Annual report as acting president, 1851-1852

The John Johnston papers include correspondence, biographical information, materials about the study of science at Wesleyan University, and a scrapbook of programs from 19th century Wesleyan events.

The correspondence of John Johnston contains much interesting material on and around the formative years of Wesleyan University. Many of the letters deal with science (fossils and minerals); the teaching of science (textbooks, lab experiments, and equipment); letters of inquiry and requests for catalogs from prospective students; addresses at commencement; and contributions to Frankfort Mineral Cabinet. The collection is especially useful on the topics of science and science vis a vis Methodism at the dawning of Darwinism. Other letters in the collection discuss the Civil War and Wesleyan University.

The correspondence of J.G. Blair is notably interesting for comments on the Civil War and on science education in relation to religion, or "inquiries into the mysteries of God's great laboratory." (January 27, 1863)

A. Rollins' letter for February 3 is an interesting diatribe on the suspect morals of a Wesleyan student. A letter (May 6, 1851) from M. C. White from China contains the flavor of his life as a missionary as he "tries to preach in Chinese on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays in a little room opening to the street between the river and the south gate of the city." Many of the J. Holdich letters of the 1860s deal with the politics as well as the sorrow of the war. Among other Johnston correspondents are Nathan Bangs, Cyrus Foss, Joseph Cummings, the Hoyts, and Orange Judd.