She is author of Artisan Workers in the Upper South: Petersburg, Virginia, 1820-1865 (2008) and is editor-in-chief of Ohio History. Along with Paul Finkelman, Barnes co-edits a series on Law, Politics and Society in the Midwest for Ohio University Press. A first generation college student, and the daughter and granddaughter of West Virginia glassworkers and coal miners, Barnes earned her PhD from West Virginia University.