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This collection has access restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the FAQ section for more information.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 61.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 20400 items) |
| Abstract | Guy Benton Johnson was one of the original research assistants at the Institute for Research in Social Science and joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina in 1927, retiring in 1969. In 1923, he married Guion Griffis, also a social science researcher. They had two sons: Guy Benton Jr. (Benny) (b. 1928) and Edward (b. 1933). The collection consists of papers, mostly correspondence and research project files, relating chiefly to Johnson's work at the University of Chicago and at UNC on the Ku Klux Klan; musical abilities of African-Americans and white Americans; African-American folksongs; the John Henry legend; the folklore and language (Gullah) of Saint Helena Island, S.C.; Lumbee Indians of Robeson County, N.C.; and the desegregation of higher education. Many items relate to his and Guion's participation in the Gunnar Myrdal Study of the American Negro, 1939-1940. There are also materials documenting Johnson's work with the Southern Regional Council, of which he was director in 1944-1947; the North Carolina Council on Human Relations; the Phelps-Stokes Fund; and the Howard University Board of Trustees; and his service to professional sociological organizations. Also included are writings by Johnson, pedagogical materials, photographs and other materials relating to his family in North Carolina and Texas and career. Johnson's correspondents included Langston Hughes, Charles S. Johnson, C.C. Spaulding, H.L. Mencken, Carl van Vechten, W.E.B. Du Bois, Marion Wright, and many other intellectuals, scholars, writers, and activists, both black and white. |
| Creator | Johnson, Guy Benton, 1901- |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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Subject Headings
The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
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Biographical Information
Guy Benton Johnson was one of the original research assistants at the University of North Carolina's Institute for Research in Social Science, and joined the University's faculty in 1927. He became Kenan professor of anthropology and sociology in 1963 and retired six years later.
A native of Caddo Mills, Tex., Johnson earned a bachelor's degree from Baylor University in 1921, a master's degree from the University of Chicago in 1922, and a doctoral degree from the University of North Carolina in 1927.
He began studying African American culture, including folk music and dialect, in the 1920s. During that decade, he focused on Saint Helena Island, S.C., near Beaufort, where he became familiar with the music, folklore, and Gullah language of the inhabitants. His publications included The Negro and His Songs (with Howard Odum, 1925); Negro Workaday Songs (with Odum, 1926), John Henry, A Negro Legend (1929); and The Folk Culture of Saint Helena Island (1930).
During the 1930s and early 1940s Johnson conducted more purely sociological studies of the effects of the Depression on African Americans and the social structure of the Lumbee Indians of Robeson County, N.C. In 1939-1940, he, along with his wife Guion, participated in the well known Myrdal study of African American life, administered by Gunnar Myrdal, a Swedish sociologist. Their work for this study included investigations of crime in African American communities, African American churches, and racial ideologies among whites.
From 1944 to 1947, Johnson was executive director of the Southern Regional Council. He later, in the 1950s, directed studies in African-American education for the Fund for the Advancement of Education. He also travelled extensively in Africa in the 1960s and early 1970s and studied race relations on the continent. Johnson was a fellow of the Social Science Research Council, the American Anthropological Association, and the American Sociological Association.
For 37 years, Johnson served as a trustee of Howard University.
Johnson was married to Guion Griffis Johnson, who was also active in social science research. They had two sons: Guy Benton Johnson, Jr., and Edward J. Johnson, psychology professor at the University of North Carolina.
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Scope and Content
The collection consists of papers, mostly correspondence and research project files, relating chiefly to Johnson's work at the University of Chicago and at UNC on the Ku Klux Klan; musical abilities of African-Americans and white Americans; African-American folksongs; the John Henry legend; the folklore and language (Gullah) of Saint Helena Island, S.C.; Lumbee Indians of Robeson County, N.C.; and the desegregation of higher education. Many items relate to his and Guion's participation in the Gunnar Myrdal Study of the American Negro, 1939-1940. There are also materials documenting Johnson's work with the Southern Regional Council, of which he was director in 1944-1947; the North Carolina Council on Human Relations; the Phelps-Stokes Fund; and the Howard University Board of Trustees; and his service to professional sociological organizations. Also included are writings by Johnson, pedagogical materials, photographs and other materials relating to his family in North Carolina and Texas and career. Johnson's correspondents included Langston Hughes, Charles S. Johnson, C.C. Spaulding, H.L. Mencken, Carl van Vechten, W.E.B. Du Bois, Marion Wright, and many other intellectuals, scholars, writers, and activists, both black and white.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. General Correspondence, 1917-1989.
