|
Ref No
|
IE TCD MS 10066
|
|
Title
| Papers of (William) Denis Johnston |
|
Creation Dates
| 1888-1984 |
|
Extent And Medium
| 97 boxes, 14 volumes, 170 outsize items |
|
Level Of Description
| Collection |
|
Author
| Johnston, Denis, 1901-84 |
|
Admin Biographical History
| Denis Johnston was born in Dublin in 1901, son of William Johnston (1868-1940), barrister and
Supreme Court judge and Kathleen Johnston (1860-1944), née King. He was educated at St Andrew's
College, Dublin (1908-15; 1917-19); Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh (September 1915-December
1916); Christ's College Cambridge, 1919-23; Harvard Law Scool, Cambridge, Massachussetts (1923-24);
King's Inns, Dublin (1925). Johnston worked as a barrister in Dublin in the late 1920s and 1930s while
taking an active part in the Dublin Drama League, where he met the Abbey actress Shelah Richards,
whom he married in 1928. They had two children: the novelist Jennifer Johnston and (William) Micheal
Johnston.
His first play, The Old Lady says 'No', was rejected by the Abbey Theatre, Dublin in 1928 but was
produced at the Gate Theatre, Dublin in 1929 to great acclaim. His other dramatic works for stage, radio
and television include The Moon in the Yellow River (1931), A Bride for the the Unicorn (1933), Storm
Song (1934), Blind Man's Buff (adaptation, 1935), The Golden Cuckoo (1939), The Dreaming Dust (1940),
Lillibulero (1948), A Fourth for Bridge (1948), Strange Occurrence on Ireland's Eye (1956), The Scythe and
the Sunset (1958), Nine Rivers from Jordan (libretto, 1968), John Millington Synge: a centenary tribute
(1971). He produced and directed the film Guests of the Nation (1935).
Johnston joined the BBC in Belfast in 1936, finally bringing his legal career to an end, and then
transferred in 1938 to the fledgling television service in BBC London. During the Second World War Johnston worked as a war correspondent, based in Northern Ireland, reporting on his experiences while accredited to the RAF and US Forces in the desert campaign in North Africa (1942), the Italian campaign (1943-44), the Partisans in Yugoslavia (1944), and Buchenwald concentration camp (1945). His War Field Books which he wrote up for the duration of the war became the basis of his war memoir Nine Rivers from Jordan (1953).
Johnston's divorce from Shelah Richards was finalised in February 1945 and he married actress Betty Chancellor in March of that year. He and Betty had two childen: Jeremy and Rory. Johnston returned to peacetime television in 1946 as Director of Programmes at the BBC but departed in 1947 to work as a freelance in theatre and television in the United States. By 1950 Denis Johnston had embarked on yet another new career, this time in American academe: he taught in Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College (for ten years), Smith College and, after retirement in 1966 he took up visiting appointments at several other universities until the mid 1970s. He published two further prose works: the biography of Jonathan Swift, In Search of Swift (1959) and the philosophical treatise on the nature of time, The Brazen Horn (1976).
The Johnstons retired to Alderney in 1966, returning finally to Dublin in 1970. Denis Johnston died on 8 August 1984 and was buried alongside his wife Betty in St Patrick's Cathedral Close.
|
|
Scope And Content
| The Denis Johnston papers comprehensively document his Dublin childhood, schools and universities, his career as a barrister, playwright, theatre director, BBC war correspondent, pioneer of televison and university teacher.
The collection includes drafts of dramatic works for stage, radio, television and screenplay treatments; draft prose works; research materials on Dean Jonathan Swift; drafts of articles, lectures, speeches and addresses; radio broadcasts other than plays; recordings of his literary works, wartime radio broadcasts, autobiographical radio talks and interviews.
Johnston's complex collection of almost 200 diaries include annual diaries known as the 'Y' series (1936-83); miscellaneous diaries (1919-20: 1930-31: 1947: 1962: 1973); annual pocket diaries (1916-27: 1930-31: 1934-37: 1941-61: 1970: 1977: 1979: 1982); miscellaneous notebooks or journals called the 'Z' series, each volume is given a title (1921-49: 1955-80); 'Omnibus' notebooks, also known as 'Omnibus X-books' which provide an autobiographical narrative of Johnston's life (1901-34: 1945-74); a general index volume for the 'X', 'Y', and 'Z' series; annotated xeroxes of his War Field Books (1942-45).
