Processed by
Brent Abercrombie
July 2007
Manuscript and Visual Collections Department
William Henry Smith Memorial Library
Indiana Historical Society
450 West Ohio Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-3269
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VOLUME OF |
Manuscript Materials: 1 document case |
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COLLECTION |
1954–1989; bulk 1966 |
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PROVENANCE: |
Phyllis M. Johnson, Speedway, IN, September 2005, and March 2006 |
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RESTRICTIONS: |
None |
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COPYRIGHT: |
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REPRODUCTION |
Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained from the Indiana Historical Society. |
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ALTERNATE |
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RELATED |
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ACCESSION |
2005.0224, 2006.0305 |
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NOTES: |
Formerly processed under the title “Hoosiers in Vietnam” Collection 1966–1989 |
Richard Johnson, born January 22, 1935, spent over twenty years working at newspapers ranging from 5,000 to 40,000 circulations. He started his career as an investigative and general assignment reporter at The County Courier, in Brownsburg, Indiana. He also worked as a feature writer, editing and editorial writer, did photography, and assisted with layout and design during his tenure there. He then went to The Indianapolis Times, in Indianapolis Indiana, where he worked as the sports writer, copy editor, and police reporter. From there he moved to The Indianapolis Star where he worked as assistant editor of general special assignments, feature writer, and rewrite specialist.
During his career he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize on two occasions: once for an investigation of jail brutality, which led to major changes in the handling of prisoners and mental patients; and again for articles about a prison inmate who, for thirty-seven years, had been unable to appeal his murder conviction because trial records were gone. As a result of Johnson’s story the inmate was paroled. He won the Lester Hunt Investigative Reporting Award from the Indianapolis Star on three occasions. He also received the Golden Gavel Award from the Indianapolis Bar Association, the Community Achievement Award, and several awards from the Indianapolis Press Club for reporting, sports writing, and photography. Johnson died on March 5, 2002 at the age of 67.
Sources:
http://search.ancestrylibrary.com/searchRichardR.Johnson. 07/10/2007.
Materials in collection
The bulk of the collection consists of the articles written by Johnson between October and November, 1966, when he spent thirty days in Vietnam. He was sent there to talk with servicemen from Indiana and gather views and comments from them. From these interviews he wrote over thirty articles about his experiences, and what he saw and heard during his stay. His articles appeared fairly regularly in the Indianapolis Star. There are five folders with the original column Johnson typed and the newspaper columns, cut from the paper. Two folders contain the columns re-typed, probably to be reprinted in a new format. There are three file folders that consist of miscellaneous letters, news-clippings of his stories, documents, and greeting cards all relating to the work of Johnson. The collection also contains photographs taken in the U.S. and Viet Nam. Most of the Viet Nam images are on 6 CDrom disks. These are stored with the photographs and numbered DVD 0113–DVD0118. They can be viewed on a DVD viewer in the library AV room.
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CONTENTS |
CONTAINER |
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Airline flight tickets, 1966 |
Box 1, Folder 1 |
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Passport and driving permit, 1966 |
Box 1, Folder 2 |
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“Hoosiers in Vietnam,” Indianapolis Star columns, 16–23 Oct. 1966 |
Box 1, Folder 3 |
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“Hoosiers in Vietnam,” Indianapolis Star columns, 25–31 Oct. 1966 |
Box 1, Folder 4 |
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“Hoosiers in Vietnam,” Indianapolis Star columns, |
Box 1, Folder 5 |
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“Hoosiers in Vietnam,” Indianapolis Star columns, |
Box 1, Folder 6 |
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“Hoosiers in Vietnam,” Indianapolis Star columns, 18–28 Nov. 1966 |
Box 1, Folder 7 |
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“Hoosiers in Vietnam,” typed columns, no date |
Box 1, Folder 8 |
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“Hoosiers in Vietnam,” typed columns, no date |
Box 1, Folder 9 |
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Letter, re: permission to publish articles, 20 Apr. 1989 |
Box 1, Folder 10 |
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Johnson Papers, 1957-1974 |
Box 1, Folder 11 |
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Johnson Papers, 1974-1987 |
Box 1, Folder 12 |
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Johnson Papers, no date |
Box 1, Folder 13 |
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Resume, no date |
Box 1, Folder 14 |
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Johnson working on stories, at
crime and accident scenes in Indiana, in Viet Nam, and receiving awards, |
Photographs: |
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Johnson as a teen with his dog
1954, |
Color Photographs: |
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DVD 0113: Vietnam 1966, Disk 1, 70 black and white photographs 5 x 7 inches, 600 dpi TIFF documents |
Photographs: |
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DVD 0114: Vietnam 1966, Disk 2, 70 black and white photographs 5 x 7 inches, 600 dpi TIFF documents |
Photographs: |
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DVD 0115: Vietnam 1966, Disk 3, 50 black and white photographs 5 x 7 inches, 600 dpi TIFF documents |
Photographs: |
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DVD 0116:Vietnam 1966, Disk 4, 4 black and white photographs 5 x 7 inches, 600 dpi TIFF documents |
Photographs: |
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DVD 0117: Vietnam 1966, Disk 1, 70 black and white photographs 5 x 7 inches, 600 dpi TIFF documents |
Photographs: |
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DVD 0118: Vietnam 1966, Disk 2, 54 black and white photographs 5 x 7 inches, 600 dpi TIFF documents |
Photographs: |
For additional information on this collection, including a list of subject headings that may lead you to related materials:
1. Go to the Indiana Historical Society's online catalog: http://opac.indianahistory.org/
2. Click on the "Basic Search" icon.
3. Select "Call Number" from the "Search In:" box.
4. Search for the collection by its basic call number (in this case, M 0879).
5. When you find the collection, go to the "Full Record" screen for a list of headings that can be searched for related materials.