Arrangement: chronological.
Primarily correspondence of Johnson after he retired from the University of North Carolina in 1969, with substantial correspondence while a professor, and scattered letters received as a graduate student. No letters appear for 1920-1921, 1926, 1935 1937, 1939, 1941, 1949, or 1951-1952. Includes mostly letters exchanged with colleagues, students, friends, and family members, discussing the Gullah dialect, race relations, Africa, desegregation in higher education, miscellaneous research projects, North Carolina and Texas politics, World War II soldiers' experiences, and family news. A number of letters provide recollections by Johnson and his colleagues of his career and Johnson's memories of others, including Howard Odum, Gunnar Myrdal, and W. E. B. Du Bois.
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Subseries 1.1.1917-1919, 1922-1925, 1927-1929.
Arrangement: chronological.
Scattered correspondence with Howard Odum, Katharine Jocher, and other colleagues, friends, and publishers pertaining mostly to Johnson's attendance and research at UNC and publication of his master's thesis and a play he had written. Of note are a letter from a graduate student at the University of Kansas, describing his experiences there; two letters dated 1919 from a young French woman expressing gratitude toward American soldiers for their defense of France; and a letter, dated 22 October 1919, informing Johnson that he had been licensed to "preach the Gospel."
| Folder 1 |
1917-1919, 1922-1925, 1927-1929 #03826, Subseries: "1.1.1917-1919, 1922-1925, 1927-1929." Folder 1 |
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Subseries 1.2. 1930-August 1969.
Johnson's correspondence, mostly 1960s, while a professor at the University of North Carolina, including letters exchanged with family members, colleagues, students, and friends. Many of the early letters are from Johnson's father in Abilene and his brother VKC in Caddo Mills, Tex., and discuss Texas politics, the Ku Klux Klan, crops, and family news. Johnson also received a number of letters from his son Benny, a student at University of North Carolina in the late 1940s, discussing campus politics and his studies. Correspondents of note among Johnson's colleagues are Howard Odum, Jessie Daniel Ames, H. L. Mitchell, and Marion Wright, though only scattered letters appear for each. Frequent topics include Johnson's early research projects carried out for the IRSS; segregation and the education of African Americans; the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954; Johnson's trip to Africa in 1959-1960 and exchange programs for African students; and opposition to the death penalty in North Carolina. Several letters from friends and former students give details of their experiences in the United States Army and United States Army Air Corps during World War II.
Two letters of special interest are one from Mack McCormick, dated 14 June 1958, discussing Paul Robeson's performance in the stage role of John Henry, and one from Johnson's daughter-in-law Nancy, dated 1 July 1960, describing the bitterness of the Lake-Sanford political race in North Carolina. Letters illuminating Johnson's personal attitudes appear dated 13 February 1963, when Johnson wrote his high-school teacher explaining his decision to become a Methodist, and 20 March 1969, when he wrote a colleague describing the development of his interest in studying African Americans.
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Subseries 1.3. September 1969-1989.
Johnson's correspondence after his retirement from University of North Carolina in 1969, chiefly letters exchanged with colleagues, including Gordon Blackwell, H. L. Mitchell, John Beecher, Lee Coleman, Arthur Raper, Len Lanham, and others, and with students and family members. Many of the items are letters of congratulations, invitations to speak, requests for recommendations, and similar items. Others discuss politics, the debate over the origins of the Gullah language, tax reform, Johnson's trips to Africa and Methodist missionary work there, Baylor University, the Howard University Board of Trustees, and Johnson's career.
Noteworthy items are an anecdotal letter, 5 October 1978, from Nels Anderson to Johnson and a letter, 19 October 1983, from Anderson to Edgar Thompson giving reminiscences of Johnson at the University of Chicago in 1920-1921, and a 9-p. memoir entitled, "Recalling Past Events with Guy B. Johnson," enclosed in a letter from Arthur Raper dated 10 November 1978. Several letters give Johnson's impressions of others. In 1982 and September 1984 Johnson wrote several letters to David Southern commenting on the relationship between Howard Odum and Gunnar Myrdal, and he enclosed in a letter, 8 December 1975, to William Toll a personal recollection of W. E. B. Du Bois.
Additional items of interest include a sermon by Pauli Murray, entitled "Gifts of the Holy Spirit to Women I Have Known," enclosed in a letter to Johnson dated 18 May 1978, and a letter, dated 12 October 1983, to Johnson discussing the controversy over Langston Hughes' appearance at University of North Carolina in 1931.
