Visual Materials

Miscellaneous photographs

Description: This grouping has a series of photographs of the first telephone instruments which, Johnston explains on an index card, were made for Mrs. Bell. There are prints of the Francis E. Spinner Statue, a painting depicting Prince Edward of Wales at the Tomb of [George] Washington, and a group portrait of the survivors of the Johnstown Disaster.
Type: Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1889-1908.
Call number: photCL 352 (1038-1048)
Creator: Johnston, Frances Benjamin (1864-1952)(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Purchased by Henry Huntington from Frances Johnston, 1924.

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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Original Negative Boxes

Visual Materials

Two original 11x14 in. glass plate negative boxes owned by Johnston with her handwriting on the boxes.

photCL 352

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Items related to Abraham Lincoln

Visual Materials

This series was taken by Johnston to illustrate Ida Tarbell's book, The Life of Abraham Lincoln [1903]. The images include a portrait of Abraham Lincoln and Tad (Meserve 39), Lincoln's chair and his Bible, documents and products with Lincoln labels. Most of the items were probably in the War Department collections.

photCL 352 (1031-1037)

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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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Residences and Interiors

Visual Materials

The majority of these photographs showcase some of the more elaborate residences in turn-of-the-century Washington, DC. The impressive interiors of the John Wanamaker and William Whitney homes were the subject of articles by Johnston, again for Demorest's (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 large 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.

photCL 352 (1133-1214)

Miscellaneous photographs

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

Frances Benjamin Johnston Photograph Collection

Original Negative Boxes

Items related to Abraham Lincoln

Documents, letters, and treaties from the State Department Archives

Residences and Interiors