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J. T. Johnson papers (faculty-Agriculture)

Special Collections and Archives

J. T. Johnson papers (faculty-Agriculture)

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Special Collections and Archives

J. T. Johnson papers (faculty-Agriculture)

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  • Repository: Kent State University Libraries. Special Collections and Archives.
  • Title: J. T. Johnson papers
  • Inclusive Date(s): 1865-1950
  • Bulk Date(s): 1880-1930
  • Author: Finding aid prepared by Bonnie Mitchell, November 1977
  • Creation: Finding aid encoded by Edith Serkownek using the OhioLINK EAD Application in 2010
  • Origination: Johnson, J. T. (John Thomas), 1869-1956
  • Extent: 3.5 cubic feet (6 boxes = 2 record storage boxes, 2 document cases and 2 flat boxes)
  • Physical Location: 11th Floor
  • Finding Aid Identifier: OhKeUSC0104
  • Abstract: The J. T. Johnson papers, dating from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century, document both the personal and academic life of John Thomas Johnson, the first dean of Kent State Normal School and the head of the Agriculture Department. Johnson was an avid photographer and the collection includes photographs, as well as newspaper clippings and miscellaneous personal papers. Johnson's papers document the early history of Kent State University.
  • Revision(s):
  • February 2010 - Revised by Edith Serkownek
  • October 2013 - Revised by by Edith Serkownek
  • December 2023 - Revised by Cara Gilgenbach
  • Language(s): The records are in English

Biography of J. T. Johnson

John Thomas Johnson was born in Belleville, Illinois in 1869. Johnson earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Illinois in 1906 and began graduate work in agricultural teacher training at the same institution. Johnson served as a teacher and administrator at Western Illinois State Normal School until 1912, when he was hired as the first Dean of Faculty and the Head of the Agriculture Department of the soon-to-open Kent State Normal School.

Johnson helped to hire additional faculty and taught agriculture extension classes throughout the area until Kent campus facilities were built. Responsibility for overseeing the official opening of Kent State Normal School in the summer of 1913 fell to Johnson while Kent's President John McGilvrey was bed-ridden with typhoid fever. Johnson was a teacher and administrator at Kent from 1912 to 1917, at which time he left to teach at the Cleveland School of Education and later, Bowling Green State Normal College. Johnson returned to Kent in 1925 as Superintendent of the College Farm and Head of the Agriculture Department. Johnson continued to serve as the department head until 1939 when the department was eliminated. He also briefly served as professor of photography and official University Photographer between 1939- circa 1941 before retiring. Johnson died in 1956.

An obituary noted that Johnson's photographs had appeared in National Geographic and that he was a pioneer in color photography. Johnson Hall, a KSU student residence hall completed in 1956, is named in his honor.

Scope and Content

The J. T. Johnson papers, dating from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century, document both the personal and academic life of John Thomas Johnson, the first Dean of Kent State Normal School, as well as Head of the Agriculture Department. Johnson was a skilled amateur photographer, and photographs form the bulk of this collection. The collection includes family photographs, early Kent Normal School campus scenes and buildings (1912 to circa 1930), and photographic studies of plant, insect and bird life. The collection also includes newspaper clippings, programs and other ephemera, much of it related to the early history of Kent State University, including commencement programs, programs for entertainments held on campus, and University School (the working campus teacher training school) publications.

Statement of Arrangement

The J. T. Johnson papers are divided into the following series:
  • Series 1: Photographs
  • Subseries 1A: Photographs: Personal and Family
  • Subseries 1B: Photographs: Kent State Normal School and Kent-related
  • Subseries 1C: Photographs: Agricultural Studies
  • Subseries 1D: Photographs: Nature Studies
  • Subseries 1E: Photographs: Oversized
  • Series 2: Ephemera: Kent State Normal School-related and Personal
  • Series 3: Newspapers Clippings and Publications
  • Subseries 3A: Newspapers Clippings and Publications: Kent State
  • Subseries 3B: Newspapers Clippings and Publications: Local Newspapers


Related Material

Further information concerning J. T. Johnson's memories of Kent State University's early history can be found in the Kent State University Oral History Project collection.

Processing Information

Identification of the majority of photographs was supplied by the processor.

Restrictions on Access

Original newspaper clippings in this collection are very fragile, photocopies for research use have been provided.