Family letters are mostly with Johnson's brothers VKC and Barney in Caddo Mills and his son Edward in Portland, Ore., and discuss family finances and health.
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Subseries 1.4. Undated.
Chiefly holiday cards with scattered letters to Johnson from family members and friends, students, and colleagues. A few letters appear from Johnson's father and his brother VKC and from his son Benny. Of note is a letter signed "Horace" that discusses black power.
| Folder 58-62 |
Undated #03826, Subseries: "1.4. Undated." Folder 58-62Folder 58Folder 59Folder 60Folder 61Folder 62 |
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Series 2. Alumni Office Files, 1924-1960s.
Three sets of files (2 alphabetical and 1 chronological) taken from Johnson's office in Alumni Hall on the University of North Carolina campus in 1970 and 1971. The files pertain to students, colleagues, and others; Johnson's professional, academic, and political activities; and travel. Included is information on civil rights, the Lumbee and Cherokee Indians of North Carolina, African American freedom celebrations, race relations, the U.S.A.-Africa Leader Exchange Program, and fraternities in which Johnson was involved. A number of addresses he gave to academic audiences are enclosed with the correspondence. Correspondents include a large number of political leaders, journalists, and intellectuals, among them Will W. Alexander, Jessie Daniel Ames, Claude Barnett, Mary McLeod Bethune, Sterling Brown, Ralph Bunche, W. E. B. Du Bois, John P. Davis, E. Franklin Frazier, Melville J. Herskovits, Langston Hughes, Charles S. Johnson, Percy Julian, Alain Locke, John Lomax, H. L. Mencken, Howard Odum, Hortense Powdermaker, Arthur Raper, Ira Reid, C. C. Spaulding, and others.
Note that original file folder titles have, for the most part, been retained.
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Subseries 2.1. Small Alphabetical File, 1924-1952.
Alphabetical correspondence and subject file, mostly 1930s-1950s, maintained by Johnson while a graduate student and professor at University of North Carolina. A number of folders appear on the "Encyclopedia of the Negro" project and on Johnson's students. Correspondence of interest appears with Cleveland Allen, with whom Johnson exchanged frequent letters, 1928-1932, concerning Negro folk songs; Samuel Asbury, with whom he corresponded, 1931-1933, concerning the relationship between white and black spirituals; Langston Hughes, with whom he corresponded, 1931-1932, concerning Hughes' appearance on the University of North Carolina campus in 1931; W. E. B. Du Bois, with whom he wrote, 1936-1939, concerning the "Encyclopedia of the Negro" project, and Horace Cayton, with whom Johnson exchanged letters, June 1936, discussing Johnson's work on the stratification of African-American communities and the death of the Garvey movement. Additional correspondents of note include R. B. Eleazer, Rossa Cooley, Edwin Embree, and Calvin Floyd. Their letters, and those with miscellaneous others, discuss archaeology at University of North Carolina, the Participation of Negroes in Southern Life study (see W. C. Jackson file), the Ku Klux Klan, the Commission on Interracial Cooperation (see L. R. Reynolds file), and work on the "Drums and Shadows" project (see Mary Granger file).
An item of special interest is a memorandum, entitled "Memorandum on My Appearance Before the Trustee Visiting Committee, January 16, 1948," in which Johnson describes his interrogation by the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees in relation to his racial views (see Confidential Memorandum file).
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Subseries 2.2. Large Alphabetical File, 1950-1960s.
Use Restriction: Folders 561-569 CLOSED.
Alphabetical subject and correspondence file, 1950-1960s, containing chiefly correspondence with colleagues concerning research projects in which Johnson was engaged and his professional and organizational activities. Topics include school desegregation (see especially folders for the Ashmore Project); civil rights; the Cherokee and Lumbee Indians of North Carolina; the John Henry legend; African Americans in the Depression (see folder for Arthur Raper); and interracial cooperation efforts. The files also document Johnson's participation in the Southern Regional Council and the American Sociological Association. Miscellaneous folders also appear containing materials Johnson collected on subjects of interest to him, including anti-integrationist sentiment, birds, University of North Carolina campus events and concerns, Communism, McCarthyism, and the University Methodist Church.
