OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION
Minnesota Historical Society
Johnson,
Samuel.
Samuel Johnson and
family papers.
1882-1980.
Personal and political correspondence, family
papers, diaries, financial record books, posters, fliers and handbills, sheet
music and musical programs, and other material of a St. Paul teamster and
Socialist Labor Party official, relating particularly to his involvement in
party and political activities and in Scandinavian choral societies. There are
also some papers of Johnson's daughter Clara (Johnson) Hauerwas. Much of the
material is in Danish, some of it in old script.
3.6 cu. ft (4 boxes,
including 15 v.).
See [Detailed Description](a9) section for shelf
locations.
BIOGRAPHY OF SAMUEL JOHNSON
Samuel Johnson was born in Denmark around 1863. He was living in Dunn
County, Wisconsin, in 1884, and in Hammond, Wisconsin, in 1885. He may also
have lived at one time in Iowa Falls, Iowa. Johnson came to St. Paul in 1886.
City directories indicate that he worked from the 1890s through the 1910s as a
teamster, and later as a "stereotyper" and stenographer for West Publishing
Company (1920s-[ca.1931]). Long active in local Socialist Labor Party
organizations, Johnson served as treasurer (of the St. Paul section?) in the
1900s and 1910s and as state secretary in the 1930s and 1940s.
Johnson married Thyra Jorgenson ([ca.1870]-1953) on September 27,
1908. A daughter, Clara Anne-Marie, was born to the couple on October 30, 1909.
A son, Earl, was evidently born later. Clara married Gordon Hauerwas
(1909-1973) in 1951, and they for many years made their home in Roseville,
Minnesota, a St. Paul suburb.
SCOPE AND CONTENTS OF THE COLLECTION
Johnson's correspondence (1882-1955) includes letters from political
associates and from family and friends in Denmark and the United States.
Correspondence after 1901 increasingly relates to his activities in the
Socialist Labor Party, both in the St. Paul Section and at the state level. A
large portion of the correspondence is in Danish; English translations have
been made for many of the letters.
Socialist Labor Party materials include state executive committee
minutes (1945-1948, 1950), St. Paul Section activity (organizer) reports
(1946-1947), Minnesota state convention reports (1948, 1950), miscellaneous
organizational files (1893-1951), and financial records and papers, including
bank statements, financial reports and statements, Weekly
People invoices and statements, and miscellaneous receipts (1894-1948).
There are fliers announcing rallies, programs, and "entertainments" for SLP
members and their families.
"Other Files" focus in large part on local Scandinavian-American
singing societies, including the Dania Singing Society, Northwestern
Scandinavian Singers Association, the Norwegian-Danish Singers Association, and
the Scandinavian Socialist Singing Society. There is a folder of unidentified
snapshots, and two unidentified oversize photographs; several newspaper issues;
a disassembled scrapbook of Danish-language newspaper clippings; and a few
socialist and election posters.
Much of the material is apparently what was left after an estate or
other sale. Many of the individual documents have prices written on them in
pencil.
ARRANGEMENT OF THE PAPERS
These documents are organized into the following sections:
- Personal and Family Correspondence and Papers
- Socialist Labor Party Materials
- Other Files
RELATED MATERIALS
Records of the Socialist Labor Party of Minnesota are in the
Minnesota Historical Society manuscript collections.
CATALOG HEADINGS
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
Topics:
Choral societies--Minnesota.
Danish Americans--Minnesota.
Labor movement.
Music--Societies.
Scandinavians--Minnesota--Political activity.
Socialism--Minnesota.
Socialists--Minnesota.
Working class--Minnesota--Political activity.
Places:
Minnesota--Politics and government.
Persons:
Djuve, Kjetil, tr.
Hauerwas, Gordon, 1909-1973.
Johnson, Clara Anne-Marie, 1909-.
Petersen, Arnold, 1885-1976.
Organizations:
Dania Singing Society (Saint Paul,
Minn.).
Dansk Brodersamfunds.
Industrial Workers of the World.
Northwestern Scandinavian Singers Association.
Socialist Singing Society (Saint Paul, Minn.).
Socialist Labor Party.
Types of Documents:
Diaries.
Handbills.
Posters.
Sheet music.
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Preferred Citation:
[Indicate the cited item and/or series
here]. Samuel Johnson and Family Papers. Minnesota Historical
Society.
See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional
examples.
Accession Information:
Accession number: 13,092
Processing Information:
Processed by: Kathryn A. Johnson, March 1985
Catalog ID number: 09-00322655
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION
Personal and Family Correspondence and Papers
151.L.8.2F
1
Samuel Johnson Files:
Correspondence,
undated and 1882-1951, 1953, 1955.
