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| Title | Finding Aid and container lists for the Frances Benjamin Johnston photograph collection. |
| Creator | Johnston, Frances Benjamin, 1864-1952. |
| Extent | 12 boxes (1276 photographic prints) : cyanotype, gelatin silver, platinum, daguerreotypes ; 41 x 51 cm. or smaller (16 x 20 in. or smaller). 59 boxes (1217 photonegatives) : glass ; 21 x 26 cm. (8 x 10 in.). 6 boxes (61 photonegatives) : glass ; 28 x 36 and 36 x 44 cm. (11 x 14 in. and 14 x17 in.) |
| Biographical Note | Frances Johnston, born 1864, was a photographer whose career spanned six decades and covered a vast array of topics. She is commonly considered the first female photojournalist and was also a charter member of the Photo-Secession. She was a businesswoman who operated her own Washington, D.C. portrait studio (from 1890) and later, in New York City, a studio devoted to architectural photography (with Mattie Edwards Hewitt, from 1913 to 1917). She mentored other women photographers through public essays and private correspondence and traveled extensively through the United States and abroad, concentrating primarily on architectural and garden photography in her later years. She toured the United States, giving slide lectures on gardens and architecture and contributed to architectural surveys, including two separate collections: The Pictorial Archives of Early Architecture (1930) and the Carnegie Survey of the Architecture of the South (1933-1937). She died in 1952. |
| Scope and Content | 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. Huntingotn 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 this transaction, 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. |
| Notes | Finding aid also available at the Online Archive of California: http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf7199n8qx/admin/#descgrp-1.8.2 |
| Date | 1889-1908 |
| Provenance | Purchased by Henry Huntington from Frances Johnston, 1924. |
| Subject |
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. |
| Form/Genre |
Photographic prints. (aat) Cyanotypes. (aat) Gelatin silver prints. (aat) Platinum prints. (aat) Daguerreotypes. (aat) Portraits. (aat) |
| Contributors |
Johnston, Frances Benjamin, 1864-1952. (photographer) Brady, Mathew B., ca. 1823-1896. (photographer) Johnston, Frances Benjamin, 1864-1952. (former owner) United States. War Dept. (former owner) United States. Dept. of State. Archives. (former owner) |
| Department | Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery. Rare Books Dept. Photo Archives |
| Call Number | photCL 352 |
| Accession Number | photCL 352 |
| Physical Collection | Frances Benjamin Johnston photograph collection |
| Digital Collection | Finding Aids, Huntington Digital Library |
| Date Digital | 2012-05-16 |
| DCMI Type | Text |
| Digital Format | |
| Original Finding Aid | Original finding aid and lists created by Jennifer Watts, November, 1994; converted to PDF in May, 2012 by Anita Weaver. |
| Citation Information | [Identification of item], Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California. |
| Restrictions | Images in this collection are for scholarly research; please review the Huntington Library's copyright information: http://cdm16003.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/about. For purchasing images for publication please review our permission to publish policy: http://www.huntington.org/huntingtonlibrary.aspx?id=590. |
Description
| Title | Finding aid |
| Department | Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery. Rare Books Dept. Photo Archives |
| Call Number | photCL 352 |
| Accession Number | photCL 352 |
| Physical Collection | Frances Benjamin Johnston photograph collection |
| Digital Collection | Finding Aids, Huntington Digital Library |
| DCMI Type | Text |
| Digital Format | |
| Restrictions | Images in this collection are for scholarly research; please review the Huntington Library's copyright information: http://cdm16003.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/about. For purchasing images for publication please review our permission to publish policy: http://www.huntington.org/huntingtonlibrary.aspx?id=590. |