The Family Papers include miscellaneous materials of various Johnston family members. Family members well represented in the collection include: Abbie Johnston, Ben Johnston, Faith Johnston, and Russell Johnston. Abbie Johnston was the daughter of H. D. (Hugh Day) Johnston, who was the eldest brother of John Yates Johnston. Russell Johnston was the grandson of H. D. through his son, Ben.
Of particular interest in the collection is Faith Johnston’s Reminiscences of Central, 1944, which describes Central Normal School’s professors, including Professor Larzelere, Miss Woldt, Dr. Rowe, Mr. Grawn, and Mr. Warriner, as well as the burning of the Administration building, known as Old Main, on December 7, 1925. Also of interest is her My Golden School Days, 1919-1922, which is a scrapbook (copy) of her days at Mount Pleasant High School.
Faith also wrote several books, copies of which may be found in the Clarke Historical Library, including Anchor Post, which details the lives of Faith and John Y. Johnston. (This information is from the collection.)
An Addition, added in 2013, includes a thank you note to Mae K. Woldt of the CMU Department of Biology from C.C. McDermid, with five black and white, some tinted, photographs of his garden, a letter to Faith from K.M. Fox, in Vienna, including Italian postcards, 1930; and six cards of lovely dried, pressed flower arrangements from Jerusalem, undated.
Biography:
Faith Johnston (July 3, 1902-January 20, 1998) was the daughter of John Yates Johnston (1847-August 5, 1931) and Mary Jane Steele (April 24, 1859- ). John and Mary married on January 29, 1883. Faith, her parents, and siblings, George, Bessie, Mary (1890- ) and Ruth (1895- ), lived in Rosebush, Michigan. Faith attended Mount Pleasant High School in nearby Mount Pleasant, Michigan. She graduated from Central Normal School (CNS), now Central Michigan University (CMU), in 1923, earning her bachelor’s degree. In 1929 Faith earned a Master’s of Science degree at the University of Chicago. Faith returned to CNS to teach biology in the fall of 1929. She taught at CNS until she retired 45 years later. Faith also wrote historical columns in the local Mount Pleasant, Michigan, newspapers. She never married. Following her death in 1998, the Rosebush Public Library in Rosebush, Michigan, was named in her honor. (This information is from the collection.)
