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Philip G. Johnson scrapbooks and other material, 1913-1960

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Johnson, Philip G. (Philip Gustav), 1894-1944
Title
Philip G. Johnson scrapbooks and other material
Dates
1913-1960 (inclusive)
1925-1945 (bulk)
Quantity
9 linear feet, (23 boxes and 3 packages)
Collection Number
1982.82, 2007.3.2
Summary
Scrapbooks, papers and photographs of Philip G. Johnson, a pioneer of the aviation industry in the United States and Canada, and president of Boeing companies in the 1920s-1940s.
Repository
Museum of History & Industry, Sophie Frye Bass Library

P.O. Box 80816
Seattle, WA
98108
Telephone: 2063241126 x102
library@mohai.org
Access Restrictions

The collection is open to the public by appointment.

Languages
English.
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Biographical Note

Philip Gustav Johnson was a pioneer in the manufacturing of airplanes and in the organization of commercial airlines in the United States and Canada. Born in Seattle on November 5, 1894, Johnson was the son of Swedish immigrants Charles S. and Hanna (Gustavson) Johnson. He attended Seattle grade schools and graduated from Broadway High School on Capitol Hill.

Johnson was a mechanical engineering student in the University of Washington College of Engineering when the Boeing engineering department recruited him in 1917. He held successive positions in the Engineering Department (1917-1918), the Production Department (1918-1919), as Superintendent (1919-1922), as Vice-president, and as General Manager (1922-1926), becoming president of the company in 1926. He was president of four companies that preceded United Airlines--Boeing Air Transport , Pacific Air Transport, National Air Transport and Varney Air Lines--and in 1933, of United Aircraft and Transport Company, the parent company merging Boeing, Pratt & Whitney, and other companies.

In 1934, as a result of the scandal surrounding the assignment of air mail contracts, Johnson resigned his position as president. Among the conditions allowing airlines to bid for new air mail contracts was the requirement that the company not employ any executives present at the 1930 “spoils conference” with Postmaster General Brown, where lucrative air mail contracts had been allotted. Johnson resigned his position with Boeing, leaving for Canada in 1937 to assume the post of Vice-President in charge of operations for Trans-Canada Air Lines. Simultaneously, he was president of Kenworth Motor Truck Company, a position he held until his death in 1944.

In 1939, the legislation that had driven Johnson out of Boeing was rescinded. With the company losing money and with an increased demand for aircraft in wartime, Johnson returned to Seattle and resumed the presidency of Boeing, supervising the production of the B-17 Flying Fortress bombers and putting Boeing back on its feet financially.

Johnson also served on the Board of Directors for the Pacific National Bank, Puget Sound Power and Light, and Puget Sound Navigation Company; he was also named the “First Citizen” of Seattle in 1943.

Johnson married Catherine Foley in 1925; the Johnson’s had two children, Esther (b. 1926) and Philip G. Jr.(b. 1930). Phil Johnson died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Wichita, Kansas, on September 14, 1944, while on business for Boeing.

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Content Description

Scrapbooks, correspondence, government documents, photographs, publications and ephemera, 1913-1960 (bulk 1925-1945).

The 25 scrapbooks of clippings and ephemera document the development of the aviation industry and Boeing companies, and the career of Philip G. Johnson. The personal and professional papers include extensive documentation of the construction of Johnson’s Tudor style home at Woodway Park, biographical and memorial materials about Johnson’s life and work, papers related to Johnson’s other professional activities, as well as some family papers. Subject files consist largely of correspondence, transcripts and government documents related to the 1934 Senate investigation headed by Hugo Black into the assignment of air mail contracts. The photographs depict many individuals in the aviation industry in the United States and Canada, including executives, pilots and military officers, as well as men in related industries.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

The Museum of History & Industry is the owner of the materials in the Sophie Frye Bass Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from MOHAI before any reproduction use. The museum does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.

Preferred Citation

Philip G. Johnson scrapbooks and other material, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arranged in 6 series:

  • Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
  • Personal and professional papers, 1917-1959
  • Subject files, 1929-1942
  • Photographs, 1916-1940s
  • Publications, 1913-1934, undated
  • Ephemera, circa 1930-1960

Location of Collection

13b.3.4-8

Location of Collection

Map drawer VII.b.6 (architectural drawings)

Acquisition Information

Gift of Philip G. Johnson, Jr., 1982 (Accession No.1982.82). Scrapbook comprising Accession No. 2007.3.2 was found in the museum collection.

