Letters/Correspondence, 1919-1920

Materials consist of an unpublished manuscript and related correspondence of Johnston.

Materials include a draft of an unfinished novel, A Mountain Mailbag, which was based on Johnston's experiences during several visits to Berea, Kentucky around 1919. The manuscript (ca. 150 pages) has handwritten and typewritten sections accompanied by notes which detail her development of the novel's characters and storyline.

Also included in the collection are two Johnston letters to Berea College librarian, Florence H. Ridgway, which contain an outline of A Mountain Mailbag and references to persons at Berea on whom certain characters were based. The manuscript and correspondence were given to Berea College in 1955 by Mrs. Johnston's stepdaughter, Mary G. Johnston, who also provided transcriptions from Johnston's diary (12 pp., 1919) concerning visits to Berea and to Hindman, Kentucky.

Other materials added to the collection by Berea College library staff include a photograph, assorted clippings on Johnston, her writing, and the gift of the manuscript to Berea College, along with copies of several letters from Hindman. The latter include a letter of May Stone, Settlement School co-founder, to Johnston (1920), and several letters of Hindman student Flora Ritchie in whom Johnston apparently was interested as a model for a character in her book.