Preferred Citation

J. T. Johnson papers. Kent State University Libraries. Special Collections and Archives.

Acquisition Information

The J. T. Johnson papers were donated to KSU in 1977 by Dennis Eberhardt who had been given the collection by Nel Wampler, daughter-in-law of J. T. Johnson. Small additions were made to this collection by George Urban in 1980 and Tom Olson in 1981.

Subject Headings
The following subjects are found in this collection:

  • Subjects:
  • Nature--Photographs
  • Agriculture--Photographs
  • Families--Photographs
  • Persons:
  • Johnson, J. T. (John Thomas), 1869-1956--Archives
  • Johnson, J. T. (John Thomas), 1869-1956--Family--Photographs
  • Organizations/Corporations:
  • Kent State Normal School--Photographs
  • Kent State Normal College--Photographs
  • Kent State University--Photographs
  • Kent State Normal School
  • Kent State Normal College. Dept. of Agriculture
  • Kent State University--History
  • Kent State Normal Training School
  • Functions:
  • Photography
  • Nature photography
  • Universities and colleges--Administration
  • Occupations:
  • College administrators
  • Photographers
  • High school students
  • Material Types:
  • Photographs
  • Clippings (Books, newspapers, etc.)
  • Student newspapers and periodicals


Detailed Description of The Collection

Series 1: Photographs, 1880s-1950s

Subseries 1A: Photographs: Personal and Family, 1880s-1950s
  • Scope and Content
  • J. T. Johnson's personal and family photographs include studio portraits and snapshots from the late 19th century through the mid-20th century. Multiple photographic formats and styles are represented including tintypes, albumen prints and cyanotypes. The majority of photographs are unidentified.
  • Box 1 / Folder 1
  • Photographs: Portraits of J. T. Johnson, 1880s-early 1900s
  • Box 1 / Folder 2
  • Photographs: Portraits of J. T. Johnson, 1910s-1950s
  • Box 1 / Folder 3
  • Photographs: Family portraits; tintypes, mid-19th century
  • Box 1 / Folder 4
  • Photographs: Family portraits taken in studios in Illinois, late 19th century
  • Box 1 / Folder 5
  • Photographs: Family portraits taken in studios in Illinois, late 19th century
  • Box 1 / Folder 6
  • Photographs: Family portraits taken in studios in Illinois, late 19th century
  • Box 1 / Folder 7
  • Photographs: Family portraits taken in studios in Indiana, late 19th century
  • Box 1 / Folder 8
  • Photographs: Family portraits taken in studios in Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Missouri and Michigan, late 19th century
  • Box 1 / Folder 9
  • Photographs: Family portraits, late 19th-early 20th century
  • Box 1 / Folder 10
  • Photographs: Family portraits, late 19th-early 20th century
  • Box 1 / Folder 11
  • Photographs: Family portraits, late 19th-early 20th century
  • Box 1 / Folder 12
  • Photographs: Family portraits, late 19th-early 20th century
  • Box 1 / Folder 13
  • Photographs: Family portraits, late 19th-early 20th century
  • Box 2 / Folder 1
  • Photographs album: Family snapshots including cyanotypes and albumen prints, late 19th century
  • Box 2 / Folder 2
  • Photographs: Family snapshots; cyanotypes, late 19th century
  • Box 2 / Folder 3
  • Photographs: Family snapshots: J. T. Johnson and new automobile, 1910s
  • Box 2 / Folder 4
  • Photographs: Family snapshots; boys running in a foot race (possibly Johnson's son, Haskett), 1910s
  • Box 2 / Folder 5
  • Photographs: Family snapshots; J. T. Johnson's son Haskett, many taken in front of their house at 607 E. Main Street, Kent, 1910s-1920s
  • Box 2 / Folder 6
  • Photographs and negatives: Family snapshots, 1900s-1920s
  • Box 2 / Folder 7
  • Photographs: Snapshots of a man suspended in the air from the IOOF building, downtown Kent (?), 1920s
  • Box 2 / Folder 8
  • Photographs and negatives: Family snapshots of Haskett Johnson's family, 1940s
  • Box 2 / Folder 9
  • Photographs: Family snapshots of woman with Dalmatian and Dalmatian with puppies; most taken on the steps and walkway by McGilvrey and Kent Halls, 1940s
  • Box 2 / Folder 10
  • Photographs: Locations: Miscellaneous buildings, bridges, street scenes and historic structures, several in Illinois, late 19th-early 20th century
  • Box 2 / Folder 11
  • Photographs: Locations: Miscellaneous buildings, bridges, street scenes and historic structures, several in Illinois, late 19th-early 20th century
  • Box 2 / Folder 12
  • Photographs: Locations: Miscellaneous buildings, bridges, street scenes and historic structures, several in Illinois, late 19th-early 20th century

Subseries 1B: Photographs: Kent State Normal School and Kent-related, 1913-1930
  • Scope and Content
  • Kent State and City of Kent-related photographs including buildings and early campus scenes.

