R. Elizabeth Johns Papers, 1932-1972
General International Standard for Archival Description
Sophia Smith Collection Smith College Northampton, MA
Finding aid encoded in NoteTab Pro. Encoded by Margaret Jessup. 2009-09-25
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
R. Elizabeth Johns Papers
Creation of R. Elizabeth Johns Papers
Time of Creation of R. Elizabeth Johns Papers
Johns, Ruth Elizabeth
Biographical History for: R. Elizabeth Johns Papers
Biographical Note Ruth Elizabeth "Betty" Johns was born September 13, 1911 to Rev. Benjamin Murley and Louise (Powell) Johns in Factoryville, Pennsylvania. Johns attended Wyoming Seminary, a Methodist boarding school in Kingston, Pennsylvania, and earned a B.A. from Goucher College in 1932. After college, Johns spent the summer of 1933 studying educational psychology and secondary education at Harvard, then took a job as a caseworker for the Baltimore Emergency Relief Commission (1933-34) and the Baltimore Family Welfare Association (1934-37). She took a semester's leave in the fall of 1935 to study at the New York School of Social Work. Johns was a Resident Fellow in sociology at Mount Holyoke College from 1937 to 1939, earning an M.A. in 1939. Her thesis was titled "A Changing Philosophy of Social Work." She taught sociology at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, from 1939 to 1941. In 1941 Johns took the job of Executive Director at the University of Minnesota YWCA. She moved to the national YWCA staff in 1943. Headquartered in Boston, Johns worked with college students in the New England region. From her days at Antioch through her years working for the Student YWCA, Johns took advantage of the academic calendar to do further graduate study at various summer schools. Later, she directed summer Leadership Schools for the Student YWCA and led European Study Seminars for the Student YM/YWCA. Johns went to Burma and Ceylon from July of 1954 to April of 1956 to train YWCA staff. On her return to the U.S., she worked for the YWCA's Foreign Division training YWCA leaders from abroad in social work methods. In 1961 Johns became Director of publications and training for the Council for Christian Social Action of the United Church of Christ. In this capacity, she edited its monthly magazine, Social Action. Through this work Johns participated in the major social justice activities of the era, including the civil rights movement, the war on poverty, and efforts to stop the war in Vietnam. In April of 1969 Johns moved to Church Women United where she worked as Director for International Affairs with offices at the Church Center of the United Nations. This effort aimed to expand CWU's educational campaign on behalf of global development efforts and advocate for international justice and peace-keeping. In addition to these jobs, for many years Johns wrote a column called "New York Report" for The Guardian: a Christian Weekly Journal of Public Affairs, of Bangalore, India. She served as President of Pan Pacific and Southeast Asia Women's Association of the U.S.A. for several years in the late 1960s, and was a Trustee of Grace Congregational Church in New York City. Betty Johns died on July 1, 1971 in New York City.
The R. Elizabeth Johns Papers came to the Sophia Smith Collection with the Records of the YWCA of the U.S.A. in 2002. The YWCA received them from Johns's estate in 1978.
Scope and Contents of the Collection The R. Elizabeth Johns Papers consist of 2.25 linear ft. and are primarily related to her professional and public life, dating from 1932 to 1972. Types of materials include correspondence, conference and meeting files, newsletters, photographs, press releases, programs, reports, newspaper clippings, speeches, subject files, writings, and memorabilia. Series III. Organizations makes up the bulk of the materials. It contains files on organizations where Johns was employed and for which she volunteered. The materials document the work of a variety of liberal religious organizations from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s working for economic, social, and racial justice, and to end the War in Vietnam. There are extensive materials from Johns's 1966 sabbatical trip to Asia and Africa while she worked for the United Church of Christ. Johns's interest in international relations is documented through her involvement with the Pan Pacific Southeast Asia Women's Association and for the Foreign Division of the YWCA of the U.S.A. The YWCA materials include correspondence, memorabilia, speeches, reports and other items from her work in the YWCA of Burma-Ceylon in the mid-1950s. Series V. Subject Files includes interesting ephemera from the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and various pace activities of the Jeannette Rankin Brigade, 1967-68.
