Frances Benjamin Johnston
Gallery
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The old kitchen in the White House basement, c. 1891.
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President William McKinley in his office, 1898.
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Mrs. Russell (Mary) Harrison with her daughter Marthena and nephew Benjamin Harrison McKee. ca. 1889. In his great affection for his family, President Benjamin Harrison insisted that his children, in-laws, and grandchildren live with him at the White House.
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Alice Roosevelt in the White House conservatory, 1902.
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The north entrance to the White House about 1893 with a stained glass fanlight by Louis Comfort Tiffany.
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Quentin and Kermit Roosevelt with the White House police, 1902.
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Quentin Roosevelt and his playmate Roswell Newcomb Pinckney, 1902.
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Temporary war room on the second floor of the White House during the Spanish-American war, c. 1898.
Library of Congress
About this Gallery
Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1962) was an early photojournalist and a noted freelance photographer. Johnston's documentary work was exemplary and included a renowned series of photographs commissioned by Booker T. Washington for the Hampton Institute in 1899 and the Tuskegee Institute in 1906.
She also made her mark as portrait photographer. From the late 1880s to the 1910s, Johnston captured remarkable images of the White House that document the lifestyles of the first families, workers, and visitors as well as its architectural design in that period. Johnston studied art in Paris and Washington and through family connections met the elite of Washington society and gained access to the first family. With this opportunity and hard work, Johnston established a business as a professional portrait photographer and moved into the field of photojournalism, working freelance for numerous magazines and illustrated journals.
In the early 1910s, Johnston began to specialize in architectural photography. The culmination of her career as an architectural photographer came with the Carnegie Corporation's support of a survey of the early buildings and estates of nine southern states. The Library of Congress holds her papers and the bulk of her photographs.