Barry was discovered on 2 September 1930, by German astronomer Max Wolf at Heidelberg Observatory in southern Germany.

[2] The relatively bright S-type asteroid is a member of the Flora family, one of the largest collisional groups in the main-belt.

[11] This minor planet was named after Vincentian priest Roger Barry (1752–1813), the Court Astronomer of Grand Duchy of Baden at the Mannheim Observatory in 1788.

[12] Photometric observations taken in 2006 and 2011, by Adrián Galád and by the Palomar Transient Factory, showed a leisurely rotation period of 105.745 and 107.1±0.5 hours with a brightness variation of 0.5 and 0.46 magnitude, respectively (U=3/2).

[3] According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite, and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Barry measures between 9.21 and 9.50 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.216 and 0.330,[4][5][6] while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.280 and a diameter of 9.54 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 12.1.