Visual Materials

Legations and Embassies

Description: Views of the imposing diplomatic residences of Washington, DC, many of which have been demolished. Most of these images were taken by Johnston for a series of articles that she authored entitled "The Foreign Legations of Washington, Parts 1-4" in Demorest's Family Magazine (April-July 1893). There are exterior and interior views of the Austrian, British, and French Embassies as well as the Brazilian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mexican, and Russian Legations. The addresses of the buildings (included in the item-level guide) were provided by The Commission of Fine Arts in the 1970s.
Type: Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)
Date: approximately 1890-1907
Call number: photCL 352 (1049-1132)
Creator: Johnston, Frances Benjamin (1864-1952)

Frances Benjamin Johnston Photograph Collection

Visual Materials

The Huntington's collection of Johnston photographs covers her D.C. career, mainly in the 1890s. Johnston herself described the collection as "portraits of famous men and women and historic events ... through the administrations of Benj. Harrison, Cleveland, McKinley, Roosevelt and Taft." 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

photCL 352

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