Processing Note

Materials were numbered upon accessioning. Materials were rearranged intellectually during creation of the finding aid, though the numbering and physical arrangement were retained.

Photographs were removed from albums and sleeved or foldered for preservation purposes. A selection of Christmas cards was removed from the Christmas card scrapbooks and placed in folders; the rest were discarded.

Separated Materials

The volume American Furniture: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods by Joseph Downs (New York: Macmillan, 1952) was relocated to the library reference collection.

The donation included three plaques. These artifacts are cataloged and stored separately by MOHAI’s Collections Department.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

  • Scrapbooks, 1925-1945

    26 scrapbooks
    41 x 33 cm.

    Set of black scrapbooks embossed with the year and Johnson’s name; one red scrapbook is embossed with a title and year.

    These scrapbooks, consisting largely of newspaper clippings, document developments in the aviation industry in general (such as aircraft development, landmark flights, aviation records, crashes, lives and deaths of aviators, and development of commercial, passenger and air mail service), and in Boeing companies in particular (creation of companies, various mergers, samples of Boeing advertisements, aircraft development, and labor relations). The scrapbooks also document the career of Johnson, including the period when he left Boeing to work for Trans-Canada Air Lines. The clippings document aviation related news, with extensive coverage given to the cancellation of air mail contracts in 1934, and related investigations and court proceedings; The scrapbooks also contain occasional items of a social nature, such as wedding announcements. The albums contain ephemera such as copies of Boeing News and Aviation News, first day covers from air mail routes, advertising samples for Boeing, Kenworth and other companies, plane schedules, and flight related memorabilia.

    Other notable content for each album is indicated in the inventory below.

    • Description: 82.82.4: 1925-1927
      110 pages

      Documents the early Boeing Navy FB-3 pursuit plane; air races at Sand Point; Boeing’s first air mail flight from Chicago to San Francisco; and the beginning of passenger flights.

      Dates: 1925-1927
      Container: Box 1
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
    • Description: 82.82.5: 1928
      168 pages

      Documents the growth of commercial aviation; Boeing’s purchase of a large interest in Pacific Air Transport; George Williams’s flight over the North Pole; the dedication of Boeing Field; the beginning of the Boeing Airplane and Transport Company; the first Aeronautical Exposition in Chicago; the formation of United Aircraft and Transport Corporation; the death of pilot Ed Hubbard. Also includes the 1928 Boeing catalog and a 15-page log of Mrs. Boeing’s flight on a 12-passenger plane.

      Dates: 1928
      Container: Box 2
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
    • Description: 82.82.6: 1929-1
      102 pages
      Dates: 1929
      Container: Box 1
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
    • Description: 82.82.7: 1929-2
      110 pages

      Includes an article by Johnson, “Recent Developments in Air Transport,” and a booklet for the Boeing School of Aeronautics.

      Dates: 1929
      Container: Box 3
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
    • Description: 82.82.8: 1930-1
      84 pages

      Includes clippings about Johnson’s plans to build a residence at Woodway Park for $350,000; about production of Army planes; the Air Mail Act of 1930; the dedication of the Daniel Guggenheim Hall of Aeronautics at the University of Washington; 29-hour service from Seattle to Chicago; and the launching of the William Boeing’s motor yacht Taconite.

      Dates: 1930
      Container: Box 3
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
    • Description: 82.82.9: 1930-2
      88 pages

      Includes an article about Amelia Earhart’s visit to Seattle, and articles about the “recent and popular innovation” of replacing male couriers on planes with female stewardesses.

      Dates: 1930
      Container: Box 4
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
    • Description: 82.82.10: 1931-1
      86 pages

      Includes clippings about the merger of National Transport, Boeing, Pacific Air Transport and Varney under United Aircraft Corporation, with Johnson as President; the beginnings of air traffic control using radios and magnetic maps; the death of Thomas D. Stimson in his private plane; the development of the dirigible; female aviator Ruth Nichols.

      Dates: 1931
      Container: Box 4
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
    • Description: 82.82.11: 1931-2
      86 pages

      Includes an article about Wiley Post and Harold Gatty’s progress on a trans-global flight. Also includes a United Air Lines schedule.

      Dates: 1931
      Container: Box 5
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
    • Description: 82.82.12: 1932-1
      80 pages

      Includes clippings on the inauguration of night flying; the use of “lighthouse keepers” and radios; and a 31 hour coast-to-coast flight.

