Document Type
Finding Aids
Publication Date
2018
Collection Date
1890-1937
Identifier
JOHNSON.1
Description
Robert Underwood Johnson, author, conservationist, and diplomat, was born in New York in 1853. For more than forty years he was associated with The Century Magazine. Associate Editor under Richard Watson Gilder, he succeeded to the editorship from 1909-1913. Using the influence of The Century Magazine, Underwood, in conjunction with famed naturalist John Muir, was one of the driving forces behind the creation of Yosemite National Park in the California in 1890. In 1889, Johnson also encouraged Muir to "start an association" to help protect the Sierra Nevada, inspiring the formation of the Sierra Club in 1892. In 1920-1921 he served as Ambassador to Italy and represented the United States at the San Remo Conference. After his return to this country he devoted himself chiefly to the publication of poetry and his memoirs, Remembered Yesterdays, until his death in 1937. The Collection contains correspondence (some tipped into poetry volumes) to American literary figures in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century and one typed manuscript.
Recommended Citation
Collection of Robert Underwood Johnson Materials, Colby College Special Collections, Waterville, Maine.
Included in
Environmental Policy Commons, Literature in English, North America Commons, Poetry Commons