Frances Benjamin Johnston Papers A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division, Library of Congress Washington, D.C. 2010 Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact Additional search options available at: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms010298 LC Online Catalog record: http://lccn.loc.gov/mm79027995 Prepared by Manuscript Division Staff Collection Summary Title: Frances Benjamin Johnston Papers Span Dates: 1855-1956 Bulk Dates: (bulk 1890-1945) ID No.: MSS27995 Creator: Johnston, Francis Benjamin, 1864-1852 Extent: 19,000 items ; 50 containers plus 1 oversize ; 21.2 linear feet ; 37 microfilm reels Language: Collection material in English Location: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Summary: Photographer and illustrator. Correspondence, diaries, speeches and writings, financial papers, family papers, clippings, scrapbooks, and printed matter documenting Johnston's career as a photographer of national figures and events, her photography of gardens and estates, compilation of a photographic record of Southern colonial architecture, participation in international exhibitions, travels and personal life, and the emerging role of women in the profession of photography Selected Search Terms The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein. People Adams, Henry, 1838-1918--Correspondence. Allen, Nellie--Correspondence. Bain, George Grantham, 1865-1944--Correspondence. Berg, Charles I., 1856-1926--Correspondence. Bok, Edward William, 1863-1930--Correspondence. Bottomley, William Lawrence, 1883-1951--Correspondence. Branch, Zelda--Correspondence. Brock, H. I. (Henry Irving), 1876-1961--Correspondence. Cameron, Elizabeth, 1857-1944--Correspondence. Campbell, Edmund S. (Edmund Schureman), 1884-1950--Correspondence. Carman, Bliss, 1861-1929--Correspondence. Chamberlin, Jo Hubbard--Correspondence. Cleveland, Frances Folsom, 1864-1947--Correspondence. Cortelyou, George B. (George Bruce), 1862-1940--Correspondence. Cret, Paul Philippe, 1876-1945--Correspondence. Dreiser, Theodore, 1871-1945--Correspondence. Eastman, George, 1854-1932--Correspondence. Frissell, Hollis Burke, 1851-1917--Correspondence. Gay, Walter, 1856-1937--Correspondence. Hagan, Cornelia Benjamin. Hearst, Phoebe Apperson, 1842-1919--Correspondence. Hewitt, Mattie Edwards, 1869-1956. Hinton, A. Horsley (Alfred Horsley), 1863-1908--Correspondence. Holland, Leicester Bodine, 1882-1952--Correspondence. Hornblower, Joseph C. (Joseph Coerten), 1848-1908--Correspondence. Johnson, B. F. (Benjamin Franklin), 1856-1921--Correspondence. Johnston, Frances Antoinette Benjamin. Johnston, Frances Benjamin, 1864-1952. Keppel, Frederick P. (Frederick Paul), 1875-1943--Correspondence. Kindler, Hans, 1892-1949--Correspondence. Käsebier, Gertrude, 1852-1934--Correspondence. Laughlin, Clara E. (Clara Elizabeth), 1873-1941--Correspondence. Frances Benjamin Johnston Papers 2 Leland, Waldo Gifford, 1879-1966--Correspondence. Lumière, Antoine, 1842-1911--Correspondence. Marshall, James Rush, 1851-1927--Correspondence. McKim, Charles Follen, 1847-1909--Correspondence. Merriam, John C. (John Campbell), 1869-1945--Correspondence. Mitchell, Margaret, 1900-1949--Correspondence. Moore, Charles, 1855-1942--Correspondence. Olmsted, Frederick Law, 1822-1903--Correspondence. Patterson, Augusta Owen--Correspondence. Penfield, Edward, 1866-1925--Correspondence. Reed, Ethel--Correspondence. Schütze, Eva Watson, 1867-1935--Correspondence. Stieglitz, Alfred, 1864-1946--Correspondence. Tarbell, Ida M. (Ida Minerva), 1857-1944--Correspondence. Thompson, Mills, 1875-1944--Correspondence. Wanamaker, John, 1838-1922--Correspondence. Ward, Catharine Weed Barnes, 1851-1913. Ward, H. Snowden (Henry Snowden), 1865-1911--Correspondence. Waterman, Thomas Tileston, 1900-1951--Correspondence. Whigham, H. J. (Henry James), 1869-1954--Correspondence. Wood, Waddy B. (Waddy Butler), 1869-1944--Correspondence. Woodbury, Walter E.