Ellen Hulda Johnson papers
name: label: Creator
content: Johnson, Ellen H.
label: Names
content: Allen Memorial Art Museum
label: Names
content: American-Scandinavian Foundation
label: Names
content: College Art Association (U.S.)
label: Names
content: Oberlin College -- Faculty
label: Names
content: Archipenko, Alexander, 1887-1964
label: Names
content: Cézanne, Paul, 1839-1906
label: Names
content: Dine, Jim, 1935-
label: Names
content: Hesse, Eva, 1936-1970
label: Names
content: Kensett, John Frederick, 1816-1872
label: Names
content: Milles, Carl, 1875-1955
label: Names
content: Oldenburg, Claes, 1929-
label: Names
content: Picasso, Pablo, 1881-1973
label: Names
content: Saunders, David
label: Names
content: Stieglitz, Alfred, 1864-1946
label: Names
content: Tacha, Athena, 1936-
label: Names
content: Tworkov, Jack
label: Names
content: Venturi, Robert
label: Names
content: Wilke, Wendell
place: label: Place
content: Ossabaw Island (Ga.)
topic: label: Occupation
content: Librarians -- Ohio
label: Occupation
content: Authors -- Ohio
label: Occupation
content: Art critics -- Ohio
label: Occupation
content: Art historians -- Ohio -- Oberlin
label: Occupation
content: Educators -- Ohio -- Oberlin
label: Topic
content: Art, Scandinavian
label: Topic
content: Art -- Study and teaching
label: Topic
content: Art, Modern -- 19th century -- Study and teaching
label: Topic
content: Art, Modern -- 20th century -- Study and teaching
label: Topic
content: Pop art
label: Topic
content: Women authors
label: Topic
content: Women art critics
label: Topic
content: Women art historians
label: Topic
content: Women educators
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The Ellen Hulda Johnson papers were donated in 1994, 1998, 2019 and 2021 by the estate of Ellen Hulda Johnson via exectutor Athena Tacha.
creator: label: Creator
content: Johnson, Ellen H.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Ellen Hulda Johnson papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of art historian, art critic, author, librarian and educator Ellen Hulda Johnson measure 61.5 linear feet and date from 1872-2018, with the bulk of the material dating from 1921-1992.  The papers include biographical materials; personal and family files; personal, professional, and business correspondence; extensive research and writing files; teaching files; subject files; professional and curatorial files; and artists' files.  Johnson's papers reflect the full range of her career, interests, and close relationships with many artists. There is a 0.2 linear foot unprocessed addition to this collection donated in 2021 that includes letters to Ellen Johnson from others, letters from Johnson to Carl Gerber, and a sketch by Johnson. Materials date from circa 1956-1991.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Ellen Hulda Johnson (1910-1992) was an art historian, critic, and professor who worked and taught at Oberlin College in Ohio for most of her career. 

Ellen Hulda Johnson was born in 1910 in Warren, Pennsylvania.  She received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in art history at Oberlin in 1933 and 1935.  She worked briefly at the Toledo Museum of Art before returning to Oberlin as the art librarian.  In 1940 she started Oberlin's art rental program, the first of its kind in the country. She was appointed to the faculty in 1948 and taught nineteenth and twentieth century art, American art from colonial times to the present, contemporary art, and Scandinavian art.  She was a member of the Allen Memorial Art Museum's acquisition committee and was appointed honorary curator of modern art in 1973.  She remained at Oberlin her entire career, retiring from teaching in 1977.  

Johnson was a scholar of Cézanne, Claes Oldenburg, Eva Hesse, Pablo Picasso, Edvard Munch, John F. Kensett and other modern masters, as well as Scandinavian art.  In 1962 she wrote the first important article on Claes Oldenburg and, in 1970, assisted curator Athena Tacha commission his first permanent large sculpture (3-Way Plug) for the grounds of the Allen Memorial Art Museum.  She was the first to show the black-striped paintings that established Frank Stella's reputation.  Her efforts in promoting acquisitions of young contemporary artists helped make the Allen Memorial Art Museum a leading institution in contemporary art.  Her Oberlin lectures on modern art became so popular that they had to be held in the college's largest auditorium and influenced generations of students, many of whom went on to signficant positions in the field.  A new wing of the museum designed by Robert Venturi opened in 1977 and was named in honor of Johnson.  

Johnson was the author of numerous articles, books, and exhibition catalogs including Cezanne (Penquin, 1967); Claes Oldenburg (Penquin, 1971); American Artists on Art from 1940-1980 (Harper and Row, 1982); and Modern Art and the Object (Thames and Hudson, 1976). 