      Dates: 1932
      Container: Box 5
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
    • Description: 82.82.13: 1932-2
      72 pages

      Includes articles about navigation instruments and the increasing adoption of passenger air travel.

      Dates: 1932
      Container: Box 6
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
    • Description: 82.82.14: 1933-1
      106 pages

      Includes articles about Eleanor Roosevelt flying on United Air Lines, with original letters signed by Mrs. Roosevelt; about feeding air passengers; and the introduction of automatic pilot, the “airobot.”

      Dates: 1933
      Container: Box 6
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
    • Description: 82.82.15: 1933-2
      106 pages

      Includes a program for a testimonial dinner for Postmaster General James A. Farley.

      Dates: 1933
      Container: Box 16
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
    • Description: 82.82.16: 1934-1
      194 pages

      The three 1934 albums extensively document events surrounding the Air Mail Scandal of 1934.

      This first album includes articles about allegations that Postmaster General Walter Brown awarded contracts to a few large companies without competitive bidding and the apparent burning of Brown’s files on air mail contracts after he left office; and about the Senate investigative committee, chaired by then Senator Hugo Black. Includes articles about the millions made by air line executives at a time when companies were receiving government subsidies; the arrest of Assistant Secretary William P. MacCracken for his refusal to hand over his records; Roosevelt’s cancellation of air mail contracts and his decision to use of the Army Air Corps for delivery of air mail; and Charles Lindbergh’s rebukes of Roosevelt for cancellation of contracts. Also documents the first of several fatal crashes of army planes carrying airmail.

      Dates: 1934 January-February
      Container: Box 7
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
    • Description: 82.82.17: 1934-2
      178 pages

      Documents the suspension of army air mail flights after continued crashes and pilot deaths; the beginnings of conditional return of air mail to private companies; and the ban of some airline executives (including Johnson) from the industry. Documents United Air Lines personal suit against Postmaster General James Farley for deprivation of due process. Also includes United Aircraft & Transport Corporation 1933 annual report and a page of handwritten notes on air mail bids.

      Dates: 1934 March-April
      Container: Box 8
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
    • Description: 82.82.18: 1934-1935
      162 pages

      Includes articles about William Boeing selling his interest in UATC after the passage of the Air Mail Act of 1934; and Lindbergh’s defense of “black listed” air operators. This album contains no documentation of Johnson’s activities during this period.

      Dates: 1934-1935
      Container: Box 9
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
    • Description: 82.82.19: 1937-1938
      108 pages

      Documents Johnson’s appointment as Vice-President of operations for Trans-Canada Air Lines, and as President of Kenworth Motor Truck Company. Consists largely of articles about Johnson, and includes Johnson’s original notes from his survey trip of Trans-Canada in February 1937.

      Dates: 1937 June-1938 July
      Container: Box 10
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
    • Description: 82.82.20: 1938
      106 pages

      Largely concerning Trans-Canada Air Lines. Includes a 1938 annual report.

      Dates: 1938 September-December
      Container: Box 10
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
    • Description: 82.82.21: 1939
      128 pages

      Largely articles about Trans-Canada Air Lines. Also includes ephemera from the Johnson’s attendance at the January 1939 opening of Canadian Parliament, attended by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Includes an article about the crash of a Boeing Stratoliner during a test flight, killing 10.

      Dates: 1939 January-March
      Container: Box 11
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
    • Description: 82.82.22: 1939
      102 pages

      Includes Trans-Canada and Boeing news and the announcement of Johnson’s resignation, in September, at Trans-Canada and his resumption of duties as President at Boeing.

      Dates: 1939 April-December
      Container: Box 12
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
    • Description: 82.82.23: 1940
      88 pages

      Documents union activity at Boeing, including a work stoppage at the Boeing plant for a mass union meeting of 5000 workers, and accusations of Communism against union leaders. Also includes articles about the need to expand the Boeing plant to accommodate the building of bombers for the Allies.

      Dates: 1940
      Container: Box 13
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
    • Description: 82.82.24: 1941
      98 pages

      Includes continued documentation of labor union activities and accusations of Communism; also articles about the U.S. Army order of 1,000 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses.

      Dates: 1941
      Container: Box 14
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
    • Description: 82.82.25: 1942
      122 pages

      This album includes an article by Johnson about his trip to England to survey aviation plants and see Boeing’s Flying Fortresses in action. Also includes articles about women working at Boeing plants, and Boeing’s receipt of Army-Navy “E” awards for excellence.

