In his youth, Barnard worked on a farm, then studied economics at Harvard University, earning money selling pianos and operating a dance band. He did not obtain his Harvard BA because he did his four-year work in three years and could not complete a science course, but a number of universities later granted him honorary doctorates.[1]
Barnard joined the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (now AT&T) in 1909. In 1927, he became president of the New Jersey Bell Telephone Company. During the Great Depression, he directed the New Jersey state relief system.[2]