Collection of Owen Johnson Material
Collection
Identifier: DC026
Scope and Contents
The Collection of Owen Johnson Material includes miscellaneous documents pertaining to The Lawrenceville Stories and publisher Simon & Schuster, newspaper clippings and biographical material, numerous obituaries, and Johnson's handwritten manuscript for "The Founding of the Lit," which was published in the Lit in 1945. Also included are newspaper clippings, photographs, press releases, and correspondence pertaining to The Prodigious Hickey television production.
Dates
- 1895 - 1988
Creator
- Lawrenceville School. Stephan Archives (Collector, Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research use.
Conditions Governing Use
Single photocopies and digital photographs may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Archivist. Researchers are responsible for determining any other copyright questions.
Biographical / Historical
Owen McMahon Johnson was born on August 27, 1878. Johnson came to Lawrenceville in 1894 at 16 as a Fourth Former (a senior) from New York City. His father, Robert Underwood Johnson, was a poet and the editor of The Century Magazine. Johnson lived in Upper, joined the Philomathean Society, and was an editor of The Lawrence. He stayed one additional year at Lawrenceville, during which he founded the School’s literary magazine, The Lit. Many of his classmates at Lawrenceville would become characters in his stories: John Humperdink “Dink” Stover; Tough McCarty; Hungry Smeed, who ate 49 pancakes at Conover’s and thus secured free pancakes for the entire School; and Doc MacNooder.
After graduation from Yale in 1901, Johnson wrote three popular short stories which became known as The Lawrenceville Stories: “The Prodigious Hickey” (1908), “The Varmint” (1910) and “The Tennessee Shad” (1911). The Stories were the basis for a 1950 feature movie called The Happy Years, starring Dean Stockwell and Leo G. Carroll, and a 1987 PBS mini-series starring Edward Herrmann.
Johnson continued to write and went on to become a war correspondent for The New York Times and Colliers during World War I. He moved to Paris and then to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where he spent most of his life. He married five times and had five children. Johnson died in 1952 at his summer home in Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts.
After graduation from Yale in 1901, Johnson wrote three popular short stories which became known as The Lawrenceville Stories: “The Prodigious Hickey” (1908), “The Varmint” (1910) and “The Tennessee Shad” (1911). The Stories were the basis for a 1950 feature movie called The Happy Years, starring Dean Stockwell and Leo G. Carroll, and a 1987 PBS mini-series starring Edward Herrmann.
Johnson continued to write and went on to become a war correspondent for The New York Times and Colliers during World War I. He moved to Paris and then to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where he spent most of his life. He married five times and had five children. Johnson died in 1952 at his summer home in Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts.
Extent
0.42 Linear Feet (1 box)
Arrangement
The original order of the material has been maintained.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Much the collection was gifted to the Stephan Archives. Some of the clippings were collected by the Archives.
Appraisal
Appraisal has been conducted in accordance with The Lawrenceville School Stephan Archives guidelines.
Bibliography
Information in the biographical note was gathered from material within the collection, particularly the obituaries.
Processing Information
The collection was processed by Casey Babcock in October of 2012. The biographical note of Owen Johnson comes from the Lawrenceville Lexicon.
- Education, Secondary -- United States
- High school student activities
- High school students -- United States -- Social conditions.
- High school students -- United States -- Social life and customs.
- High school students -- United States -- Societies and clubs.
- High school students' writings
- High school teachers -- United States.
- High schools -- Alumni and alumnae
- Lawrenceville (N.J.)
- Lawrenceville School -- History
- Lawrenceville stories
- New Jersey -- History.
- The Lawrenceville School
- correspondence
- manuscripts (document genre)
- newspaper clippings
- photographs
Creator
- Lawrenceville School. Stephan Archives (Collector, Organization)
- Title
- Collection of Owen Johnson Material: Finding Aid
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Casey Babcock
- Date
- February 12, 2012
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- English
Repository Details
Part of the The Lawrenceville School Stephan Archives Repository