      Dates: 1942 August-December
      Container: Package 1
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
    • Description: 82.82.32: "Aircraft Mission to England--October 1942"
      47 pages

      This album documents Johnson's trip to England to tour aircraft production factories. Consists largely of a series of 28 photographs, most captioned "British Official Photograph-- U.S. Aircraft Production Chiefs at British Factory--A return mission of U.S. Aircraft Production leaders is visiting Great Britain under the auspices of the Ministry of Aircraft Production." Scrapbook also includes a souvenir photo album containing 10 images depicting Johnson on his factory tours, embossed on cover "29th October 1942." Ephemera consists mostly of menus and clippings related to Johnson's trip. Also includes two confidential reports on Johnson's trip. Includes a drawing of Johnson, and two loose photographs, one from 1927.

      Dates: 1942 October
      Container: Package 3
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
    • Description: 82.82.26: 1943
      134 pages

      Includes further documentation of union conflicts; articles about Boeing’s contributions to the war; and about the crash of a Boeing plane on a test flight into the Frye Packing Co. plant, killing pioneer test flight pilot Eddie Allen and 10 others. Also includes clippings about Johnson being named as Seattle’s “First Citizen” for 1943.

      Dates: 1943
      Container: Box 15
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
    • Description: 82.82.27: 1944
      128 pages

      Includes articles about the production of B-29 Super Fortress to replace the B-17 Flying Fortress and articles about the first B-29s in action in Japan. Also documents the “Five Grand,” the 5,000th Flying Fortress, covered completely with the names of the Boeing workers who built it. Also includes the text of the Republican National platform.

      This album documents the death of Phil Johnson on September 12 in Wichita, Kansas.

      Dates: 1944
      Container: Package 2
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945
    • Description: 82.82.28: 1945
      84 pages

      Includes articles on the death of Johnson’s mother, and on a Bellevue forum on the return of the Nisei.

      Dates: 1944
      Container: Box 16
      Location: Scrapbooks, 1925-1945

  • Personal and professional papers, 1917-1959

    Arranged in 7 subseries:

    • Biographical materials
    • Woodway Park residence records
    • Financial and legal records
    • Other interests and activities
    • Miscellaneous correspondence
    • Family papers
    • Memorial materials

  • Subject files, 1929-1942

    • Black Investigation

      The Black Investigation files include papers and government documents relevant to the investigation of preference in the assigning of air mail contracts to commercial carriers by Postmaster General Walter Brown, the cancellation of commercial airline contracts by the federal government in 1934, and the subsequent lawsuits.

      • Correspondence and other papers
        • Description: 82.82.132: Miscellaneous papers
          approximately 180 pages

          Includes:

          • Correspondence: regarding court cases, including copies of documents originally sent to Postmaster General Brown with recommendations of air mail routes and carriers (June 4, 1930); regarding Johnson’s interview with Colonel Ristine; April 1934 letter to Farley from Directors of United Aircraft & Transport Corporation in support of Johnson; copies of correspondence relative to Black investigation taken from Johnson’s files and sent to lawyer immediately upon cancellation of air mail contracts
          • Transcript of Johnson’s interview with Post Office Inspectors T.C. Cargill and F.L. Pierce (March 17, 1934)
          • Tentative outline of matters to be covered by testimony of Walter F. Brown; outline of points to be covered by testimony of Johnson
          • Papers about Boeing, Pacific Air, Varney and National stocks; information about Johnson’s official capacities with Boeing, United, Pacific, Varney and National (1938)

          Dates: 1937-1939
          Container: Box 22
          Location: Subject files, 1929-1942 / Black Investigation / Correspondence and other papers
        • Description: 82.82.133: Questionnaire and other papers
          approximately 120 pages

          Black investigation questionnaire and correspondence about its submission (1933); transcript of Col. Paul Henderson’s formal statement on the Kelly bill; request for information about company stock bought by Johnson (November 1933). Also includes four Post Office Department Air Mail route maps.

          Dates: 1933-1934
          Container: Box 22
          Location: Subject files, 1929-1942 / Black Investigation / Correspondence and other papers
        • Description: 82.82.134: Correspondence with Bill Boeing

          Regarding Johnson’s employment records, expense accounts and records of stock ownership. Also includes reports of operating revenue and expenses for Boeing Air Transport, Pacific Air Transport, Varney Air Lines and National Air Transport routes.

          Dates: 1933-1934
          Container: Box 22
          Location: Subject files, 1929-1942 / Black Investigation / Correspondence and other papers
        • Description: 82.82.135: Air mail route maps

          Also includes completed questionnaires about air mail routes and list of Order of Expiration of Air Mail contracts.