  • Arrangement
  • Materials organized by subject and then chronologically.

  • Related Material
  • Many of these photographs also appear in the Kent State Archives and Special Collections' Older Positives-Negatives collection, although not always credited to J. T. Johnson.
  • Box 2 / Folder 13
  • Photographs: Buildings: Administration Building and Merrill Hall, late 1920s
  • Box 2 / Folder 14
  • Photographs: Buildings: Front Campus with Administration Building (with new facade) in foreground, early 1930s
  • Box 2 / Folder 15
  • Photographs: Buildings: Front Campus taken from Moulton Hall with Lowry, Merrill and Kent Halls and Administration Building visible, 1919
  • Box 2 / Folder 16
  • Photographs: Buildings: Front Campus showing Moulton, Lowry and Merrill Halls and the Administration Building, late 1920s
  • Box 2 / Folder 17
  • Photographs: Buildings: Kent Hall under construction with the Administration Building, Lowry and Merrill Halls behind, winter, 1915
  • Box 2 / Folder 18
  • Photographs: Buildings: Kent Hall under construction with the Administration Building, Lowry and Merrill Halls behind, winter, 1915
  • Box 2 / Folder 19
  • Photographs: Buildings: Kent Hall, late 1920s
  • Box 2 / Folder 20
  • Photographs: Buildings: Lowry Hall under construction, 1913
  • Box 2 / Folder 21
  • Photographs: Buildings: Lowry Hall, circa 1914
  • Box 2 / Folder 22
  • Photographs: Buildings: Lowry Hall, late 1920s
  • Box 2 / Folder 23
  • Photographs: Buildings: Lowry Hall, late 1920s
  • Box 2 / Folder 24
  • Photographs: Buildings: Merrill Hall construction, 1913
  • Box 2 / Folder 25
  • Photographs: Buildings: Moulton Hall with construction in front, 1920s
  • Box 2 / Folder 26
  • Photographs: Buildings: Moulton Hall, late 1920s
  • Box 2 / Folder 27
  • Photographs: Buildings: Rockwell Hall including interior and exterior with blimp overhead, late 1920s
  • Box 2 / Folder 28
  • Photographs: People: President James Engleman and Dr. Thomas, June, 1930
  • Box 2 / Folder 29
  • Photographs: People: President James Engleman with unidentified individual, Kent Hall in background, circa 1930
  • Box 2 / Folder 30
  • Photographs: People: Alex Whyte and (?) Williams using hose to flood Blackbird Lake for ice skating (?), winter, 1917
  • Box 2 / Folder 31
  • Photographs: People: Baseball team; Kent's first baseball team (Note: This photograph differs slightly from the photograph that appears in the 1914 yearbook), 1914
  • Box 2 / Folder 32
  • Photographs: People: Natural Dance class students on Front Campus lawn, 1920s
  • Box 2 / Folder 33
  • Photographs: People: OCSA Annual Meeting, Ashtabula (Johnson standing center back row), June 26-27, 1925
  • Box 2 / Folder 34
  • Photographs: People: Sewing class, 1920
  • Box 2 / Folder 35
  • Photographs: People: Campus horse and buggy team with Lowry Hall in background, circa 1914
  • Related Material
  • A similar photograph in Kent State University Older Negative-Positive Photographs collection, #1-11-33, is labeled "Archie and Dan"
  • Box 2 / Folder 36
  • Photographs: People: Unidentified group of female students, probably posed for a yearbook photograph, 1910s
  • Box 2 / Folder 37
  • Photographs: People: Unidentified group of students and faculty (?) standing in front of Merrill Hall, early 1930s
  • Box 2 / Folder 38
  • Photographs: People: Unidentified group of grade school children examining plants in their classroom (University School students?), 1910s
  • Box 2 / Folder 39
  • Photographs: People: Unidentified snapshot of five men working in tree tops (Davey Tree trimmers working on campus?), 1910s
  • Box 2 / Folder 40
  • University School student theater cast on Front Campus, performing scenes from Lady of the Lake, 1914
  • Box 2 / Folder 41
  • University School student theater cast on Front Campus, performing scenes from Lady of the Lake, 1914
  • Box 2 / Folder 42
  • University School student theater cast on Front Campus, unknown performance, 1910s
  • Box 2 / Folder 43
  • University School student theater cast on Front Campus, unknown performance, 1910s
  • Box 2 / Folder 44
  • Photographs: Scenes: Graduation procession across Hilltop Drive, 1920s
  • Box 2 / Folder 45
  • Photographs: Scenes: City of Kent, taken along Franklin Street with a view of Main Street bridge, dam, railroad tracks and locomotive, 1910s
  • Box 2 / Folder 46
  • Photographs: Scenes: City of Kent (?); People gathered around locomotive, 1910s
  • Box 2 / Folder 47
  • Photographs: Scenes: Students leaving 'Tabernacle' Assembly Hall, summer 1915
  • Box 2 / Folder 48
  • Photographs: Scenes: Views of Front Campus and City of Kent taken from the Administration Building, 1919
  • Box 2 / Folder 49
  • Photographs: Sketch: Architect's drawing of proposed Kent Normal School Front Campus buildings, copystand photograph, 1913

