Donald Clay Johnson was a scholar of Indian textiles and former curator of the Ames Library of South Asia at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
Dr. Johnson made his first trip to India in 1966 where he fell in love with its textiles and traditions and began collecting cloth. Over the years, the collection grew to over 1,000 pieces. The Goldstein Museum of Design at the University of MN presented three separate exhibitions showcasing his collections.
• 2011- "Beyond Peacocks and Paisleys"
• 2017 - "Global Technique, Local Pattern: Ikat Textiles."
• 2024 - "Narrative Threads."
He earned the undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin Madison and did graduate studies at the University of Chicago where he earned degrees in Asian Studies and Library Science. (University of Chicago Graduate Library School.)
He began work as a curator for South East Asia materials at Yale University. Subsequently, he worked for 3 years in Malaysia at the National University.
When he returned, he earned his doctorate at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. His dissertation was "Government Concern for the Development of Libraries: Sanskrit Manuscript Libraries in India, 1858-1937." (1980).
Dr. Johnson then worked at the College of William and Mary for 7 years in Williamsburg, VA.
In 1987 he was appointed curator of the Ames Library of South Asia at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities until 2008.
Selected Publications
- Johnson, Donald Clay. 2019. "First Ladies of the Raj: Status and Empowerment in British India." In Fashion, Agency, and Empowerment: Performing Agency, Following Script, 101–10.
- Johnson, Donald Clay, and Helen Bradley Foster. 2007. Dress Sense: Emotional and Sensory Experiences of the Body and Clothes. English ed. New York: Berg.
- Foster, Helen Bradley, and Donald Clay Johnson. 2003. Wedding Dress across Cultures. Oxford: Berg.
- Johnson, Donald Clay. 2000. Agile Hands and Creative Minds: A Bibliography of Textile Traditions in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Bangkok: Orchid Press.
- Johnson, Donald Clay. 1986. "German Influences on the Development of Research Libraries in Nineteenth-Century Bombay." The Journal of Library History (1974-1987) 21 (1): 215–27.
- Johnson, Donald Clay. 1982. Index to Southeast Asian Journals, 1975-1979: A Guide to Articles, Book Reviews, and Composite Works. Boston, Mass.: G.K. Hall.
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In honor of the Sesquicentennial (150th Anniversary of ALA) in 2026, the https://www.ala.org/lhrt. Click or tap if you trust this link." data-auth="NotApplicable" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ala.org%2Flhrt&data=05%7C02%7Ckmccook%40usf.edu%7Cb28354e66bf242b32c1d08de8041c9ae%7C741bf7dee2e546df8d6782607df9deaa%7C0%7C0%7C639089217208570312%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=KAut8hTzsnF%2FlUInYJpN4I%2FJrbRMB%2FIaEeai14lRYIU%3D&reserved=0" data-linkindex="12" data-ogsc="">Library History Round Table is hosting Librarians We Have Lost, Sesquicentennial Memories -1976-2026. This collage of tributes seeks to honor librarians who died between 1976-2026. The tributes are published to ALA Connect, a https://lhrt.news/librarians-we-have-lost-sesquicentennial-memories-1976-2026/. Click or tap if you trust this link." data-auth="NotApplicable" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flhrt.news%2Flibrarians-we-have-lost-sesquicentennial-memories-1976-2026%2F&data=05%7C02%7Ckmccook%40usf.edu%7Cb28354e66bf242b32c1d08de8041c9ae%7C741bf7dee2e546df8d6782607df9deaa%7C0%7C0%7C639089217208587823%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=ol%2Bp4X5NBKF20577ZHZOnYiYzVTY9ukL9gTqEGUrLg0%3D&reserved=0" data-linkindex="13" data-ogsc="">digital memorial on LHRT News & Notes, and https://alair.ala.org/collections/1ea0f128-01ca-4ed8-a1ea-4f78734f7cad/search. Click or tap if you trust this link." data-auth="NotApplicable" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Falair.ala.org%2Fcollections%2F1ea0f128-01ca-4ed8-a1ea-4f78734f7cad%2Fsearch&data=05%7C02%7Ckmccook%40usf.edu%7Cb28354e66bf242b32c1d08de8041c9ae%7C741bf7dee2e546df8d6782607df9deaa%7C0%7C0%7C639089217208606467%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=IzsRHUmz1cok8YOc6OfEuly4AQF7wvkfXMCKXkT97kA%3D&reserved=0" data-linkindex="14" data-ogsc="">ALA's institutional repository (ALAIR).
We invite tributes from anyone about any library worker who passed away between 1976-2026. To submit a tribute, please use the form at https://lhrt.news/librarians-we-have-lost-sesquicentennial-memories-1976-2026-2/. Click or tap if you trust this link." data-auth="NotApplicable" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flhrt.news%2Flibrarians-we-have-lost-sesquicentennial-memories-1976-2026-2%2F&data=05%7C02%7Ckmccook%40usf.edu%7Cb28354e66bf242b32c1d08de8041c9ae%7C741bf7dee2e546df8d6782607df9deaa%7C0%7C0%7C639089217208623946%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=zxe8%2FRDRy7D0zf7KmV6frqlJeFt1tLyUL0%2BWhNAsrJ0%3D&reserved=0" data-linkindex="15" data-ogsc="">lhrt.news/...
For questions or comments, please reach out to Brett Spencer (dbs21@psu.edu) or Kathleen McCook (kmccook@usf.edu)
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Kathleen de la Peña McCook
Distinguished University Professor
School of Information
University of South Florida
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