Visual Materials

Documents, letters, and treaties from the State Department Archives

Description: A variety of original texts which Johnston photographed (possibly for an article?) including the Articles of Confederation, the Oaths of Allegiance, the Treaty of Paris, Treaty and Seal of George I, Treaty of the War of 1812, C.A. Dana letter, Signature Treaty of the Mexican War, Acts of the 51st Congress, and John Quincy Adams' passport among other documents, some unidentified.
Type: Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1889-1908.
Call number: photCL 352 (1010-1030)
Creator: Johnston, Frances Benjamin (1864-1952)(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Purchased by Henry Huntington from Frances Johnston, 1924.

Matthew B. Brady Daguerreotypes from the War Department Collections

Visual Materials

Cyanotype copies of Brady daguerreotypes of male sitters, many unidentified, which Johnston made from the originals in the War Department collections. There are identified portraits of Henry Clay, George Custis, John M. Clayton, William L. Dayton, and Winfield Scott.

photCL 352 (999-1006)

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Government commissions, events, and group portraits, Brady daguerreotypes, documents and treaties, miscellaneous views

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 (932-1048)

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Group Portraits and Government Events - Large Format

Visual Materials

These views are printed from Johnston's 11x14 in. and larger glass plate negatives. This notable grouping included a mounted, platinum print of the Officers of the First National Congress of Mothers, February 1897. This organization was the forerunner of the Parent-Teacher Association, and the portrait is autographed by all the sitters. There is an interesting series of cyanotype proofs and platinum prints of Mrs. Cleveland and the Ladies of the Cabinet (#1250-1257). Both sittings (January, February 1897) are included and two of the mounted prints are signed by some of the women in attendance. Other items are group views of the first and second McKinley Cabinets; Signing of the Ratification of the Treaty with Spain (1898,1899); Opening Ceremonies of the 59th U.S. Congress (1905).

photCL 352 (1249-1276)

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Winnebago Treaty documents

Manuscripts

First item is the Third treaty of Prairie Du Chien between the United States and the Winnebago tribe, concluded August 1, 1829. It is a single sheet of vellum measuring 21" x 37". The Winnebago Tribe ceded land to the United States in Illinois and Wisconsin in exchange for payments of $18,000 per year for a period of 30 years, as well as $30,000 in goods (1 time), and 3,000 pounds of tobacco and 50 barrels of salt to be delivered annually (for 30 years). It was signed by John McNeil, Pierre Menard, and Caleb Atwater for the United States; it was also signed by more than forty Winnebago individuals (all signing with their mark), and more than thirty Indian agents and officers of the United States Army, including then Lieutenant Colonel Zachary Taylor. All signatures appear on the verso, along with a small wax seal. Accompanied with a volume titled "Personnel of the Winnebago (o-chun-gra-Large Fish) Treaty of 1829." The manuscript, bound in deerskin and completed after 1884, contains biographies of the Winnebago and American signatories and attesters of the Third Treaty of Prairie Du Chien and an account of the "friendly council" between "Nau-Kaw" Winnebago Chief, in company with fifteen other Chiefs and Warriors of that Nation and President John Quincy Adams, on December 2, 1828.

mssWinnebago

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Frances Benjamin Johnston Photograph Collection

Visual Materials

photCL 352

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Portraits of Confederacy Officers

Visual Materials

Cyanotype copies of eighteen portraits in the War Department Collections. Six small head-and-shoulder views are included on each 8x10 inch negative (three in all). All the men are identified.

photCL 352 (1007-1009)

Documents, letters, and treaties from the State Department Archives

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