Subseries 1C: Photographs: Agricultural Studies, 1913-circa 1927
  • Scope and Content
  • Agriculture-related photographs and reports by Johnson, relating to his research at Western Illinois State Normal School and Kent State Normal School.

  • Arrangement
  • Material organized chronologically.

  • Box 2 / Folder 50
  • Photographs: Western Illinois State Normal School soil experiment field photographs, 1913
  • Scope and Content
  • Photographs originally appears in The Military Tract: Normal School Quarterly, "Agriculture circular No. 3, Soil Experiment Field" by J. T. Johnson, March 1913, reprinted in the Kent State Normal School Quarterly No. 9, 1914
  • Box 2 / Folder 51
  • Report: Potato Experiment Plots and Corn Crop, Kent State Normal College Farm by J. T. Johnson, Farm Superintendent, 1927
  • Scope and Content
  • Report includes photographs of Kent Front Campus as well as college farm fields and crops
  • Box 2 / Folder 52
  • Photographs: Kent College farm fields, fertilizer bags and potato crops, circa 1927

Subseries 1D: Photographs: Nature Studies, early 20th century
  • Scope and Content
  • Photographic studies of plants, animals and insects. Many prints are hand-tinted.

  • Arrangement
  • Material is organized by subject.

  • Box 3 / Folder 1
  • Photographs: Animals: Canada Geese, undated
  • Box 3 / Folder 2
  • Photographs: Animals: Owl, undated
  • Box 3 / Folder 3
  • Photographs: Animals: Swans, circa 1936
  • Box 3 / Folder 4
  • Photographs: Animals: Swans, circa 1936
  • Box 3 / Folder 5
  • Photographs: Animals: Swans, circa 1936
  • Box 3 / Folder 6
  • Photographs: Animals: Swans, circa 1936
  • Box 3 / Folder 7
  • Photographs and Journal Cover: Animals: Swans: Cover of the Transit Journal with a photograph of swans by J.T. Johnson and original photograph, July, 1936
  • Box 3 / Folder 8
  • Photographs: Fruits and Vegetables, undated
  • Box 3 / Folder 9
  • Photographs: Insects, undated
  • Box 3 / Folder 10
  • Photographs: Plants and Flowers, undated
  • Box 3 / Folder 11
  • Photographs: Plants and Flowers, undated

Subseries 1E: Photographs: Oversized, circa 1927-circa 1939

  • Arrangement
  • Personal and Kent State-related photographs are organized by date. Photographic studies of animals, plants and insects are organized by subject.

