The Dorothy Johnson Collection was donated to LaBudde Special Collections in February of 2017 by Tara Johnson. It includes newspapers and clippings, memoranda, correspondence, certificates, photographs, research and reference materials, memorabilia, photographs, and other materials related to Johnson’s life, family history, work, research, political and organization involvement, and activism. Of note are materials related to the 1959 protests for desegregation of Kansas City department stores (see: Organizations). The collection’s manuscript materials range in date from 1898 – 2009.

The audiovisual materials consist of video interviews and stories about Dorothy and Herman Johnson, as well as, various videos related to Kansas City. The collection also contains two audio recordings from the radio program "N.Y Negro Newspaper Week" from 1943.