John Graham Johns Papers, 1921-1955, undated

(Manuscript Collection #410)

Title:	John Graham Johns Papers
Creator:	Johns, John Graham
Repository:	ECU Manuscript Collection
Languages:	English
Abstract:	Papers (1921-1955, undated) including orders, reports, memorandums, photographs, scrapbooks, correspondence, pamphlets, clippings, and miscellany.
Extent:	1.09 Cubic feet, 600 items, consisting of orders, reports, memorandums, photographs, scrapbooks, correspondence, pamphlets, clippings, and miscellany.

Accessions Information

June 5, 1980, 315 items; Personal files (1922-1955) of U.S. Navy rear admiral, including correspondence, orders, memorandums, reports, photographs, clippings, scrapbooks, and miscellaneous. Loaned by Mrs. John G. Johns, Silver Springs, Md.

Access Restrictions

No restrictions

Copyright Notice

Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.

Preferred Citation

John Graham Johns Papers (#410), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.

Acquisition Information

• Loaned by Mrs. John G. Johns

Processing Information

• Processed by M. York, June 1981

• Encoded by Apex Data Services

John Graham Johns (b. Sept. 1, 1903), a native of Kenton, Delaware, pursued a successful career in the U.S. Navy. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy and was graduated in 1925. He served aboard submarines and commanded submarine squadrons and divisions. Prior to his retirement with the rank of rear admiral in 1955, Johns worked at the Office of Priorities and Controls of the Munitions Board. Johns received several awards, including the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star.

Naval Academy materials (1921-1925) constitute the most interesting portion of the collection. The scrapbook Johns assembled while a student at the academy contains clippings, photographs, pamphlets, and miscellany pertaining to the Annapolis campus, football games, social functions, and activities of Johns and his fellow midshipmen.

For further details about his career, see transcript and fitness reports in folder 410.1.d.

Of particular interest are photographs related to a 1923 practice cruise. They include views of the USS NORTH DAKOTA; Panama, the Panama Canal, and Gatun Lake; St. Thomas; Culebra Island, Puerto Rico; Halifax; Greenock, Glasgow, Edinburg, Scotland; Cadiz, Spain; Copenhagen; Gibraltar; London; Paris; and Ostend, Antwerp, and Flanders, Belgium. Photographs of Gothenburg, Sweden, depict many aspects of the World's Exposition of 1923. A file of academy miscellany includes a speech by Henry B. Wilson (Feb., 1925), programs of various functions (1924-1925), and a roster of members of the classes of 1909 to 1930.

Orders, reports, and memorandums dated 1925 through 1955 primarily concern Johns's various assignments and the high quality of service he rendered. Noteworthy items discuss a court of inquiry dealing with the grounding of the USS S-38 near Saddle Island (July, 1928), structural defects of the USS BONITA (Apr., 1937), effective training methods used by Johns off the Perlas Islands (Feb., 1945), the sale of submarines to Turkey (Dec., 1947), and the Office of Priorities and Controls of the Munitions Board ([May, 1952?]).

The collection contains photographs and printed material concerning the construction, launching, and service of three submarines: USS NAUTILUS; USS CUTTLEFISH; and USS SEADRAGON. Among the photographs in the SEADRAGON file is a view of President Franklin Roosevelt studying developments of "Fleet Problem Twenty" (1939). A scrapbook (1939-1940) contains clippings and correspondence concerning the SEADRAGON and Johns's command of it.

Also included in the collection are several files of photographs. Miscellaneous Navy-related photographs depict Johns, the USS DASHIELL (1952), the USS DORTCH (1952), the change of command aboard the USS CAPERTON (undated), the laying of the keel of the USS TARPON (1933), Chester W. Nimitz (1943), and Maurice Edwin Curts (1950). Personal photographs show Johns, members of his family, and his home. Commercial photographs of China depict the Temple of Heaven and the Winter Palace. Commercial photographs of World War I include views of airplanes, dead German soldiers, weapons, trenches, and battle scenes.

Additional files contain Johns's transcripts and fitness reports (1942-1955), his awards and certificates, photostatic copies of charts concerning submarine training in Panama (undated), and routine correspondence (1921-1944).

Personal material includes Johns's high school grade reports and genealogical notes concerning the Lober and Reynolds families.

A folder of miscellany includes a roster of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet and Station (1941) and printed material concerning the Navy.

A mimeographed book, The Diary of a Big-Game Hunter with Gun and Camera in Indo-China, concerns the hunting expedition (1937) of Dr. Clarence E. Fronk, a friend of Johns. Fronk describes his voyage to Manila aboard the freighter STEEL MARINER and the people, countryside, and wildlife in and around Saigon, Vietnam. He also describes big-game hunting techniques.

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Reading Room's card catalog. This system is no longer maintained, but it is left in place to help on-site researchers locate particular topics in the collection.

Autograph Entries :

• DuPont, [Thomas] Coleman 1922
• Lockwood, C[harles] A[ndrews] Jr. (2) 1944, 1945
• Small, J[ohn] D. 1953
• Wolcott, J[osiah] O[liver] (2) 1921

Subject Entries :

• BELGIUM
• CHINA— Building and Architecture
• CURTS, MAURICE EDWIN
• DENMARK— COPENHAGEN
• ENGLAND— LONDON
• GIBRALTAR
• NIMITZ, CHESTER WILLIAM
• NOVA SCOTIA— HALIFAX
• PANAMA
• PUERTO RICO— CULEBRA ISLAND
• ROOSEVELT, FRANKLIN DELANO
• SCOTLAND
• SPAIN— CADIZ
• SPORTS— Hunting
• SWEDEN— GOTHENBURG
• TRANSPORTATION— Ships and Shipping— 1937
• TRAVEL— Asia— 1937
• TURKEY— Military Assistance
• U.S.— MILITARY— Munitions Board
• U.S.— MILITARY— Navy— Ships
• U.S.— MILITARY— Navy— Training
• U.S.— MILITARY— Navy— Education— U.S. Naval Academy
• VIETNAM
• VIRGIN ISLANDS— ST. THOMAS
• WAR— WORLD WAR I— Iconography
• WORLD FAIRS— 1923

Genealogy Entries :

• LOBER FAMILY
• REYNOLDS FAMILY

Date Entries :

• 1921-1929
• 1930-1939
• 1940-1949
• 1950-1955

Images below are listed alphabetically by subject. This list reflects only those portions of the collection for which negatives have been prepared.

BUSINESS AND COMMERCE— Marketing
Description: Open air market
Location: Spain-Cadiz
Date: 1922
Call Number: p-410/453

CLOTHING AND DRESS— Children
Date: 1800s
Call Number: p-410/139(246), 149(247)

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS— Harbors
Location: Sweden-Gothenburg
Date: 1922
Call Number: p-410/417, 431

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS— Harbors
Location: Denmark-Copenhagen
Date: 1922
Call Number: p-410/433

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS— Harbors
Location: Spain-Gibraltar
Date: 1922
Call Number: p-410/458

PANAMA— Business District
Location: Panama-Panama City
Date: 1922
Call Number: p-410/313

PANAMA— Business District
Location: Panama-Colon
Date: 1922
Call Number: p-410/323

PANAMA— Business District
Location: Panama Canal Zone-Culebra
Date: 1922
Call Number: p-410/343

U.S.— MILITARY— Artillery
Description: 12″ shells
Call Number: p-410/459

U.S.— MILITARY— Navy— Admirals
Description: Scales, Admiral Archibald, coming aboard
Date: 1922
Call Number: p-410/457

U.S.— MILITARY— Navy— Ships— USS CUTTLEFISH
Date: 1933
Call Number: p-410/142

U.S.— MILITARY— Navy— Ships— USS DASHIELL
Location: At sea
Call Number: p-410/146

U.S.— MILITARY— Navy— Ships— USS DELAWARE— USS NORTH DAKOTA
Description: In the locks
Location: Panama Canal Zone-Gatun
Date: 1922
Call Number: p-410/304

U.S.— MILITARY— Navy— Ships— USS DORTCH
Location: At sea
Call Number: p-410/145

U.S.— MILITARY— Navy— Ships— USS NEW YORK
Location: At sea
Call Number: p-410/567

U.S.— MILITARY— Navy— Ships— USS NORTH DAKOTA
Location: At sea
Date: 1922
Call Number: p-410/311

U.S.— MILITARY— Navy— Ships— USS SEADRAGON
Location: At sea
Call Number: p-410/59

U.S.— PRESIDENT
Description: Harding, Warren G., with Admiral & Diplomat
Date: 1921
Call Number: p-410/141

U.S.— PRESIDENT
Description: Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, with Admirals
Date: 1939
Call Number: p-410/144