Besides correspondence, miscellaneous materials such as clippings, political flyers, pamphlets, speeches, and other items appear as enclosures to letters and in various subject folders. Correspondents of note are Jessie Daniel Ames, Carl Van Vechten, H. L. Mencken, Will W. Alexander, Claude Barnett, Mary McLeod Bethune, Ralph Bunche, W. E. B. Du Bois, Charles S. Johnson, Arthur Raper, Hortense Powdermaker, and Carter G. Woodson.
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Subseries 2.3. Correspondence Files, 1931-1969.
Miscellaneous correspondence, mostly with colleagues, concerning teaching, the formation of an archaeological society in North Carolina, Robeson County, N.C., the effects of the Depression on African Americans, activities of the North Carolina Division of the Southern Regional Council, desegregation of higher education, and Southern Sociological Society committee business. A few letters also appear from Johnson's family, mostly his son Benny in the 1960's. Correspondence also appears from a number of African students wishing to study in the United States. Correspondents include George Mitchell, C. C. Spaulding, J. Graham Cruikshank, Frederick Patterson, and Edgar Thompson.
Items of note include a letter, dated 7 June 1953, from Leone Matthews, denouncing a speech Johnson had given at Howard University and warning against the dangers he perceived in miscegenation, and a 1967 "Report by the Editors of Social Forces" to the Members of the Southern Sociological Society (folder 670).
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Series 3. Institutional Affiliations and Activities, 1918-1987.
Arrangement: by institution/activity.
Files concerning Johnson's affiliation with and activities on behalf of the Southern Regional Council, the Institute for Research in Social Sciences (IRSS), the North Carolina Council on Human Relations, the Phelps-Stokes Fund, and Howard University. The bulk of the materials pertain to the Southern Regional Council, including the period of Johnson's directorship, 1944-1947. Some materials relate to the North Carolina division of the Southern Regional Council. The remaining files pertain mostly to the IRSS, and include records kept by Katharine Jocher, 1929-1960, on the production and circulation of the IRSS's Journal of Social Forces. Only limited items appear on the IRSS's early history.
Materials include correspondence and memoranda, financial records, clippings, meeting minutes and agendas, work reports, publications, and other administrative files, and drafts of Guy and Guion Griffis Johnson's history of the IRSS. Other files document the history and activities of the NCCHR, and limited materials, mostly reports, meeting materials, and correspondence, give information on Johnson's role as a Trustee of the Phelps-Stokes Fund and Howard University.
Note that original file folder titles have, for the most part, been retained.
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Subseries 3.1. Institute for Research in Social Sciences, 1922-1982 and undated.
Primarily drafts of the history Guy and Guion Griffis Johnson prepared of the IRSS, and administrative files, correspondence, and financial records pertaining to IRSS research and publishing efforts and to the editing and printing of the Institute's official organ, the Journal of Social Forces. Most items fall within the 1930s-1950s period. Individuals best represented include Howard Odum and Gordon Blackwell.
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Subseries 3.1.1. Miscellaneous IRSS Files, 1922-1957.
Scattered administrative files (mostly 1940s-1950s) kept by Johnson, including correspondence and internal memoranda, reports of work done, research proposals, minutes of staff meetings (incomplete, 1947-1957), lists of IRSS publications and research projects, and a few manuscripts published under the auspices of the IRSS. Correspondence and memoranda, dated 1928-1930 and 1948-1957, is mostly with Gordon Blackwell, director of the IRSS, during the later years. A few items appear for Howard Odum.
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Subseries 3.1.2. Journal of Social Forces, 1929-1977 and undated.
Primarily financial correspondence and records with Baltimore printers Williams & Wilkins Company, 1929 1943, 1949-1950, 1952-1960, maintained by Katharine Jocher, and limited administrative and correspondence files kept by Johnson during his tenure as editor. Johnson's correspondence (mostly 1969) is with authors and peer reviewers about submissions. Miscellaneous items include draft manuscripts submitted and newspaper clippings. Information on circulation statistics can be found in folders labeled "Financial Notes" and "Early History." For additional files on Social Forces, see Subseries 4.1.
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Subseries 3.1.3. IRSS History Manuscript, 1924-1982 and undated.
Mostly bound and loose drafts of the Johnsons' official history of the IRSS, Research in Service to Society, with scattered correspondence, 1976-1980; a typed transcript of an interview with Gordon Blackwell; and miscellaneous research materials pertaining to the book's writing. Correspondence is that of the Johnsons with publishers and reviewers, including Gordon Blackwell and Eugene Odum.
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Subseries 3.2. Southern Regional Council, 1941-1977 and undated.
