Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Frances Benjamin Johnston Photograph Collection: Finding
Aid
photCL 352
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Frances Benjamin Johnston Photograph Collection
Dates (inclusive): approximately 1890-1908
Collection Number: photCL 352
Creator:
Johnston, Frances Benjamin, 1864-1952
Extent:
1276 single photographs in 12 boxes; approximately 1217 (8x10 in.) glass plate negatives in 59 boxes and 61 (11x14 and 14x17 in.) glass plate negatives in 6 boxes
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Photo Archives
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection contains approximately 1,276 photographs and corresponding glass plate negatives by American
photographer Frances Benjamin Johnston that focus on the portrait work of Johnston's earlier years in Washington, D.C., mainly
in the 1890s.
The focus is largely on D.C. socialites, diplomats, Presidents, senators, reformers, Supreme Court justices, artists, authors,
Confederacy officers, etc. Also included are series of views of
Washington's embassies (largely interior shots), legations, and famous residences Johnston photographed for Demorest's family
magazine. The remainder of the collection includes, among other items,
copies of Mathew Brady's daguerreotypes that belonged to the War Dept., treaties and other official documents from the State
Dept. Archives, Lincoln ephemera intended to illustrate Ida Tarbell's Life of
Lincoln, and views of the Bell telephone.
Language: English.
Note:
Finding aid last updated on January 28, 2014.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader
Services.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and
obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
Frances Benjamin Johnston Photograph Collection, Huntington Library. Photo Archives.
Purchased by Henry E. Huntington for the Huntington Library from Frances B. Johnston, 1924.
This collection was processed by Jennifer A. Watts and the original paper finding aid was prepared in November 1994.
Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952) was an American photographer whose prodigious career spanned
six decades and whose lens captured a vast array of topics. A woman of immense drive and
energy, she is most commonly referred to as the first female photojournalist. However,
she was also a charter member of the Photo-Secession, exhibiting her pictorialist work in
a wide variety of salons and shows; she was a businesswoman who operated her own
Washington, DC portrait studio and later, in New York City, a studio devoted to
architectural photography; she was the recipient of awards and accolades and served as a
mentor--particularly through her published essays and private correspondence--to
countless women who aspired to her profession; and she was a peripatetic soul whose
travels in the United States and abroad resulted in a tremendous body of work
concentrating primarily on architecture and gardens (the fruit of her later years).
This collection contains approximately 1,276 photographs and corresponding glass plate negatives by American
photographer Frances Benjamin Johnston that focus on the portrait work of Johnston's earlier years in Washington, D.C., mainly
in the 1890s.
The photographs arrived at the Huntington in 1924 when, after persistent negotiations,
she sold some 1200 glass plate negatives and her "catalogue set of blue prints" to Henry
E. Huntington and his library for several thousand dollars. In her correspondence with
the librarian, George Watson Cole, Johnston described the collection as "portraits of
famous men and women and historic events...through the administrations of Benj. Harrison,
Cleveland, McKinley, Roosevelt and Taft" which she deemed to possess "ultimate historic
value and interest." Indeed, this collection of cyanotypes (with some gelatin and
finished, platinum prints) focuses largely on the stream of socialites, diplomats,
Presidents, senators, reformers, Supreme Court Justices, artists, authors and other
important figures who flowed through Johnston's well-appointed studio at the
turn-of-the-century. In addition there is an excellent series of views, largely interior
shots, of Washington's embassies, legations and famous residences which Johnston
photographed for a series of articles in
Demorest's Family Magazine. The
remainder of the collection is comprised of a sundry group of images including copies of
Matthew Brady's daguerreotypes (most unidentified) belonging to the War Department,
various treaties and official documents, a set of Abraham Lincoln ephemera intended to
illustrate Ida Tarbell's
Life of Lincoln and some views of the Bell
Telephone.
For more detailed information about the events
surrounding Huntington's acquisition of the Johnston Collection, please refer to an article by Jennifer A. Wattsentitled "The
Frances Benjamin Johnston Portrait Collection at the Huntington
Library."
History of Photography. Vol. 19, No. 3. August 1995,252-262.
Organized in the following categories:
- [1] Portraiture (1895-1905)
- [2] Government commissions, events, and group portraits, Brady daguerreotypes, documents and treaties, miscellaneous views
- [3] Legations and embassies (approximately 1890-1903)
- [4] Residences and interiors (approximately 1889-1906)
- [5] Portraiture-Large format
- [6] Group portraits and government events-Large format
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
Photographic prints.
Cyanotypes.
Gelatin silver prints.
Platinum prints.
Daguerreotypes.
Portraits.
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Miscellanea.
United States. Supreme Court -- Officials and employees -- Photographs.
United States. Congress. Senate -- Officials and employees -- Photographs.
Confederate States of America. Navy -- Officers -- Photographs.
Confederate States of America. Army -- Officers -- Photographs.
Socialites -- United States -- Photographs.
Diplomats -- United States -- Photographs.
Presidents -- United States -- Photographs.
Legislators -- United States -- Photographs.
Reformers -- United States -- Photographs.
Judges -- United States -- Photographs.
Artists -- United States -- Photographs.
Authors, American -- Photographs.
Diplomatic and consular service -- Washington (D.C.) -- Photographs.
Celebrities -- Homes and haunts -- Washington (D.C.) -- Photographs.
Telephone -- Photographs.
Washington (D.C.) -- Biography -- Portraits.
Washington (D.C.) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Sources.
Washington (D.C.) -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Sources.
Johnston, Frances Benjamin, 1864-1952, photographer.
Brady, Mathew B., approximately 1823-1896, photographer.
Tarbell, Ida M. (Ida Minerva), 1857-1944. Life of Abraham Lincoln.
Johnston, Frances Benjamin, 1864-1952, former owner.
United States. War Department, former owner.
United States. Department of State. Archives, former owner.
- Portraits of Congressmen
- Portraits of Diplomats
- Portraits of Senators
- Portraits of State Department Officials
- Portraits of Supreme Court Justices
- Portraits of U.S. Presidents
- Portraits of Women
- Additional Portraits, A-S by sitter
- Additional Portraits, T-Z by sitter, and Portraits of Cabinet Members
- Group Portraits: Government Commissions
- Architecture: Embassies, Residences & Interiors
- Miscellaneous Views