Converted to EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm78028001
Collection material in English
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The papers of Mercer Green Johnston, educator, Episcopal clergyman, and author, were given to the Library of Congress by his widow, Katherine Aubrey Johnston, in 1955.
The papers of Mercer Green Johnston were arranged and described in 1958. The finding aid was revised in 2012. The finding aid was updated in 2023 by Maria Farmer as part of a division-wide remediation project by the Inclusive Description Working Group.
Copyright in the unpublished writings of Mercer Green Johnston in these papers and in other collections of papers in the custody of the Library of Congress has been dedicated to the public.
The papers of Mercer Green Johnston are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Mercer Green Johnston Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of Mercer Green Johnston (1868-1954) span the years 1860-1954, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1894-1954. The collection consists of correspondence, diaries, sermons, notebooks, autobiographical papers, poems, prayers, financial papers, pamphlets, periodicals, photographs, clippings, scrapbooks, and memorabilia. The material is organized into thirteen series: Diaries and Notebooks, Family Correspondence, Personal Correspondence, General Correspondence, Subject File, Sermons, Autobiographical Papers, Book File, Financial File, Miscellany, Photographs, Scrapbooks, and Memorabilia and Oversize.
The General Correspondence covers all phases of Johnston's career as a minister, educator, and author, including numerous letters exchanged with Episcopal bishop Charles Henry Brent, with whom Johnston was associated in missionary work in the Philippines. Other correspondence in the series relates to his activities as rector of Trinity Church in Newark, New Jersey; as a freelance writer in the fields of social, economic, labor, and political activity; chairman of the National Progressive Headquarters and Peoples' Legislative Service with headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland; and as a New Deal official with the Rural Electrification Association and other agencies from 1932 until his retirement in 1944. Additional topics include his work with the Young Men's Christian Association during World War I and as director of the National Citizens Committee on Relations with Latin America in the 1920s.
The Family Correspondence includes letters with his wife's, Katherine Aubrey Johnston's, family and his father, Bishop James Steptoe Johnston, reflecting opinions of both father and son regarding religion, politics, and world affairs.
The Sermons series contains copies of Johnston's messages in various stages of preparation for delivery and publication and includes a cross-reference index to their contents.
Prominent correspondents include William Edgar Borah, Charles Henry Brent, Bronson M. Cutting, Eugene V. Debs, Elizabeth Colt Gilman, Judson King, Robert M. La Follette, W. Jett Lauck, George Fort Milton, George W. Norris, G. Bromley Oxnam, William Thomas Rawleigh, Oswald Garrison Villard, Thomas James Walsh, and Burton K. Wheeler.
This collection is arranged in thirteen series:
Diaries and notebooks. The diaries are largely desk-type appointment books.
Arranged chronologically.
Letters sent and received.
Arranged chronologically.
Letters sent and received.
Arranged chronologically.
Folders of letters sent and received and two letterbooks.
Clippings, pamphlets, and miscellaneous printed matter.
Arranged by subject.
Handwritten drafts, printed or typed copies, and sermon books containing miscellaneous notes for Johnston's sermons.
The sermons are arranged according to Johnston's numerical system. A cross-reference card index arranged alphabetically by title of sermon with each card containing the number of the sermon is filed at the end of the series.
Correspondence, notes, manuscripts, clippings, genealogical material, and brief biographical sketches assembled by Johnston.
Arranged alphabetically by subject.
Typed and handwritten manuscripts and galley proofs of Johnston's books and related correspondence.
The manuscripts are arranged alphabetically by title and the correspondence is arranged chronologically.
Income and property tax statements, bills and receipts.
Unarranged.
Chiefly fragmentary notes on religion with a few annotated newspaper clippings and mailing addresses.
Unarranged.
Arranged alphabetically by subject within chronological periods.
Chiefly clippings from newspapers and magazines mounted in scrapbooks.
Arranged chronologically.
Diplomas, certificates, photographs, and scrapbooks.
Arranged by type of material.