Mary Elizabeth Johnston was born in Sandusky, Ohio in 1890. The family moved to Oberlin, Ohio in 1900 where, in 1908, Johnston graduated from Oberlin High School. In 1910, she entered Oberlin College but was forced to interrupt her studies two years later when the pressure of working to support herself threatened her academic record. She finally received the A.B. from Oberlin College in 1937 and the M.A. in Library Science from Kent State University in 1952. From 1912 to 1938, she taught English literature at an Episcopal school for blacks near Raleigh, North Carolina, St. Augustine's College. She moved to Asbury Park, New Jersey and in 1944 became a teacher and Dean of Girls at the Bordentown Manual Training School for Negroes. For six months in 1956, she was a public school librarian in Elizabeth, New Jersey before retiring and moving to Cleveland. She was active in the Episcopal Church and in social clubs for senior citizens and contributed generously out of a small income to Oberlin College. She died on January 30, 1982.
From the description of Papers, 1882-1981, 1910-1972. (Oberlin College Library). WorldCat record id: 27115988