Johnston's collection of notebooks contain notes and drafts of his plays, research materials, legal work, biographical notes, genealogical research, BBC television work, wartime reportage and teaching notes (1918-79).
The correspondence, amounting to nearly 7000 letters, includes Johnston's private and business correspondence (1902-84). The collection includes materials relating to the literary papers of novelist and poet Amanda M'Kittrick Ros (1860-1939). There are over 1660 photographs and 6 photograph albums including photographs of family, friends, stage and television productions of plays (1902-83); theatre memorabilia including programmes and posters (1929-82); schools and universities related papers and memorabilia (1908-25), correspondence and papers relating to Johnston's BBC career and wartime memorabilia (1935-47); academic career in the United States (1950-83).
Use this link to access the digitised version of MS 10066/192 in the Library's Digital Collections repository: https://doi.org/10.48495/d217qv04h
Use this link to access the digitised version of MS 10066/301/119 in the Library's Digital Collections repository: https://doi.org/10.48495/v405sf463
|
|
Image
| 
|
|
Document
| 10066list.pdf |
| 10066list2.pdf |
| DJWorks.pdf |
|
Access Conditions
| Please contact mscripts@tcd.ie.
Cassette copies of tapes and records in TCD MS 10066/252-286 are available for readers' use. |
|
Copyright
| Single copies for research purposes by application to the Keeper of Manuscripts. Permission to publish from Micheal Johnston (dramatic works) and Rory Johnston (prose works and letters written by Denis Johnston). |
|
Mgt Group
| Personal papers |
| Literary & theatrical |
| Photographs |
| Academic & scholarly |
|
Language
| English, German and Italian and Slavic. |
|
Related Material
| Dionysia, an account of Denis Johnston's wartime experiences, typed in 6 numbered notebooks: IE TCD MSS 3208-3213.
Letters to Prof Ann Saddlemeyer from Denis Johnston and others: IE TCD MS 11169.
Letters from Denis Johnston to Prof Ann Saddlemeyer: IE TCD MS 11186.
Papers of Denis Johnston: University of Ulster, Coleraine.
Papers of Jennifer Johnston (b. 1930), novelist and playwright, daughter of Denis Johnston and Shelah Richards: IE TCD MS 11063.
Papers of Shelah Richards (d. 1985), Abbey actress and RTE producer: IE Dublin Corporation Archives/Irish Theatre Archive/128.
Papers of Judge William J Johnston, Johnston family history, Shelah Richards, photograph albums, films and video tapes: privately owned by Micheal Johnston, son of Denis Johnston and Shelah Richards.
Papers and photographs of Betty Chancellor (d. 1984): privately owned by the family of the late Jeremy Johnston, son of Denis Johnston and Betty Chancellor.
Originals of the War Field Books 1-6 (IE TCD MS 10066/188-191 and TCD Misc photocopies 103-104) are in the Denis Johnston Collection, University of Ulster, Coleraine, Co Derry.
Annotated mimeographs of plays and the Brazen Horn, and microfilms of Denis Johnston's diaries ('Z' series and 1947 war diary) are held in Williston Memorial Library, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts.
The script of 'The dreaming Dust' is in the Special Collections library of the Northwestern University, Illinois.
Imperial War Museum holds c. 25 wartime recordings ( http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?f[0]=agentString%3AJohnston%2C%20Denis&query=)
|
|
Public Note
| Bernard Adams, Denis Johnston: a life (Dublin: Lilliput Press, 2002).
Denis Johnston, Nine Rivers from Jordan (London: Derek Verschoyle, 1953).
Denis Johnston, In Search of Swift (Dublin: Hodges Figgis, 1959).
Denis Johnston, The Brazen Horn (Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1976).
Orders and Desecrations, ed. Rory Johnston (Dublin: Lilliput Press, 1992).
Denis Johnston: a retrospective, ed. Joseph Ronsley (Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe, 1981).
The Dramatic Works of Denis Johnston, ed. Joseph Ronsley, 3 vols (Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe, 1992).
Facebook page for Denis Johnston - Irish playwright (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Denis-Johnston-Irish-playwright/288041527979963?fref=ts) |