In 1968, Johnson purchased the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Weltzheimer house in Oberlin, and spent a considerable part of her time and money restoring the building where she lived the rest of her life. She bequethed the house and her significant art collection to Oberlin upon her death in 1992.
function: label: Function
content: Artist colonies -- Georgia
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 61.5 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1872-2018
label: Date
content: bulk 1921-1992
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.johnelle
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The Ellen Hulda Johnson papers are arranged into seven series:

Series 1:  Personal Papers, circa 1905-2009 (5 linear feet; Boxes 1-2, 56-59)

Series 2:  Correspondence, 1927-2009 (5.5 linear feet; Boxes 3-7, 60) 

Series 3:  Writing and Research Projects, 1872, 1932-1994 (15.5 linear feet; Boxes 7-20, 56, 61-62) 

Series 4:  Subject Files, 1930-1993 (5 linear feet; Boxes 21-25, 62)

Series 5:  Teaching Files, 1928-1989 (6 linear feet; Boxes 26-31, 62)

Series 6:  Professional and Curatorial Files, 1936-1991 (6 linear feet; Boxes 32-37, 56)

Series 7:  Artists Files, 1935-1992 (18.3 linear feet; Boxes 37-55, 62) 

Series 8: Unprocessed Addition, 1956-1991 (0.2 linear feet; Box 63)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed to a preliminary level and a box inventory created by Kym Wheeler in 1994.  The collection was further minimally processed and preserved by Kelly Nolte in 2015 with funding provided by the Smithsonian's Collections Care and Preservation Fund.  The Archives of American Art has implemented accelerated processing strategies when possible in order to increase information about and access to more of our holdings.  

The papers were arranged to the series, subseries, and file level.  Generally, items within folders were simply verified against original folder titles.  The papers were re-housed in archival containers and folders, but further preservation work was not completed.  The finding aid was created by Kelly Nolte and Barbara Aikens.

Within the collection, boxes 57-62 consist of additional material donated in 2019 by Athena Tacha. This portion of the collection was proccessed and the finding aid updated by Christopher DeMairo in 2020.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of art historian, art critic, author, librarian and educator Ellen Hulda Johnson measure 61.5 linear feet and date from 1872-2018, with the bulk of the material dating from 1921-1992.  The papers include biographical materials; personal and family files; personal, professional, and business correspondence; extensive research and writing files; teaching files; subject files; professional and curatorial files; and artists' files.  Johnson's papers reflect the full range of her career, interests, and close relationships with many artists. There is a 0.2 linear foot unprocessed addition to this collection donated in 2021 that includes letters to Ellen Johnson from others, letters from Johnson to Carl Gerber, and a sketch by Johnson. Materials date from circa 1956-1991. 

Personal papers consist of biographical materials and personal and family files, including "memorabilia" files compiled by Johnson.  Correspondence is a mix of personal, business, and professional correspondence.  Significant correspondents include David Saunders (who painted a portrait of Johnson), Claes Oldenburg, Jack Tworkov, Robert Venturi, the American Scandinavian Foundation.  A folder of correspondence compiled for the Archives includes letters from Alfred Stieglitz, Wendell Wilkie, Carl Milles, Jim Dine, and Alexander Archipenko.  

Extensive and comprehensive writing and research project files include articles, lectures, presentations, manuscripts, notes and notebooks, including her class notebooks from courses she attended in Paris in 1935, and additional notes and notebooks on a wide variety of subjects.   The numerous articles, lectures, papers, and drafts were written primarily by Johnson for the College Art Association, the Allen Memorial Art Museum bulletin, and numerous additional publications and presentations; but there are also writings by others included in the research files.  Major writing projects and related research files cover Scandinavian art, the Ossabaw Island artist's colony, Cezanne, Eva Hesse, John Frederick Kensett, Claes Oldenburg, Picasso, David Saunders, Athena Tacha, Pop Art, and many other topics.  Johnson's  research files, manuscripts, correspondence, and photographs for major exhibitions, including one on Eva Hesse (1982) and for her published books including American Artists on Art from 1940-1980 (1982), Claes Oldenburg (1971), Fragments Recalled at 80:  The Art Memoirs of Ellen H. Johnson (1993), and Modern Art and Object (1976) are arranged with the writing project files.  Johnson's bibliographic index cards are found here as well. 

The collection contains extensive teaching files for courses taught by Johnson at Oberlin and as a visiting professor at other institutions; professional and curatorial files reflecting her curatorial career at Allen Memorial Art Museum, as a consultant, jury member, and continuing education courses she later attended, including the Baldwin Lecture Series; and 18 linear feet of artist's files assembled by Johnson.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Papers of Ellen H. Johnson, 1933-1992, are also located at Oberlin College Archives.
separatedmaterial: label: Separated Materials
content: Shortly after aquisition, the Archives transferred Ellen Hulda Johnson's vertical file (16 linear feet) of clippings, press releases, and exhibition announcements to the library of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery.