Who was Julia Emily Johnsen?
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And why doesn't she have a Wikipedia page?
[Update– and now she has one, thanks mainly to commenter Jessamyn.]
I came across her works in a recent search for background information. The Penn Library's Online Books Page offers links to 35 of her publications; The Internet Archive offers 90 results, 87 of which seem to be valid; Amazon offers links to 92 (versions of her) publications; Google Books oddly returns only 7 results.
All of Johnsen's works, as far as I can tell, were published by the H.W. Wilson Company, which does have a Wikipedia page. And most of her publications were (annotated) compilations of works by other authors, published as part of the company's "Reference Shelf":
(though some seem to have been published before that series was started.)
Here's Johnson's introduction to Ku Klux Klan, 1923, which exemplifies her approach:
The Ku Klux Klan is an anomaly in American life. The extreme secrecy with which it is shrouded and the apparent spread of membership into the thousands in practically every state of the Union, with attempted entrance also into Canada and England, make it both difficult and important to bring into the open reliable facts and a clear comprehension of the inner nature of this extraneous social organism.
The present Ku Klux Klan embraces the organization founded in 1915 at Atlanta, Georgia, by Colonel William Joseph Simmons, professing to commemorate the historic Ku Klux Klan of reconstruction days. According to
Colonel Simmons before the Rules Committee in Congress, its membership in 1921 was approximately ninety to ninety-five thousand. Its growth is augmented by a highly organized system of propaganda. Save for a few of the executive and organizing officials, its members are generally unknown. Among its late manifestations is the formation of an auxiliary woman’s division known as the “Kamelia,” and a movement styled the “Great American Fraternity” has also been ascribed to its activities.
The material on the Ku Klux Klan is frankly one¬sided. The press is, as a rule, hostile or at best neutral. For its defense one must go to such publications and statements as emar om within its own organism. A few organizatioi are actively combatting it. Foremost among these are the American Unity League, with offices at 127 North Dearborn Street, Chicago, which league also publishes a weekly paper “Tolerance,” and the American Civil Liberties Union, 100 Fifth Avenue, New York. The Catholic, negro, and Jewish organizations also oppose it.
The present pamphlet has been included in the Reference Shelf in response to a demand for reference material on this subject. The attempt has been made by the compiler to avoid bias and let the facts speak for themselves to the discriminating, as is in keeping with the established practice of the debaters’ series of publications. To this end representative material is included setting forth both the aims and defense of the Klan and the arguments of the opposition.
A search of newspapers.com turns up 277 references, none of which tell us anything about Johnsen herself. Rather, they are all references to her publications, mostly in the form of notices about additions to a local library, like this piece from p. 12 of the Arizona Republic 8/25/1924:
which lists 4 of her works:
ChatGPT gives a plausible summary of her work, but again tells us nothing about Johnsen herself:
Me: Who was Julia E Johnsen?
ChatGPT: Julia Emily Johnsen was an American editor and author active in the early to mid-20th century. She is best known for compiling and editing works on various social and political issues, often presenting multiple perspectives to facilitate informed debate. Her notable publications include "Selected Articles on the Negro Problem" (1921), "Debating the Ku Klux Klan" (1924), and "Palestine: Jewish Homeland?" (1946). These works served as valuable resources for students, debaters, and general readers interested in understanding complex societal topics.
The earliest publication bearing Johnsen's name seems to be dated 1911, suggesting that she was born no later than 1890. Her latest publication seems to be dated 1950.
I'd propose Julia Emily Johnsen as a candidate for the patron saint of Wikipedia, except that I can't prove that she actually existed as a person rather than a shared nom de plume. If you know anything about her, beyond her bibliography, please let me know.
rory said,
November 1, 2024 @ 10:37 am
Because no one's made one. Wikipedia articles are all created by people. If you want her to have one, I don't see why you don't make one for her, rather than complain no one else has done it. You can include the part where she may not have existed and may have been a group of other writers, using as many sources as needed to establish this.
J.W. Brewer said,
November 1, 2024 @ 10:42 am
"Johnsen" is an odd surname-spelling variant, almost certainly the result of partial-but-not-complete Anglicization of a Scandinavian-immigrant surname like Jonssen. Genealogy websites (many of which require a subscription to dig more deeply than the first-page-of-hits I found) will lead you to the existence of e.g. a Julia Johnsen who was born in Norway in 1885 and died in Wisconsin in 1953 but has no middle name specified, and there are others (with either no middle name specified or a middle name other than Emily specified).
I imagine someone with reasonable online genealogy skills (and easy access to the major paywalled databases, including census records) could either turn up a Julia Emily (or at least Julia E.) of plausible age or be in a position to offer a more definite assessment that it was likely a nom de plume. Picking a nonstandard and rare spelling variant of a very common surname seems like an odd name de plume strategy to me, but maybe I'm wrong about that.
J.W. Brewer said,
November 1, 2024 @ 10:57 am
Has no consensus on a patron saint previously arisen among wikipedia editors/volunteers/insiders? I guess they would want to disassociate themselves from St. Isidore of Seville as patron of the internet generally, given his primary qualification is his willingness to pass on information on a wide variety of topics without any rigorous screening of it for accuracy.
I have a more modest campaign to promote St. Epiphanius of Salamis (3??-403) as the appropriate saint to be invoked against the temptation to get really mad at someone on the internet based on a second-hand and slanted account of what they have actually said or done. This from the incident in which Epiphanius was initially recruited to be part of an outrage mob attempting to cancel St. John Chrysostom only to bail out after realizing that the anti-Chrysostom campaign was being ginned up and manipulated by Theophilus of Alexandria for dubious motives of his own and Chrysostom's actual views/actions related to the controversy in question were perhaps not what Theophilus had been led to believe.
Mark Liberman said,
November 1, 2024 @ 11:39 am
@Rory: "Because no one's made one. Wikipedia articles are all created by people. "
Of course I know that — I should have written, Why has no one been motivated to write a Wikipedia article for her?
Charles Hallinan said,
November 1, 2024 @ 12:08 pm
@J.W. Brewer: "I imagine someone with reasonable online genealogy skills (and easy access to the major paywalled databases, including census records) could either turn up a Julia Emily (or at least Julia E.) of plausible age or be in a position to offer a more definite assessment that it was likely a nom de plume."
I'm not sure about the level of my genealogy skills, but entries in the 1930, 1940, & 1950 censuses give sound reason to believe Julia was real. (Images of the census returns are available & searchable for free at familysearch.org, although registration is required for access.)
In 1930 there is a Julia E. Johnsen living as a boarder at 900 Summit Ave. in the Bronx. She is listed as age 45, single, born in Wisconsin, occupation "Compiler," industry "Publications." The head of household is recorded as Marion E. Potter, age 60, occupation "Editor," industry "Publications." The household includes only one other person, Mertice M. James (also a boarder), age 38, occupation "Manager," industry "Publications."
The same trio appears at 900 Summit Ave. in the 1940 census with appropriate increments in age. Ms. Johnsen's birthplace, however, is now given as New York. For all three, the occupation this time is "Editor" & the industry is "Publishers."
In 1950, the household at 900 Summit includes only Marion Potter & Julia E. Johnsen. This time Ms. Potter's occupation is "Editor of an Index" & her industry is "Publishing Co." Ms. Johnsen's occupation is "Compiler Handbooks" & her industry is "Publishing Co." Meanwhile, Ms. Johnsen's birthplace has shifted to Norway.
Marion Effie Potter of 900 Summit Ave. died (age 83) in 1953. Her June 4, 1953, obituary in the NY Daily News identified her as "a director of H.W. Wilson Co., publishers of library and reference materials."
(Obituary viewable at newspapers.com, which is paywalled: https://www.newspapers.com/image/451437227)
Stephen Goranson said,
November 1, 2024 @ 12:23 pm
Whether this it relevant or reliable, I don't know, but reportedly one person:
Julia E. Johnsen
born 1881, 17 March, in Wisconsin
died 1971, 18 December, in LA
Stephen Goranson said,
November 1, 2024 @ 12:37 pm
I posted before reading Charles Hallinan.
Emily, maybe also known as Emilia.
Stephen Goranson said,
November 1, 2024 @ 12:44 pm
One Inglewood, LA tombstone:
Fred E. Johnsen, brother, 1879 (or, less likely -8)-1961
Julia E. Johnsen, sister, 1881-1971
Stephen Goranson said,
November 1, 2024 @ 1:04 pm
Maybe (?) saying she was born in the US rather than in Norway and using Emily rather than Emilia was to distance from immigrant status?
A recent bumper sticker: "First they come for the immigrants"
J.W. Brewer said,
November 1, 2024 @ 1:43 pm
FWIW that 958-964 University Avenue address in "New York City" given for the H.W. Wilson Co. in the photo in myl's original post is in fact in the Bronx (which is part of New York City …) and basically right around the block from the 900 Summit Avenue location identified by Charles Hallinan as the Potter/Johnsen/etc. residence. Both addresses are with the fairly small area in between Yankee Stadium and the Harlem River.
Y said,
November 1, 2024 @ 2:00 pm
Johnsen's first publication, of 1911, was published by H.W. Wilson in Minneapolis. All the rest give New York as the place of publication. H.W. Wilson had been publishing books in both locations since the 1900s.
Johnsen published at least one book after the 1950 British Socialism Today, viz. The Investigating Powers of Congress of 1951. The contrast between the two suggests she had the HUAC in mind.
Johnsen's work was worthwhile, but I don't know that it was unique. I think many individuals and organizations published booklets of this sort, some better researched, some less so. Like Wikipedia itself, its patron saint would be a collective.
KeithB said,
November 1, 2024 @ 2:15 pm
"The extreme secrecy with which it is shrouded …"
Was this showing a sense of humor?
Charles Hallinan said,
November 1, 2024 @ 2:52 pm
When submitting my earlier post, I had somehow missed the 1920 census, which also shows the Marion Potter household at 900 Summit. Ms. Potter's occupation is "Cataloger," & her industry is "Publishing." Julia E. Johnson (not Johnsen) is listed as a 38-year-old boarder, occupation "Librarian," industry "Publishing," and birthplace Wisconsin. (Her father's birthplace is shown as Norway, as it also was in 1930.) There is a second boarder, not Mertice James, but Mary K. Reely, age 38, born in Wisconsin, occupation "Editorial writer," industry "Publishing."
In the interest of completeness, Ms. Johnsen may also appear in the 1910 census as Julia E. Johnson (again, not Johnsen) at 411 Ontario St. in Minneapolis MN, occupation "Librarian," industry "Reference Work." Here she is in a household with her parents, John (born in Norway) & Emma (born in Wisconsin), and a couple of siblings. But the listed age (29) is a off by about four years in comparison with the age given in later censuses.
Sean said,
November 3, 2024 @ 10:57 am
The census is great, but to create a lasting Wikipedia page you need one or more secondary sources to prove that Ms. Johnsen was notable. In Wikipedia's epistemology, being a prolific author does not prove that on its own, just like being a MP does not entitle you to a Dictionary of National Biography entry (although in my epistemology this is silly as long as the person has been dead for 20 years, one more Wikipedia biography costs pennies a year).
Jessamyn said,
November 3, 2024 @ 10:58 am
I'll set up a stub…. if anyone else has more info, please feel free to drop it in here.
J.W. Brewer said,
November 3, 2024 @ 8:34 pm
@Sean: By contrast to the DNB, having been a UK MP, however obscure, definitely makes you notable enough to have your own wikipedia page. So what we need here is a hoax source claiming that Miss Johnsen, despite not being a British subject, somehow won the 1934 Chipping Sodbury by-election as an independent candidate before being swept out of office in the general election the following year.
Y said,
November 4, 2024 @ 1:16 pm
I'm afraid there is nothing to suggest Johnsen as unique. The Wilson Bulletin for Librarians,
https://books.google.com/books?id=fGDpAAAAMAAJ&q=johnsen
shows many summary articles they published, by many writers, including Johnsen. It seems that the publication Liberman happened to encounter just happened to be by her.
HW Wilson's series, The Reference Shelf, is still going to this day.