Visual Materials

Matthew B. Brady Daguerreotypes from the War Department Collections

Description: 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.
Type: Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1889-1908.
Call number: photCL 352 (999-1006)
Creator: Johnston, Frances Benjamin (1864-1952)(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Purchased by Henry Huntington from Frances Johnston, 1924.
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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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Frances Benjamin Johnston Photograph Collection

Visual Materials

photCL 352

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Portraits, A-B by sitter

Visual Materials

photCL 352 (1-145)

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Documents, letters, and treaties from the State Department Archives

Visual Materials

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.

photCL 352 (1010-1030)

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Portraits, C by sitter

Visual Materials

photCL 352 (146-240)

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Portraits, D-F by sitter

Visual Materials

photCL 352 (241-336)

Matthew B. Brady Daguerreotypes from the War Department Collections

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

Frances Benjamin Johnston Photograph Collection

Portraits, A-B by sitter

Documents, letters, and treaties from the State Department Archives

Portraits, C by sitter

Portraits, D-F by sitter