Harriet Lane Johnston

This photograph is of Harriet Lane, who was the niece and ward of President James Buchanan. After she finished her boarding school education, she began accompanying Buchanan to formal events. When Buchanan was elected president, Lane assumed the role of White House hostess and was popular with the American public. She married Elliot Johnston in 1866. In 1903, Lane donated her private art collection to the National Art Gallery which later became part of the Smithsonian Institution. As a result she was given the nickname "first lady of the National Collection of Fine Arts."