THE INTERVIEW: James C. Johnston, Jr., Franklin’s Priceless Antiquarian

The impish side of James C. Johnston Jr., is not easy to discern at first. Jim, after all, spent decades holding sway over unruly Franklin High School classrooms, not to mention fractious government meetings when he served as a selectman and later – after the town adopted its “new” charter in 1978 --as one of the first Town Councilors.

In those roles, Jim could be fearsome or charming, wrapping his opponents or his students in words until they eventually surrendered, or in the case of his students ‘got it.’

But the impishness is always there just below the surface, supported by a breadth of knowledge that helps him to see ironies in everyday life that others might miss and to appreciate our human frailties, or at least to find clever ways to comment on them.

But the ‘real’ Jim is neither the educator nor the civic leader, it is undoubtedly Jim the collector. It is from that lifelong habit, shared with his parents and turned into a family business in the 1960s, Johnston’s Antiques, that he found connections to the whole world, connections that informed and energized his love of history, a love he often communicated to his students. Most of them, now in their forties or older, will have some story about how “JJ” explained something in a way that made it come alive, or simply put so much energy and passion into his teaching that you couldn’t help but take his lead.

Like standing atop a chair to help students visualize how sonar could detect objects far below the surface of the water, and how that breakthrough changed history....

One class of high schoolers confronted Jim with the fact that they had never learned even the most basic US or World Geography from the Franklin Public Schools, making an understanding of the historical events he was attempting to communicate all but impossible. So, that instant, he put aside the syllabus and immersed his students in an unforgettable global gallop over the course of a few weeks that, quite literally, put things on the map for them. By force of will and his animated and memorable teaching style, he also still managed to complete the teaching of the original subject matter within the allotted time.

Born, not on the Fourth of July but very nearly on Memorial Day (the day before) in 1944, the things he has seen and touched and then shared with others still lend veracity to any lesson or any conversation.

But back to Johnston’s Antiques, which was founded by the elder James C. Johnston, a World War II veteran and expert in industrial casting, who shared the historic cottage out on West Central Street with his bride, and three children, Jim being the eldest.

They all collected things. At first for fun and as part of their loving restoration to its proper Colonial trim of the “Oliver Pond House,” built in 1760 by one of the founders of Franklin. And in the early 1960s, as prosperous day trippers increasingly found their way down The Cape Highway (Route 140) to Franklin, the Johnston’s hung out their shingle and found themselves in business.

Blessed with something close to a photographic memory, young Jim soon knew the what and the where of everything in the shop -- and the market price, too. He never looked back. And for something like 60 years, an activity that was initially supposed to be an avocation became a passion, a way of life, and a successful business in which he combined some of the romance of an Indiana Jones, ferreting out treasures in odd and unlikely places, and the sophisticated pedantry of an Alistair Cooke (and maybe even some of the aura of wisdom and mystery of the fictional "Harry Potter" wizard, Dumbledore).

Organizing, studying, buying, and selling have remained central activities that keep Jim engaged, characteristically feisty, and thoroughly connected to auction trends as well as market prices at Brimfield and in New York City and Boston.

Impish? Well, perhaps fun-loving is more like it. There are no end to the stories in the Jim repertoire about fascinating finds and, often, friendships made in the process....And almost always an object to connect the story to. Mention a famous author, a star of stage or screen, or a politician, and out comes a vintage campaign button, a writing instrument that belonged to the author or a So and So, slept here, or at least stopped for coffee anecdote.

As liberal as his political views are, his liberality in sharing his knowledge is also substantial. But Jim also has a fierce pride in his genealogy of New England characters – many of high achievement: sea captains, opponents of the Klan, and more. He laments, a bit, the end of the Yankee Ascendancy in the region – an era that he tasted briefly as a child -- but also takes delight in friends and acquaintances of every race and ethnicity; a joy that is also perhaps part of that collecting mania.

What do you say if you run into Jim at an auction, a Town Council meeting, a shopping plaza? Try not to be dull but do say hello. Don’t let that ”Who the Heck are You?” demeanor fool you. One of Franklin’s greatest and most learned “characters” is there before you. Don’t miss the opportunity to introduce yourself!

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Jim Johnston is featured at the the Second Sunday Speaker Series on Sunday, July 9 at the Franklin Historical Museum, 80 West Central Street. Doors open at 1 and Jim's talk begins at approximately 1:15.  Museum events are always free.