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This collection contains additional materials that are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the John Lipscomb Johnson Papers #3060, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Cecil S. Johnson of Chapel Hill, N.C., in 1954, October 1965, June 1970, and May 1977 (Acc. 077055); from Rachel Batson in May 1977 (Acc.077056); from Waller Batson of Arlington, Va., in November 1987 (Acc. 088007); and from Rosalind McGee in April 2015 (Acc. 102208).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Ben Trask, November 1986; Roslyn Holdzkom, July 1988

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

Updated: May 2019

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.

• Associated Press--Switzerland--History--20th century.
• Baptists--Southern States--History.
• College teachers--Southern States.
• Education, Higher--Southern States.
• Family--Southern States--Social life and customs.
• Johnson, Cecil S., 1900-1976.
• Johnson, John Lipscomb, 1835-1915.
• Johnson, John Lipscomb, 1869-1932.
• Johnson, Rachel, b. 1903.
• Journalists--Switzerland--History--20th century.
• Mary Sharp College--Presidents.
• Mississippi Woman's College--History--20th century.
• United States. Office of Strategic Services.
• Universities and colleges--Southern States--History.
• University of Mississippi--Faculty--History.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Faculty--History.
• University of Virginia--Students--History--19th century.
• Women's colleges--Southern States--History.
• Women--Education (Higher)--Mississippi--History.
• World War, 1939-1945--Africa, Northern.
• World War, 1939-1945--Italy.

• Cecil S. Johnson Papers (#3806).

John Lipscomb Johnson (1835-1915) was a native of Virginia, graduate of the University of Virginia, Baptist minister, Confederate chaplain, author, professor of English at the University of Mississippi, president of Mary Sharpe College in Winchester, Tenn., and of Hillman College in Clinton, Miss., and planter near Duck Hill, Miss. His son, John Lipscomb Johnson, Jr. , was the first president of Mississippi Woman's College.

John Lipscomb Johnson (1835-1915), an educator and Baptist minister, was born in Spotsylvania County, Va., the son of Lewis Johnson (1800-1853) and Jane Dabney Johnson (1800-1863). He was one of at least five children that the couple raised at Forest Hill, the family plantation.

In 1854, Johnson began his studies at the University of Virginia. He was graduated in 1860, and, on 10 June of that year, was ordained in Charlottesville as a minister in Southern Baptist churches. One month after his ordination, Johnson married Julia Anna Toy in Norfolk. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted as chaplain of the 17th Virginia Infantry. Later, he served as a hospital chaplain in Lynchburg.

Following the war, Johnson preached in Baltimore, Maryland, and in Portsmouth, Lynchburg, and other towns in Virginia. He also held various offices in the Southern Baptist Convention and assisted in raising money for Richmond College. To honor his alma mater, he compiled the University Memorial Biographical Sketches of Alumni of the University of Virginia Who Fell in the Confederate War (Baltimore: Turnbull Brothers, 1871).

In 1873, Johnson moved with his wife and two children to Oxford, Mississippi, where he taught English at the University of Mississippi. He taught at Oxford, preaching on Sundays, for sixteen years, until he and four other professors were dismissed in 1889 after a feud with the chancellor, Alexander Peter Stewart (1821-1908).

Johnson then took his family to Tennessee, where he was president of Mary Sharp College in Winchester. After two years, he again became embroiled in controversy and left his position.

The next stop was Columbia, Mississippi, where Johnson was pastor of the First Baptist Church. In 1896, he resigned as pastor and retired to the "Purnell Place," two miles from Duck Hill. He enjoyed an active retirement, writing articles, preaching, and working within the church hierarchy. For a short time, he served as president of Hillman College for Young Women. He died in 1915.

Six of Johnson's children reached adulthood: Julia Toy, Crawford Toy, John Lipscomb, Jr., Jessie Rosalind, Wortley Valentine, and Mary Rawlings. John Lipscomb, Jr. (1869-1932), followed most closely in his father's footsteps. Shortly after marrying Sue Bell Moody in Georgia, Johnson moved to Mississippi. There his responsibilities included teaching at Georgia Normal and Industrial College in Milledgeville, acting as chair of the Laymen's Executive Committee of the Mississippi Baptist Convention, and serving as mayor of Clinton. With the help of the Convention, Johnson became president of the Mississippi Woman's College in Hattiesburg, where he guided the college through its formative years.

The Johnsons had five children reaching adulthood: Cecil Slaton, Rachel, Julia Toy, Jacqueline van Roden, and Sue Bell. Cecil (b. 1900) studied at Yale University and at the University of Virginia. He taught at the Tunica Agricultural High School in Mississippi, Wake Forest College, Limestone College in Gaffney, South Carolina, and the University of North Carolina. Most of his career was spent in the History Department at Chapel Hill. (See the CECIL S. JOHNSON PAPERS, #3806, in the Southern Historical Collection).

Rachel (b. 1903) worked first as a teacher and then joined the Associated Press in Europe, operating primarily out of Geneva, Switzerland. During World War II, she joined the WACs, serving in the Office of Strategic Service in Italy and North Africa. After the war, she married Waller Batson and lived in Washington, D.C.

The papers are chiefly correspondence of John Lipscomb Johnson, John Lipscomb Johnson, Jr., and the latter's children, Cecil and Rachel. Many of the letters discuss family matters, social events, and daily activities. Much correspondence has to do with education, having been written by one of the Johnsons as a student, professor, or school administrator. Scant documentation of John Lipcomb Johnson's military career is included. There is, however, a significant number of items pertaining to his granddaughter Rachel's WAC activities during World War II.

Also included are financial and legal materials, writings of various family members in the form of speeches, poetry, or personal narratives, printed items, and pictures.

• Extra Oversize Paper Folder: XOPF-3060/1
• Image Folder: PF-3060/1