--Correspondence. Organizations Exposition universelle internationale de 1900 (Paris, France) Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904 : St. Louis, Mo.) Pan-American Exposition (1901 : Buffalo, N.Y.) World's Columbian Exposition (1893 : Chicago, Ill.) Subjects Architectural photography--United States. Architecture--Southern States. Architecture--United States. Gardens--United States. Photography, Artistic. Photography--Studios and dark rooms. Photography--United States. Photography. Photojournalism--United States. Pictorialism (Photography movement) Portrait photography--United States. Women photographers. Places United States--History--1865-1921. United States--Social life and customs--1865-1918. Titles Ladies' home journal. McClure's magazine. Town & country (New York, N.Y.) Occupations Illustrators. Photographers. Frances Benjamin Johnston Papers 3 Administrative Information Provenance The papers of Frances Benjamin Johnston, photographer and illustrator, were given to the Library of Congress in a series of donations from the 1920s to the 1950s and were transferred to the Manuscript Division from the Prints and Photographs Division in 1960-1962, 1991, and 2008. Processing History The Johnston Papers were preliminarily arranged circa 1962. The collection was prepared for microfilming and a new guide was created in 1982. Items transferred from the Prints and Photographs Division in 1991 and 2008 were added to the collection in 2010, a box number was changed, and the finding aid was revised. Copyright Status The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Frances Benjamin Johnston is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.). Access and Restrictions The papers of Frances Benjamin Johnston are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use. Microfilm A microfilm edition of part of these papers is available on thirty-seven reels. Consult reference staff in the Manuscript Division concerning availability for purchase or interlibrary loan. To promote preservation of the originals, researchers are required to consult the microfilm edition. Preferred Citation Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container or reel number, Frances Benjamin Johnston Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Biographical Note Date Event 1866, Jan. 15 Born, Grafton, W.Va. 1883 Graduated, Notre Dame of Maryland Collegiate Division, Govanstown, Md. 1883-1885 Student, Julien Art Academy, Paris, France 1885-1888 Student, Art Students' League (predecessor of Corcoran School of Art), Washington, D.C. 1889 Received first camera as gift from George Eastman of Kodak Corp. 1890 Student, photographic laboratory, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 1891-1913 Active in photographing Washington society and government officials 1900 Awarded gold medal for work depicting American public school systems, Paris Exposition, Paris, France Frances Benjamin Johnston Papers 4 1909 Received first architectural commission photographing the New Theater, New York, N.Y. 1913-1917 In partnership with Mattie Edwards Hewitt, New York, N.Y. 1925 Toured Europe and the Middle East, photographing gardens, castles, chateaux 1930 Donated negatives from first architectural survey to Library of Congress, helping form nucleus of Pictorial Archives of Early American Architecture 1933 Awarded first of seven consecutive grants from Carnegie Corp. to photograph colonial architecture in nine Southern States 1941 Published The Early Architecture of North Carolina. Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press 1945 Made honorary member of the American Institute of Architects 1947 Major exhibit at Library of Congress 1952, May 16 Died, New Orleans, La. Scope and Content Note The papers of Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952) span the period 1855-1956, with the bulk of the collection concentrated in the years 1890-1945. The collection is organized in nine series: Diaries , Family Correspondence , General Correspondence , Special Correspondence , Speeches and Writings , Financial Papers , Miscellany , Addition , and Oversize . The General Correspondence forms the most significant part of the papers and is particularly complete for the period between 1925 and 1952. Johnston's career coincides with the Pictorialist movement, which promoted photography as an art form in America and in which she took part. Johnston herself was a pioneer in several photography fields. She began as an artistic amateur and continued as a portrait photographer, photojournalist, and architectural photographer. Her diverse career may be divided into three time periods: 1889-1910, when she was engaged in photographing national figures and important events in American life; 1913-1926, when she concentrated on garden and estate photography; and 1927-1952, when she compiled a systematic and interpretive photographic record of early Southern colonial architecture. During the early years of her career, Johnston divided her time between Washington, D.C., where as America's “court photographer” she photographed many prominent members of the capital's political, literary, diplomatic, and social community, and various localities throughout the United States and Europe, where she