The Papers are open to research according to the regulations of the Sophia Smith Collection without any additional restrictions.
Copyright ownership of R. Elizabeth Johns's writings is unknown. Permission must be obtained to publish reproductions or quotations beyond "fair use." Copyright to materials authored by others may be owned by those individuals or their heirs or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights.
Associated material located in the YWCA USA Records, Sophia Smith Collection.
Processed by Maida Goodwin, 2009.
Peace movements -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
lcsh
Social justice -- History -- 20th century
Women and religion -- United States -- History
Women and peace -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
Johns, Ruth Elizabeth, 1911-1971
lcnaf
Young Women's Christian Associations -- History -- Sources
Young Women's Christian Association -- Ceylon -- History -- Sources
Church Women United -- History -- Sources
United Church of Christ -- History -- Sources
series
SERIES I. BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS AND PHOTOGRAPHS
General 1943-71, n.d.
Death: memorial gifts and correspondence 1971-72
Education
Goucher College: paper, "Juvenile Delinquency Areas of Baltimore, 1930"1932
Union Theological Seminary, summer school 1941
Yale Divinity School 1951
Family 1939-68, n.d.
Photographs 1955-64, n.d.
SERIES II. CORRESPONDENCE
General 1949-71, n.d.
Family 1934-71, n.d.
Andrews, Rev. Richard T., Jr. 1964-71, n.d.
SERIES III. ORGANIZATIONS
Christian Action, New York Chapter
General 1958-60
Southern Christian Leadership Conference 1958-68, n.d.
Church Women United (United Council of Church Women/United Church Women)
General
Asia trip 1969
Ecumenical Consultation on the Role of Women in Caribbean DevelopmentJul 1971
"People Poverty Plenty Discover Plan ACT" Action guide by Elizabeth Johns: guide, correspondence, and research materials1964-65, n.d.
Grace Congregational Church, Harlem
General 1959-71, n.d.
Board of Trustees 1969-71, n.d.
Pan Pacific and South East Asia Women's Association 1967-70, n.d.
United Church of Christ
Council for Christian Social Action
General 1960-71, n.d.
Action Guides for Racial Justice Now 1964-65
Publications Committee 1967
Twenty-third MeetingJan 1968
National Council of Churches, Social Education and Action Section of the Division of Christian Life and Mission 1967, n.d.
Sabbatical tour of Asia and Africa, 1966
Planning 1965
TripJan-Jul
Correspondence
Notes and reports
Follow-upAug-Nov 1966
Reference materials
Africa
India
Study Conference on Church and Society, Rajpur, IndiaApr 1966
U.S. Conference on Church and Society
General and follow-up 1967
Committees 1966-67
Photographs 1967
Planning 1966-67
World Council of Churches, Assembly 1966, 1968
YWCA, University of Minnesota 1941-43, n.d.
YWCA of the U.S.A.
General 1948-70, n.d.
National Student YMCA-YWCA
Generalcirca 1946-71
European Seminarsummer 1954 (Johns was Director)
West Coast Leadership School 1951
Foreign Division: Burma-Ceylon
General and memorabilia 1954-56, n.d.
Correspondence 1954-67, n.d.
Reference materials 1954-67, n.d.
Speeches and reports 1955-56, n.d.
YWCA of the City of New York, Upper Manhattan Branch 1959, 1967-68
SERIES IV. SPEECHES AND WRITINGS
Speeches 1942-66, n.d.
Writings
General 1953-68, n.d.
Column "New York Report" for The Guardian: a Christian Weekly Journal of Public Affairs , Bangalore, India 1968-71
SERIES V. SUBJECT FILES
Peace
General 1967-71
Jeannette Rankin Brigade 1967-68
Race relations 1963-68
SERIES VI. OVERSIZE MATERIALS
Certificates 1958, 1963
YWCA of the U.S.A., National Student Council of the YMCA and YWCA: photo album/scrapbook circa 1946-51
Retirement tributes1968