Reber Nettleton Johnson Papers, 1894-1976, n.d.
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Administrative/Biographical History
Reber Nettleton Johnson was born on June 7, 1890 in Sandusky, Ohio. A descendant of two prominent Sandusky families, his mother Alice Reber was a well-known musician in the area. Johnson's Island in Sandusky Bay, site of a prison camp during the Civil War, was named for his paternal grandfather, Leonard B. Johnson. His father, Leonard Summer, was personal secretary to General Alvred Bayard Nettleton (O.C. student from 1859 to 1866, O.C. Trustee from 1870 to 1892). Nettleton was editor and publisher of the Sandusky Register of Ohio and later an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the cabinet of President Benjamin Harrison from 1890- 1892. General Nettleton (1838-1911) financed the early violin training of his namesake.
A child prodigy, Reber Johnson began performing at the age of seven, and studied violin with many notable teachers in New York City, Chicago, London, and Paris. He spent his first year of college at the University of Chicago and received a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Brown University in 1914. In 1917 he became first violinist in the New York Symphony Orchestra under Walter Damrosch (d. 1950). Later he served as Assistant Concertmaster and soloist for this symphony. In February 1926 he left the New York Symphony Orchestra in order to join the Oberlin Conservatory Faculty. He remained a Professor of Violin and Ensemble at the College until his retirement in 1955.
During thirty years of teaching at Oberlin he made numerous concert tours and gave many local recitals. In the summers from 1926 to 1944, he was assistant Concertmaster of the Chatauqua Symphony of New York. The Julliard School of Music offered a scholarship for students to study with him at Chatauqua. At Oberlin, students considered Johnson a fine teacher, a great artist, and a person of integrity.
He married Esther Andrews, daughter of Professor George Whitfield Andrews, in Finney Chapel on December 2, 1927. The two had no children. Reber Johnson died after a long illness on May 31, 1966, age 75, at the Welcome Nursing Home in Oberlin, Ohio.
SOURCES CONSULTED
Faculty File of Reber N. Johnson (RG 28).
Forms of Material (links to similar genres) Administrative Information
The Reber Nettleton Johnson papers document his early life as a child violin prodigy, his performances with Walter Damrosch and the New York Symphony Orchestra, and his thirty-year teaching career in the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music.
The bulk of the collection consists of scrapbooks containing letters (from Johnson to various family members, as well as correspondence addressed to Johnson), photocopied news clippings pertaining to his performances, tickets to a limited number of his recitals, concert programs, a Brown University Commencement Program (1914), and various other materials pertaining to Reber Johnson's private and professional affairs.
The photographic series contains four photographs that originally appeared in Johnson's scrapbooks. These represent Johnson from the age of four (pictured with his violin), until his later years when he and Mrs. Reber Johnson (Esther Andrews) were photographed together in front of their property at 139 S. Cedar Street in Oberlin (c. 1960).
A small selection of materials relating to the Reber Johnson Property at 139 S. Cedar Street, Oberlin, Ohio, are also contained within the collection. These include a description and assessment of the home, a deed of transfer to Oberlin College, and a purchase option of James and Catarina Caldwell.
The Papers of Reber Nettleton Johnson are divided into three series: 1. Material relating to the Reber Johnson Property, 2. Scrapbooks, and 3. Photographs
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series 1. Materials relating to the Reber Johnson Property, 1962, 1976, n.d.
Series 1 consists of materials relating to the Reber Johnson Property, located in Oberlin. These include a deed of transfer (n.d.), purchase option (1976), and description and assessment of the home (1962).
Series 2. Scrapbooks, 1895-1955, n.d.
Series 2 consists of two scrapbooks (5f) containint a variety of clippings, concert programs, and photographs pertaining to Reber Johnson's personal and professional matters.
Series 3. Photographs, 1894-96, 1960, n.d.
Series 3 contains four photographs originally in the scrapbooks of Reber Johnson. See the inventory for descriptions of each photograph.
INVENTORY
Series 1. Materials Relating to the Reber Johnson Property (1f)
Box 1
Description and assessment of Reber Johnson
home, 139 S. Cedar Street, Oberlin, Ohio,
1962 (photocopy)
Deed of transfer of home to Oberlin College,
n.d. (photocopy)
Purchase option of James B. and Catarina M.
Caldwell, 1976 (photocopy)
Series 2. Scrapbooks (2 vols.)
Note: Original volumes have been separated; many newspaper clippings photocopied for preservation.
Box 1 (cont.)
Scrapbook I (3f):
1896 - 1955, n.d.
1902 - 1906, n.d.
1906 - 1928, n.d.
Scrapbook II (2f):
1915 - 1928, n.d.
1895 - 1926, n.d.
Series 3. Photographs, 4 items (1f)
Note: Photographs originally in Scrapbooks
Box 1 (cont.)
Mr. & Mrs. Reber Johnson in front of property
at 139 S. Cedar Street, Oberlin,
OH, c. 1960
Reber Johnson, age 4, seated, with violin,
c. 1894-96
Reber Johnson, Oberlin College publicity photo
(taken while Reber Johnson was a
professor at the Oberlin College
Conservatory of Music), n.d.
Reber Johnson as a young man (possibly taken
while a student at Brown University), n.d.