Frustrated a second time, Ferguson foreshadowed "the biggest bear fight that has ever taken place in the history of Texas". Ferguson cut off all state appropriation to the university by a veto during the 1917 legislative session. Barker inserted himself in the feud by protesting Ferguson's nomination to replace the state librarian. Barker stood in resolute defense of the incumbent state librarian, Ernest W. Winkler. As the chair of the university's history department, he was an ex-officio member of the State Library and Historical Commission, a body responsible for vetting and appointing the state librarian. He reviewed Ferguson's nominee, A. F. Cunningham, but concluded in a letter that his lack of experience disqualified him from the position. Barker remitted a copy of the letter to Ferguson. The governor responded directly, making it known that he was insulted and that Barker had created an enemy. Barker became more involved in the broader politics of the university, meeting with alumni and administrators and taking the side of the university in its defense against Ferguson's attacks. Barker survived this dispute; Ferguson did not, as he was impeached and removed from office for reasons unrelated to his feud with the university. Barker married Matilda LeGrand Weeden on August 6, 1903. Barker died on October 22, 1956. He was interred at Oakwood Cemetery in Austin. Early during his tenure as managing director of the Texas State Historical Association, Barker changed the name of its academic journal to "Southwestern Historical Quarterly", and as of 2020, the journal is still published under the same name. Several notable historians studied under Barker, including Nettie Lee Benson, Carlos Castañeda, Harry Ransom, and Walter Prescott Webb. In 1946, the university’s Board of Regents resolved to house the Eugene C. Barker Texas History Center in the building known as "Cass Gilbert's Old Library". The building was so named because it had been designed by Cass Gilbert, who had been contracted as the university’s architect in 1910. On April 27, 1950, about six years before Barker’s death, the university celebrated the new location of the center with a dedication ceremony. However, the building has since been renamed Battle Hall and reallocated to the School of Architecture, a name and purpose it retained as of 2020. Among the documents in the Barker collection representing early Texas history are the Bexar Archives, the Stephen F. Austin Papers, and the Texas Declaration of Independence.