He was born in Hellertown, Pennsylvania, and received degrees at Muhlenberg College (B.A.
Barba married Eleanor Martin (March 29, 1893 – July 14, 1966), a professional artist who collaborated with him on many projects and publications.
Barba wrote a popular section of The Morning Call newspaper ('S Pennsylvaanisch Deitsch Eck, "The Pennsylvania German Corner") in the Pennsylvania German dialect from 1935 to 1969,[1] and developed a standardized German-based orthography with Albert F. Buffington, known as Buffington-Barba or Buffington-Barba-Beam in a later version.
Its first major codification was in Buffington and Barba's 1954 A Pennsylvania German Grammar (rev.
A member of the German Reformed Church and later United Church of Christ, Barba also belonged to the Modern Language Association, the National Society of Sons of the American Revolution, and the Goethe Society of America.