Charles J. (Charles Joseph) Barnes

Charles J. Barnes, or Charles Joseph Barnes, was an American educational writer born in 1837 and died in 1921. He is credited on a long run of schoolbooks, especially the New National readers and related primers that appeared in the 1880s and were published by A.S. Barnes & Company and later American Book Company.

His best-known works include New National First Reader and New National Fourth Reader, written with collaborators including Harlan H. Ballard, S. Proctor Thayer, and J. Marshall Hawkes. In the preface to New National First Reader, the authors describe a teaching approach built around familiar words, frequent review, spelling practice, and conversational lessons—showing his strong interest in how children actually learn to read.

Records from library and public-domain catalogs also show that Barnes's name remained closely tied to school reading instruction across multiple volumes, from first through fifth reader. While detailed biographical information is scarce in the sources available, his surviving books make clear that he was an important contributor to late 19th-century classroom reading materials.