.

As a professor of art, it was expected that Dorothy produced art in her given medium. Ms. Barfoot chose to paint. Her piece “Ferry Dock” was accepted for the 43rd annual National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors in New York City in 1936, and her piece “An Airplane View of the Fields of Iowa” was in an International Aeronautical Art Exhibition in Los Angeles in 1937 (Kansas State University Historical Index). She also drew a buffalo design that was used on the cover of the Kansas Magazine for the years 1933-1934 (Craig). Despite her success in academia, Dorothy’s art did not live on. She is mentioned in only three books: Arizona’s Pioneering Women Artists: Impressions of the Grand Canyon State by Betsy Fahlman and Lonnie Pierson Dunbier, Biographical Directory of Kansas Artists Active Before 1945 by Susan Craig, and Who was Who in American Art, 1564-1975 by Peter Hastings Falk. None of these books feature her artwork in any way. Her name is accompanied by a brief summary of her schooling, and she is surrounded by the names and lives of other marginalized artists in the twentieth century (“Ask Art: The Artists’ Bluebook”).

Dorothy’s face did not change much throughout the years; a stern line across her brow got a little deeper and her eyes grew more weary. At its peak, her name appeared up to four times a year in Kansas State’s Royal Purple Yearbook. Sometimes she was listed in a photo caption for the art club or the listing of faculty advisors for the Wise club and AXD sorority. There were years when she was not mentioned at all because of her status as an assistant professor or because she was on sabbatical. As her years and time at Kansas State University progressed, however, Ms. Barfoot found herself listed only as the Department Head of Art for another year, year after year, until her retirement in 1966 (Kansas State University media Relations).

Dorothy Barfoot may have retired, but she never stopped working. This active woman continued to share her love of the arts by teaching weaving and other crafts at a local elementary school for twenty-two years after her retirement. Little else is recorded about the life of this remarkable woman. Her day-to-day life during her time at Kansas State University was focused only on her students and her work. She died October 28, 1984, at the age of 88. Her life spanned two World Wars, the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, and the development of equality for women in the United States. Her legacy lives on for those that wish to experience the world of a woman that refused to give up in a world that was trying to smother her. 

"Ask Art: The Artists' Bluebook." Book References for Dorothy Barefoot. Ask Art. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.

Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.

Chafe, William H. The Paradox of Change: American Women in the 20th Century. New York: Oxford UP, 1991. Print.

Craig, Susan V. "Biographical Dictionary of Kansas Artists (active before 1945)." KU Schola RWorks. 1 Jan. 2006. Web. 5 Nov. 2014.

"Databases, Tables and Calculators by Subject." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S.

"Historical Records and Person Search." Profiles and Historical Records. Ancestry.com. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.

"History of Eyeglasses." Vintage Eyewear. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.

"History of Eyeglasses and Sunglasses." Glasses History. Web. 9 Nov. 2014.

Iowa State Medical Reporter. Des Moines, Iowa, Sept 1885, No 1

Jewelers Vigilance Committee. "The Essential Guide to the US Trade in Gold and Silver Jewelry." The Federal Trade Commission Guides for the Jewelry, Precious Metal and Pewter Industries. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.

Kansas Magazine, January 1, 1933, Cover.

Kansas State University Course Catalog. 1930-1966. Print.

Kansas State University Historical Index. 1930-1966. Print.

Kansas State University Media Relations. Office of University Relations - Kansas State University, 1 Jan. 1984. Web.

"Kansas State University." Our Heritage Library: College of Human Ecology. 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.

Kansas State University Royal Purple 1930-1966. Print

Lewis, Bart. "Did Ancient Celators Use Magnifying Lenses?" The Celator 11.11 (1997): 40. Ancients.info. Web. 9 Nov. 2014.

Museum of Vision." Museum of Vision Exhibits. The Foundation of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.

Øydegaard, Floyd D.P. "The Shadows of the Past - Spectacles." The Shadows of the Past Inc. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.

Thorne, Alison Comish. "Visible and Invisible Women in Land-Grant Colleges, 1890-1940." USU Faculty Honor Lectures. 8 Oct. 1985. Web.

"Undergraduate Admissions - The University of Iowa." A Proud Tradition. The University of Iowa, 1 Jan. 2012. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.