[Excerpts from Clarence E. Miller, "Edward William Johnston, Roving Scholar,” Missouri Historical Society
This article provides a brief selective overview of Edward William Johnston's career, with some personal insights garnered from people who had known him. Miller quickly takes us from the late 1820s into the early 1840s, just after the end of his term as principal at Botetourt female Seminary (pages 81-83).
'Throughout the 1840's Johnston somehow found time to contribute correspondence to other newspapers [besides, briefly in 1841-1942, The Independent, and The National Intelligencer -- "This was his longest and probably happiest newspaper connection, extending to around 1850"], among them the New York Times, the Philadelphia North American, and the Louisville Journal . . .'
'The Writings of Hugh Legaré (Charleston, S.C., 1846. 2 V.) hold another example of Johnston's literary activity in the form of his lengthy biographical memoire of the Whig statesman. Legaré was obviously Johnston's hero and political mentor. The sketch is memorable to me today mainly by reason of its opening sentence of nearly four hundred words, a tour de force as impressive as De Quincey or Hazlitt in its sustained rhetoric' (page 83).
'In 1851, Johnston is listed as the editor of the Richmond Whig. The Richmond Examiner, the first metropolitan newspaper openly to advocate secession, was edited at this time by John M. Daniel. He and Johnston, having exhausted political controversy, finally got around to esthetics [aesthetics] and fell into a violent disagreement over the merits of Hiram Powers' Greek Slave. To prove a point, Daniel printed an exaggerated and frivolous sketch of the "Bottle-green" costume of the Roanoke Female Seminary. This of course called for action on the field of honor, so the disputants went all the way to Maryland in order to miss one another at ten paces. A bloodless duel and a fruitless one, for the artistic merit of the Greek Slave remained a matter of opinion.'
'From Richmond Johnston moved on to New Orleans and an editorial position on the staff of the new Orleans Crescent. In 1855 he arrived in St. Louis to work on the St. Louis Intelligencer. The next year he joined Charles L. Hunt in founding the St. Louis Ledger . . . Although the Ledger was of excellent quality, it failed to establish itself financially, and in 1858 it changed hands. In June of that year, Johnston was employed by the St. Louis Mercantile Library to prepare a printed catalogue of its books, then numbering approximately 17,000. By November he had completed his task, for which the library paid him $833 . . .' (page 84).
This article provides a brief selective overview of Edward William Johnston's career, with some personal insights garnered from people who had known him. Miller quickly takes us from the late 1820s into the early 1840s, just after the end of his term as principal at Botetourt female Seminary (pages 81-83).
'Throughout the 1840's Johnston somehow found time to contribute correspondence to other newspapers [besides, briefly in 1841-1942, The Independent, and The National Intelligencer -- "This was his longest and probably happiest newspaper connection, extending to around 1850"], among them the New York Times, the Philadelphia North American, and the Louisville Journal . . .'
'The Writings of Hugh Legaré (Charleston, S.C., 1846. 2 V.) hold another example of Johnston's literary activity in the form of his lengthy biographical memoire of the Whig statesman. Legaré was obviously Johnston's hero and political mentor. The sketch is memorable to me today mainly by reason of its opening sentence of nearly four hundred words, a tour de force as impressive as De Quincey or Hazlitt in its sustained rhetoric' (page 83).
'In 1851, Johnston is listed as the editor of the Richmond Whig. The Richmond Examiner, the first metropolitan newspaper openly to advocate secession, was edited at this time by John M. Daniel. He and Johnston, having exhausted political controversy, finally got around to esthetics [aesthetics] and fell into a violent disagreement over the merits of Hiram Powers' Greek Slave. To prove a point, Daniel printed an exaggerated and frivolous sketch of the "Bottle-green" costume of the Roanoke Female Seminary. This of course called for action on the field of honor, so the disputants went all the way to Maryland in order to miss one another at ten paces. A bloodless duel and a fruitless one, for the artistic merit of the Greek Slave remained a matter of opinion.'
'From Richmond Johnston moved on to New Orleans and an editorial position on the staff of the new Orleans Crescent. In 1855 he arrived in St. Louis to work on the St. Louis Intelligencer. The next year he joined Charles L. Hunt in founding the St. Louis Ledger . . . Although the Ledger was of excellent quality, it failed to establish itself financially, and in 1858 it changed hands. In June of that year, Johnston was employed by the St. Louis Mercantile Library to prepare a printed catalogue of its books, then numbering approximately 17,000. By November he had completed his task, for which the library paid him $833 . . .' (page 84).
Part 2 will carry us through the rest of Johnston's career in St. Louis, until he died.
[Edward William Johnston (1799-1867)
Clarence E. Miller (1881-1964) was librarian at the St. Louis Mercantile Library from 1941 to 1958; he worked at the library for more than fifty years.
Hugh Legaré (1797-1843)
Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859)
William Hazlitt (1778-1830)
John Moncure Daniel (1825-1865)
Hiram Powers (1805-1873)
Charles L. Hunt (1820-1885)
$833 in 1858 = about $23,000 in early 2017.]
[Many thanks to William Myers, Mary Davy, Sally Young and Sue Davis for their ongoing research collaboration.]
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