  • Box 4 / Folder 1
  • Oversized Photographs: Buildings: Front Campus scene with Administration Building, Merrill and Lowry Halls, circa 1927
  • Box 4 / Folder 2
  • Oversized Photographs: Interior: Dining Room, unidentified, undated
  • Box 4 / Folder 3
  • Oversized Photographs: Scenes: Commencement processions with President Carl Leebrick, President James Engleman and President McGilvrey, circa 1938
  • Box 4 / Folder 4
  • Oversized Photographs: Scenes: Goodyear blimp over town with an Avondale bus in the foreground, late 1920s
  • Box 4 / Folder 5
  • Oversized Photographs: Animals: Canada Geese, undated
  • Box 4 / Folder 6
  • Oversized Photographs: Animals: Dogs, undated
  • Box 4 / Folder 7
  • Oversized Photographs: Animals: Sheep, undated
  • Box 4 / Folder 8
  • Oversized Photographs: Animals: Swans, undated
  • Box 4 / Folder 9
  • Oversized Photographs: Animals: Swans, undated
  • Box 4 / Folder 10
  • Oversized Photographs: Fruits and Vegetables, undated
  • Box 4 / Folder 11
  • Oversized Photographs: Insects, undated
  • Box 4 / Folder 12
  • Oversized Photographs: Plants and Flowers, undated
  • Box 4 / Folder 13
  • Oversized Photographs: Woman holding a moth and woman blowing bubbles, undated
  • Box 4 / Folder 14
  • Oversized Photographs: Baby taken by Crowley-Stokes Studio, Cleveland, Ohio, undated
  • Box 4A
  • Oversized Photographs: Photo-album: Presented to Clinton S. Van Deusen, June 1940
  • Scope and Content
  • An album prepared by Johnson and presented to Van Deusen at the time of his retirement. Features historical photographs of the Manual/Industrial Arts Department and campus. Uncertain if all of the photographs were taken by Johnson.

Series 2: Ephemera: Kent State Normal School-related and Personal, 1880s-1933

  • Arrangement
  • Material is organized chronologically.

  • Box 5 / Folder 1
  • Ephemera: Miscellaneous personal material belonging to J. T. Johnson including invitations, graduation programs and Christmas cards, unrelated to Kent State Normal School, 1880s-early 1900s
  • Box 5 / Folder 2
  • Ephemera: Program: Third Annual Banquet of the Kent Board of Trade held in the Kent State Normal School dining hall, May 1, 1913
  • Box 5 / Folder 3
  • Ephemera: Words to the Kent State Normal School song (several variations) and processional, 1913 and undated
  • Box 5 / Folder 4
  • Ephemera: Postcard; Kent State Normal School informational postcard, including architect's sketch of the proposed campus, circa 1913
  • Box 5 / Folder 5
  • Ephemera: Commencement programs for Kent State Normal School and Kent State Normal College, 1914-1917
  • Box 5 / Folder 6
  • Ephemera: Program: The United States Marine Band of Washington D.C. at Kent State Normal School, November 20, [1915]
  • Box 5 / Folder 7
  • Ephemera: Programs: The Philharmonic Society of New York performing at Kent State Normal College, March 16, 1916 and March 16, 1917
  • Box 5 / Folder 8
  • Ephemera: Programs and newspaper clippings: Ernestine Schumann Heink performing at Kent State Normal College, August 1, 1916
  • Box 5 / Folder 9
  • Ephemera: Program and photograph(?): Princess Kiku performed at the Faculty Women's Club, March 10, 1917
  • Box 5 / Folder 10
  • Ephemera: Program: Kent Normal High School (University School) first graduating class commencement, circa 1917
  • Box 5 / Folder 11
  • Ephemera: Schedule of classes for Kent State College, summer quarter 1926

Series 3: Newspapers Clippings and Publications, 1910-1935

Subseries 3A: Newspaper Clippings and Publications: Kent State, 1910-1933
  • Box 5 / Folder 1
  • Newspaper Clippings and Publications: The Kentonian: Two issues, June 28, 1916 and June 13, 1917
  • Box 5 / Folder 2
  • Newspaper Clippings and Publications: The Kent Stater, May 18 and May 20, 1933
  • Box 5 / Folder 3
  • Newspaper Clippings and Publications: The Kent Normal School Quarterly, no. 1 and The Military Tract Normal School Quarterly (Western Illinois State Normal School), no. 8 and 18, December 1910, March 1913 and 1914
  • Box 5 / Folder 4
  • Newspaper Clippings and Publications: Normal High School News; miscellaneous issues., 1914-1915
  • Scope and Content
  • This publication was written by the University School high school students. University School is the term currently used to refer to the working teaching school (Kindergarten, grade and high school) that operated on campus during the Kent's early years.

Subseries 3B: Newspaper Clippings and Publications: Local Newspapers, 1912-1935
  • Box 5 / Folder 5
  • Newspaper Clippings and Publications: Local Newspapers: The Courier-Tribune, 1933-1935
  • Box 5 / Folder 6
  • Newspaper Clippings and Publications: Local Newspapers: The Kent Courier, Miscellaneous dates 1912-1913
  • Box 5 / Folder 7
  • Newspaper Clippings and Publications: Local Newspapers: The Kent Tribune, 1916 and 1928
  • Box 5 / Folder 8
  • Newspaper Clippings and Publications: Local Newspapers: Miscellaneous clippings, undated
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