          Dates: 1933, undated
          Container: Box 22
          Location: Subject files, 1929-1942 / Black Investigation / Correspondence and other papers
        • Description: 82.82.136: United Air Transport Company materials

          Includes Johnson’s UATC stock details; copies of documents taken by the Black Committee, such as minutes of stockholder meetings; statement on United bonus system; UATC annual report (1932); correspondence with Fred Rentschler and between William Boeing and Rentschler.

          Dates: 1929-1934
          Container: Box 22
          Location: Subject files, 1929-1942 / Black Investigation / Correspondence and other papers
      • Government documents

    • Boeing companies materials

  • Photographs

    Series also contains a few drawings that were in albums or portfolios with the photographs.

  • Publications

    • Description: 82.82.91 : Here are the Steinways and How They Grew
      Dates: undated
      Container: Box 20
      Location: Publications
    • Description: 82.82.92 : Problems in Dimension Drawing by Charles W. Harris, Assistant Professor of Engineering at UW Johnson’s copy, probably a school book 1913
      Container: Box 22
      Location: Publications
    • Description: 82.82.145b : “The equipment of Air Forces: France” by John Jay Ide

      Reprinted from Aviation magazine.

      Dates: 1933 April
      Container: Box 23
      Location: Publications
    • Description: 82.82.154 : Booklet - The Coming American Boom by L.L.B. Angas
      Dates: 1934
      Container: Box 23
      Location: Publications

  • Ephemera

    • Description: 82.82.156 : Invitation to Johnson to join Tribe of Soyp (Socks Outside Your Pants)

      Dates: 1935 January 18
      Container: Box 20
      Location: Ephemera
    • Description: 82.82.29-.30 : Selection of Christmas cards removed from scrapbooks

      Includes cards with aviation motifs, from various aviation companies or with images referring to contemporary events.

      Dates: circa 1930s-1940s
      Container: Box 17
      Location: Ephemera
    • Description: 2007.29.1 : “Another Fall Round-up”

      Page removed from Christmas card scrapbook. Pencil drawing of a woman lassoing a man, with a branding iron “hubby” in a fire.

      Dates: undated
      Container: Box 19
      Location: Ephemera
    • Description: 82.82.30.1 : Photos and clippings of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Johnson’s golden wedding anniversary
      Dates: 1938 November
      Container: Box 19
      Location: Ephemera
    • Description: 82.82.30.2-.3 : Drawings by Jacob A. Elshin

      Four pencil sketches, one pen and ink drawing and one postcard reproduction. Portraits and caricatures of: Florence Heiman, Bill Bowman, Mario Scacheri, Bob Heustis, Phyllis Richards and Kate Foley Johnson (Johnson’s wife).

      Dates: circa late 1920s-1930s
      Container: Box 19
      Location: Ephemera
    • Description: 82.82.30.4 : Aviation themed Christmas cards
      Dates: circa 1930s
      Container: Box 19
      Location: Ephemera
    • Description: 2007.3.2 : Album--Kenworth Motor Truck Company: Advertising, Public Relations, Employee Relations

      Scrapbook of promotional materials.

      Dates: 1943
      Container: Box 19
      Location: Ephemera
    • Description: 82.82.87 : Clippings about Herb Munter
      Dates: 1960
      Container: Box 21
      Location: Ephemera
    • Description: 82.82.140c : United Airlines binder

      Embossed on cover: “Weather Manual--United Airlines.” “P.G. Johnson” embossed inside.

      Dates: undated
      Container: Box 23
      Location: Ephemera
    • Description: 82.82.146 : Binder of mechanical engineering notes and tables
      Dates: undated
      Container: Box 23
      Location: Ephemera
    • Description: 82.82.150 : Address book
      Dates: undated
      Container: Box 23
      Location: Ephemera

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Air mail service -- United States -- 1930-1940
  • Aircraft industry--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Airplanes
  • B-17 bomber

Personal Names

  • Boeing, William Edward, 1881-1956.
  • Johnson, Philip G. (Philip Gustav), 1894-1944--Archives

Corporate Names

  • Boeing Airplane Company
  • United Aircraft & Transport Corporation
  • United Air Lines

Geographical Names

  • Seattle (Washington)

Form or Genre Terms

  • Photographic prints
  • Scrapbooks

Finding aid prepared by Jody Hendrickson
2007

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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