Mostly administrative files, 1944-1977, of the Southern Regional Council (SRC), with additional scattered publications, a small number of confidential files maintained by Johnson, and files concerning the North Carolina Division of the Southern Regional Council.
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Subseries 3.2.1. Administrative Files, 1944-1977 and undated.
Mostly Johnson's correspondence, internal Southern Regional Council memoranda, and meeting minutes, agendas, and materials prepared for Executive Committee and Board meetings, with a few items discussing the origins of the SRC. Only limited correspondence appears for the period Johnson headed the organization.
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Subseries 3.2.2. Publications, 1941-1975 and undated.
Primarily scattered copies of Southern Regional Council serials and newsletters, with miscellaneous reports and booklets the SRC published, and background research materials for these publications.
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Subseries 3.2.3. Personal Files of Guy Johnson, 1942-1961 and undated.
Confidential correspondence and financial records Johnson maintained separately from the Southern Regional Council's central files. Correspondence, 1944-1947, is primarily with colleagues and other Council officials concerning personnel matters. Letters Johnson exchanged with his children and other family members appear interspersed with this correspondence. Financial records include expense accounts, budgets, salary lists, and financial status reports.
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Subseries 3.2.4. North Carolina Division of SRC, 1950-1957, 1965.
Correspondence, executive committee meeting materials and minutes, and miscellaneous items, including by laws, a list of officers, clippings, and notes on meetings, pertaining to the North Carolina Division of the Southern Regional Council.
| Folder 812-816 |
Correspondence, 1950-1955 #03826, Subseries: "3.2.4. North Carolina Division of SRC, 1950-1957, 1965." Folder 812-816Folder 812Folder 813Folder 814Folder 815Folder 816 |
| Folder 817 |
Executive Committee, 1951, 1954-1957 #03826, Subseries: "3.2.4. North Carolina Division of SRC, 1950-1957, 1965." Folder 817 |
| Folder 818 |
Miscellaneous #03826, Subseries: "3.2.4. North Carolina Division of SRC, 1950-1957, 1965." Folder 818 |
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Subseries 3.3. North Carolina Council on Human Relations, 1918-1965.
Files of the NCCHR and its precursor organization, the North Carolina Commission on Interracial Cooperation (which is probably related to the North Carolina Division of the Southern Regional Council), containing mostly correspondence and Executive Committee materials, with scattered booklets on race relations and conference materials.
Early correspondents are L. R. Reynolds, N. C. Newbold, C. C. Spaulding, Gurney Hood, Howard Odum, Emily Clay, and Edgar Thompson. Letters discuss committee business, finances, and the study on Negro Participation in Southern Life. Later correspondence is mostly with Cyrus Johnson, director of the NCHRR, and Harry S. Jones, its secretary.
Files contain memoranda, meeting minutes and agendas, press releases, reports of committee work, newspaper clippings, and membership lists. Of interest are reports by L. R. Reynolds on his investigation of a lynching in Pender County, N.C., in 1933.
Among the miscellaneous items is an undated petition on education entitled, "A Report to the North Carolina Legislature by a Group of Representative Negro Citizens Drawn from Various Parts of North Carolina."
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Subseries 3.4. Phelps-Stokes Fund Board of Trustees, 1947-1987 and undated.
Principally Board meeting materials, including minutes and agendas, and correspondence (mostly 1950s-1970s), with miscellaneous items pertaining to Board projects, and scattered minutes of Executive Committee meetings. Frequent correspondents are Directors Channing Tobias and Frederick Patterson, Secretary Frederick Rowe, and President Emory Ross. Letters discuss the study of African cultures, Christian missions in Africa, aid to Liberia, and projects on race relations in the United States. Of interest in the files is a plea for funds from a juvenile correctional institute for girls in Kinston, N.C., which includes information on the institute.
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Subseries 3.5. Howard University Board of Trustees, 1937-1975 and undated.
Primarily annual reports and binders prepared for Board meetings and for meetings of its Committee on Instruction and Research, which contain meeting minutes and information on financial and administrative matters transacted during the year. Other items are clippings, correspondence (mostly concerning meeting times and topics), miscellaneous programs for university functions, scattered copies of university publications, and personal notes made by Johnson on Board business. A few letters in 1968-1969, a few items in the miscellaneous materials, and most of the clippings discuss student unrest at Howard. Correspondents include James Cheeck, president, and G. Frederick Stanton, secretary, of Howard.