Scope and Content Note
The papers of Mercer Green Johnston (1868-1954) span the years 1860-1954, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1894-1954. The collection consists of correspondence, diaries, sermons, notebooks, autobiographical papers, poems, prayers, financial papers, pamphlets, periodicals, photographs, clippings, scrapbooks, and memorabilia. The material is organized into thirteen series: Diaries and Notebooks, Family Correspondence, Personal Correspondence, General Correspondence, Subject File, Sermons, Autobiographical Papers, Book File, Financial File, Miscellany, Photographs, Scrapbooks, and Memorabilia and Oversize.
The General Correspondence covers all phases of Johnston's career as a minister, educator, and author, including numerous letters exchanged with Episcopal bishop Charles Henry Brent, with whom Johnston was associated in missionary work in the Philippines. Other correspondence in the series relates to his activities as rector of Trinity Church in Newark, New Jersey; as a freelance writer in the fields of social, economic, labor, and political activity; chairman of the National Progressive Headquarters and Peoples' Legislative Service with headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland; and as a New Deal official with the Rural Electrification Association and other agencies from 1932 until his retirement in 1944. Additional topics include his work with the Young Men's Christian Association during World War I and as director of the National Citizens Committee on Relations with Latin America in the 1920s.
The Family Correspondence includes letters with his wife's family and his father, Bishop James Steptoe Johnston, reflecting opinions of both father and son regarding religion, politics, and world affairs.
The Sermons series contains copies of Johnston's messages in various stages of preparation for delivery and publication and includes a cross-reference index to their contents.
Prominent correspondents include William Edgar Borah, Charles Henry Brent, Bronson M. Cutting, Eugene V. Debs, Elizabeth Colt Gilman, Judson King, Robert M. La Follette, W. Jett Lauck, George Fort Milton, George W. Norris, G. Bromley Oxnam, William Thomas Rawleigh, Oswald Garrison Villard, Thomas James Walsh, and Burton K. Wheeler.