The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Johnson, Robert Underwood

JOHNSON, Robert Underwood, American editor and author: b. Washington, D. C., 12 Jan. 1853. He was educated at Earlham College, Indiana, and joined the staff of the Century Magazine in 1873, he was associate editor from 1881 to 1909, and in the latter year, on the death of Richard Watson Gilder, succeeded to the editorial chair, which he occupied until May 1913. He early became noted for his services in behalf of international copyright, as secretary of the American Copyright League doing much to secure the passage of the law of 1891, for which he was decorated by the French and Italian governments. With Clarence Clough Buel he had charge of editing the &lsquo;Century War Series,&rsquo; afterward published as &lsquo;Battles and Leaders of the Civil War&rsquo; (1887-88). He induced General Grant to write his

&lsquo;Memoirs,&rsquo; and, with John Muir, set on foot the movement resulting in the creation of the Yosemite National Park. He was the originator of the Memorial to Keats and Shelley in Rome, and has been active in many national movements, notably the forest conservation movement. He became permanent secretary of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His writings include &lsquo;The Winter Hour and Other Poems&rsquo; (1891), and &lsquo;Songs of Liberty and Other Poems&rsquo; (1897); &lsquo;Poems&rsquo; (1902); &lsquo;Poems,&rsquo; enlarged (1908); &lsquo;Saint Gaudens: An Ode&rsquo; (1910; 4th ed., 1913); &lsquo;Italian Rhapsody and other Poems of Italy&rsquo; (1917).