Viola Florence Barnes was born on August 28, 1885 in Albion, Nebraska. She was the third of five children of Cass Groves Barns (who spelled the family name without an "e"), a physician and newspaper editor, and Isabella Smith Barns. She received a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Nebraska School of Music in 1906 and, after a brief period as a piano teacher, returned to the University to complete work for a B.A. in 1909 and M.A. in 1910. She joined the faculty of the University as a history instructor and continued her studies at Harvard University and the University of Wisconsin during the summers of 1915-1916, then went to Yale University. After receiving her Ph.D. from Yale in 1919, Barnes joined the faculty at Mount Holyoke College and greatly expanded the American history curriculum. She became a full professor in 1933 and was chair of the History Department from 1939-1942. Barnes was also chair of the American Culture major (later the American Studies Program) from its inception in 1937 until her retirement in 1952. Her first book, "The Dominion of New England" (1923, reprinted in 1960) remains a standard history of the colonial period and she was the author of numerous scholarly articles and essays. From about 1926 until the mid-1970s she focused her research on the history of Great Britain from 1760-1776 and completed a three volume manuscript that has not been published. In addition to her work as a teacher and scholar, Barnes was a co-founder and second president of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians. She also helped establish the riding program at Mount Holyoke. Barnes died on July 26, 1979 in Holyoke, Massachusetts at the age of ninety-three.