Special Collections
Series 1: Manuscripts, [1876-1925?]
| Description | Date |
|---|---|
| Boy Lost!: autograph typescript 9 p. Fictional story of the boy Tom Thompson and his family's visit to Boston, Bunker Hill, and getting lost on Nantasket beach across Boston Harbor. |
[probably after 1890] |
| Childhood Picture Parade of the States: dummy 19 p.; cover Manuscript is a dummy with glued photographic prints of children from around the United States. Hand-lettered title page and captions. Cover is of wood-grained paper with gold hand-lettering and rules. Unpublished |
[after 1915] |
| Civilization and the Indians: autograph manuscript 25 p. Manuscript describes settlers' recollections of interactions with Indians in the Great Lakes region during the early and mid-1800s. Unpublished |
[probably after 1890] |
| Colonial Captive: autograph manuscript 2 p. Start of story describing period during the French and Indian War. Missing sections, second page is numbered 31. Unpublished |
[probably after 1890] |
| Country of the Girl Queen: autograph manuscript signed 26 p. (3,800 words) Describes the landscape of Holland: canals, windmills and fields and the people. Many corrections. See Artwork series for unpublished illustration. |
[probably after 1890] |
| Early works: autograph manuscripts, dummies, mockups Roughly 57 early writings, plus several dummies. Includes the Howler, a humorous newspaper lettered by hand with ink illustrations, and Proverbs, a collection of proverbs with some decorative illustration. Unpublished |
[1876 - 1888] |
| Field-Life Around a Schoolhouse: autograph manuscript 29 p.; contents page, dummy, article (1 s.) Collection of writings on various plants, animals and the environment around the local schoolhouse [in Hockanum]. Unpublished. Note: includes article "How to Raise Mosquitoes" by Mary Mann Miller. |
[ca. 1890] |
| Historic Hampshire: autograph manuscript 5 p.; 3 illustrations; envelope Revision notes for a new edition of Historic Hampshire. "Text improved by an expert." |
[1931] |
| Life in a Country School: autograph manuscript 182 p.; dummy; mockups; illustrations Johnson records the writings and essays of school children at the Hockanum schoolhouse, Hadley, Massachusetts. Unpublished |
[probably after 1890] |
| Literary Curiosities: autograph manuscript? 2 p. notes; 2 s. illustrations; 3 dummies Notes to publisher describe a series of volumes based on literary curiosities: each is 2 volume set with republished source material and a companion discussion book by Johnson; note discusses binding, boxing and royalties. Dummies include The Story of the New England Primer, A Pickle for the Knowing Ones and its companion A Queer Yankee. See those items in the Manuscripts series. Note: Story of the Horn-Book and A Rustic Poetess may have been intended for this series. |
[probably after 1890] |
| Little Dog Turpie and the Hobyahs: autograph manuscript signed 13 p.; 2 dummies; 1 colored ill.; 1 cardboard template Notes and imcomplete story outline of a "Famous English fairytale retold by Clifton Johnson, Illustrated by Rodney Thomson". Story tells of Little Dog Turpie who chases away the Hobyahs from an old man and woman's house. They give the dog away and the Hobyahs destroy their house. |
[probably after 1890] |
| Of Praise and Blame: autograph typescript signed 8 p. (1,900 words) Typescript on Johnson's thoughts of how both praise and criticism can affect a person. Unpublished |
[probably after 1890] |
| Oldtown Chronicles 24 notebooks; 102 p. loose "Intimate and humorous glimpses of New England village life in the middle of the nineteenth century. By Nicholas Hodge, as recorded by Clifton Johnson." About Hadley, MA. Some topics include food and clothing, holidays, tramps and paupers, sports and social, hunting, funerals, fires, gypsies, the Civil War. Note: last page of notebook "Aristocracy" contains Hodge's note of finding a young Dickinson (possibly Emily Dickinson's brother) smoking in his barn. Unpublished |
[after 1924] |
| Old Town in New England 18 notebooks; 173 p. typescript Contains notebooks XII-XXIX, others missing. History and life of Hadley, MA from the colonial period through early twentieth century. Typescript incomplete. Unpublished |
[probably after 1890] |
| Plish and Plum: autograph typescript 20 p.; 1 s. (2 p.) dummy; envelope "A favorite humorous story of two dogs and two boys in serial pictures and verse. By Wilhelm Busch. Retold in English by Clifton Johnson." Unpublished |