18 folders.
Includes letters from family and friends, Socialist Labor
Party members and officials, editors and publishers of Socialist and
worker-related publications, and others. Individual correspondents include
Johnson's wife Thyra; his cousin L. (Lars) Johnson, Jackson, Minnesota;
Socialist Labor Party national secretary Arnold Petersen, New York; John
Glambeck, editor of Arbejderen (The Worker),
Chicago; Henning Hansen; and L.E. Nielsen. Some letters in old Danish script
appear to be from Johnson's mother in Denmark. English translations (filed with
the originals) of 129 Danish-language letters were made by Kjetil Djuve of the
Minnesota Historical Society in 1996.
Diary and account book,
[1884?].
Authorship uncertain; may also include S�ren Jensen.
Diary, Dunn Co., Wisconsin,
1884.
Diary,
1907.
151.L.8.3B
2
Memo and account books:
1892-1893.
1895-1896.
[ca.1900]-1901.
Clara Johnson Hauerwas Files:
Correspondence,
1919, 1926-1945, 1950, 1973-1980.
4 folders.
Letters from friends and from the Jensens and other relatives.
Most of the letters were written by Gordon Hauerwas, who was stationed in Camp
Gordon, Georgia in 1950.
Miscellaneous family papers,
undated and 1905-1980.
Includes copies of certificates, wedding invitations, report
cards, real estate and mortgage documents, insurance policies, and similar
papers relating mainly to Samuel and Thyra's daughter Clara and their son Earl.
Socialist Labor Party Materials
151.L.8.3B
2
Dues cards and similar papers,
1898-1944.
Entertainments, excursions, grand balls, etc.,
1894-1925.
Handbills, fliers, and tracts,
undated and 1894-1915.
Journal,
1937-1943.
Lectures,
undated and 1897-1900.
Cards and pamphlets listing lectures to be given under the
auspices of the St. Paul and Minneapolis sections of the Socialist Labor Party.
Gives lecture titles, names of lecturers, locations, and dates.
Literature distribution and membership data,
[ca.1925]-1932.
Minnesota Socialist Labor Party:
Financial papers,
undated and 1894-1948.
4 folders.
Minutes of executive committee and some reports,
1945-1948, 1950.
Organizational files (miscellaneous),
1893-1951.
Party platforms and electoral candidates,
undated and 1896-1946.
Socialist Executive Committee, St. Paul Section:
Journal,
1944-1947.
Socialist Labor Party of America: Constitution,
1948.
Weekly People subscribers,
1938-1939.
Subscription list for Duluth, Minnesota, and Superior,
Wisconsin.
Miscellany,
undated and 1894-1940.
Other Files
151.L.8.3B
2
Dania Singing Society:
Membership list and journal,
1913-1914.
Treasurer's book,
1895-1898.
Includes Arbejderen Publishing Company accounts (1896-1900).
Danish language newspaper clippings,
undated and 1895-1937.
152.E.19.2F
4
Dansk Brodersamfunds,
undated and 1915.
Includes a 40-page "Souvenir Program" from the Dansk
Brodersamfunds Konvention, which was held in St. Paul Oct. 11-16, 1915.
Manuscripts (miscellaneous): Essays, reviews, and
similar papers,
undated and 1899-1943.
Music: Scores, verses, and musical programs,
undated and 1896-1938.
Northwestern Scandinavian Singers Association,
1900.
Includes an "Official Program" and an "Album" (book of songs)
from the Fifth Biennial Musical Festival, which was held in St. Paul, July 6-8,
1900.
142.C.20.5
3
Newspapers and newspaper clippings:
Clippings scrapbook,
[ca.1894]-1907.
Disassembled scrapbook of clippings from an unidentified
Danish-language newspaper(s); housed in a gray archival scrapbook box within
Box 3.
Johnson High School (St. Paul) Courier,
March 15, 1926.
Social-Demokraten Danish
language newspaper,
July 13, 1896.
St. Paul Labor newspaper,
March 17, 1894.
Photographs (oversize),
undated.
Two unidentified photographs, one of a Socialist Party
gathering.
Posters:
"Do You Want to Buy Socialist Literature?"
undated.
New York Labor News Company.
Otto W. Rohland, Jr. campaign for St. Paul city
council,
undated.
Socialist Labor Party candidates for president and
vice president,
1896[?], 1900[?].
152.E.19.2F
4
Snapshot photographs,
undated and 1942-1944, 1947.
Unidentified membership ledger,
1902-1905.
Unidentified membership record book,
1913-1916.