Visual Materials

Residences and interiors (items 1133-1214)

Description: Images depicting residences in Washington DC, and England. The interiors of the John Wanamaker and William Whitney homes were the subject of articles by Johnston, again for Demorest's Family Magazine (July-December 1890) entitled "Some Homes Under the Administration." Additionally, there are views of the State Department and Department of Justice interiors, Senator Albert Beveridge's office, and the residences of Henry Brown, Charles Fairchild, Horace Gray, John Hay, Philander Knox, and photographs of Maytham Hall and Dorchester House, both in England. Maytham Hall was the estate of author Frances Hodgson Burnett, and Johnston took views of the gardens, grounds, and house in 1906. There are two views of Burnett, author of The Secret Garden among other works, posing in her garden. There are many interior shots of Dorchester House, the American Embassy in London, which Johnston took in 1906.
Type: Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)
Date: approximately 1890-1906
Call number

Items 1084-1214

Visual Materials

The collection contains photographic prints and corresponding glass plate negatives by American photographer Frances Benjamin Johnston that focus on the portrait work of Johnston's earlier career in Washington, DC, mainly in the 1890s. The collection also contains interpositive copies of the glass plate negatives produced by The Huntington sometime during the mid to late twentieth century. The photographic prints and glass plate negatives were hand-selected by Johnston for The Huntington based on their "historical interest or value" and include many autographed prints. The prints are largely cyanotypes, with a few gelatin silver and platinum prints. Also included alongside Johnston's original prints are copy prints made by The Huntington at a later date. The collection is largely made up of Johnstons portraits of Washington, DC, socialites, politicians, artists, and more. In addition to that, there are photographs Johnston made for articles about government buildings and architectures, copies Johnston made of Matthew Brady's daguerreotypes, copies of State Department archives and War Department images, views of Bell Telephone Company instruments, and images of Abraham Lincoln objects and ephemera intended to illustrate Ida Tarbell's Life of Lincoln. Additional inventories are included that list subjects arranged first by title and then by last name.

photCL 352

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Items 1200-1214

Visual Materials

photCL 352

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8 x 10 inch negatives (items 1-1214)

Visual Materials

photCL 352

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Interpositives (items 1-1214)

Visual Materials

This series contains a set of interpositives which The Huntington generated from the glass plate negatives, likely in the mid to late twentieth century. The item numbers correspond to the item numbers on the prints as well as the negatives.

photCL 352

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Portraits (items 1-931)

Visual Materials

These images span the length of Johnston's major portraiture years. They notably include 23 shots of the first sitter in her studio, Frances Hodgson Burnett. The sitters include mostly local Washington DC, socialites, diplomats, presidents, senators, reformers, supreme court justices, artists, authors, and Confederacy officers. The print formats include both the original cyanotype prints that Johnston made, as well as copy gelatin silver prints that The Huntington made at later dates. Large format portraits can be found in Subseries "Oversize Portraits (items 1215-1248)." Notable sitters include Susan B. Anthony, President James Garfield, President William McKinley, President Theodore Roosevelt, Andrew Carnegie, Robert E. Lee, Eadweard Muybridge, and many more.

photCL 352

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Items 592-613

Visual Materials

photCL 352

Residences and interiors (items 1133-1214)

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Items 1084-1214

Items 1200-1214

8 x 10 inch negatives (items 1-1214)

Interpositives (items 1-1214)

Portraits (items 1-931)

Items 592-613