[probably after 1890] |
| Queer Yankee: autograph manuscripts signed 1 notebook (4,500 words); 1 revised copy, pamphlet with corrections; 6 photographs by Johnson Manuscript recounts tales of "Lord" Timothy Dexter of Newburyport, MA in the late 1700s as he audaciously displays his wealth as a new rich elite. Unpublished. Note: see "Literary Curiosities" in the Manuscripts series for dummy. |
[probably after 1890] |
| Quotations and sayings 32 packets with envelopes Collection of loose clippings of sayings, superstitions, home remedies, games, brain teasers, rhymes and more. Some written in Johnson's hand. Many published in What They Say in New England. |
[ca. 1890s - 1910s] |
| Robin Hood Tales Everyone Should Know: autograph manuscript signed 13 p. typescript; 3 s. dummy; notes; map; env. Typescript of contents page and introduction for edition of Robin Hood story for children. Notes to publisher state manuscript length of 60,000 words and illustrations to be completed by J. Scott Williams. |
[probably after 1890] |
| Robinson Crusoe: autograph manuscript 4 p. Introduction to text with revisions. Includes numbered pages 1, 3, 11, 12. Others missing. |
[1931?] |
| Rural Philosopher: autograph manuscript signed 29 p. (3,000 words); 23 p. draft; notebook; note Manuscript records Johnson's visit with Reuben Palmer of the Hudson Valley, NY on a trip to see John Burroughs. Palmer was an unlearned old man but had spent great time thinking on the origins of Indians, that the world was indeed flat, and that the sun did not heat the earth. Unpublished |
[probably after 1890] |
| Rustic Poetess: autograph manuscript signed 32 p.; 3 cuts; original chapbook; 3 photos Manuscript tells the quaint story of Nancy Luce of Martha's Vineyard, "author and chicken lover" as told by a neighbor to Johnson. She wrote poems about the hens she kept and named them and marked their graves with marble gravestones. Chapbook: Works of Nancy Luce, printed 1875. |
[about 1904] |
| Second Cabin on an Ocean Greyhound: autograph manuscript signed 19 p. (2,700 words) General experience of traveling across the ocean on a ship in second class: accommodations, recreation, persons one meets, etc. |
[probably after 1894] |
| Shakers: autograph manuscript 10 p.; pamphlet History of the Shakers and their experience in New York. Includes pamphlet "The New York Shakers and Their Industries" by Edward Andrews; published by the New York State Museum, Oct. 1930. |
[ca. 1931] |
| Story of the Hornbook: autograph manuscript signed 24 p. (3000 words); 2 typescripts; 8 illustrations History of the hornbook in teaching reading to children during the 1600-1700s. The hornbook was a paddle-shaped piece of wood with a bit of printed paper affixed under a thin slab of transparent horn to protect the paper. Pencil and ink illustrations by Johnson, adapted from Turs's(?) History of the Horn-book, 1896. |
[probably after 1890] |
| Story of the New England Primer: autograph manuscript signed 26 p.; 18 proofs Describing the use of the New England Primer in teaching children to read during the late 1600s to the early 1800s. Illustrations are of engravings from the New England Primer. Much of this material may be published in Johnson's Old-Time Schools and School Books (1904). Note: see "Literary Curiosities" in the Manuscripts series for dummy. |
[probably after 1890] |
| Tale of Two Arrows: autograph typescript signed 10 p. Children's story of two arrows having a conversation and the creatures they meet while stuck in a tree. |
[probably after 1890] |
| Uncle Amazy's Boarder: autograph typescript signed 11 p. Story of Uncle Amazy's last Christmas and the kind teacher and village members who tend him in his last days. Uncle Amazy lived in a shack in Hockanum, Hadley, MA. |
[probably after 1890] |
| What I Do and What I See - A School Diary: autograph manuscript 18 p. Mockup for a blank commercial diary for children. Covers and illustration by Johnson. See Artwork series for illustrations. |
[probably after 1890] |
| Wonderful Hen: autograph manuscript signed 87 p. (about 15,000 words); envelope By French author A. Virnar, adapted by Johnson. Story of a French hen and her adventures of loosing her feathers and growing hair, then being acquired by a circus. Includes title page, introduction, and contents page. Unpublished |
ca. 1921 |