Frances Benjamin Johnston, January 15, 1864–May 16, 1952, was an American photographer. Born in Grafton, West Virginia, and raised in Washington DC, she studied art in Paris and Washington before learning photography and opening a Washington studio in the 1890s.
Johnston built a career as a portraitist and photojournalist, photographing political and cultural figures as well as the White House. Her work also documented education at Hampton and Tuskegee Institutes, and in 1900 she organized an exhibition of photographs by American women for the Paris Exposition.
In later decades Johnston specialized in gardens and historic architecture across the American South. She settled in New Orleans in 1940 and died there in 1952; major holdings of her work are preserved by the Library of Congress.
Self-Portrait Dressed as a Man with a False Moustache and Bicycle, 1890–1900
Albumen print, 8.2 × 5.9 in
Library of Congress, Washington DC
Frances Benjamin Johnston Seated at a Desk in Her Studio/Office, July 1895
Glass negative, 9.4 × 7.1 in
Library of Congress, Washington DC
Self-Portrait as the “New Woman”, 1896
Gelatin silver print, 7.8 × 6.2 in
Library of Congress, Washington DC
Frances Benjamin Johnston with Her Mother, Maddie, 1903
Tintype, Dimensions unavailable
Library of Congress, Washington DC
Daniel Coit Gilman, c 1890–1910
Photographic print, Dimensions unavailable
Library of Congress, Washington DC
Natalie Clifford Barney, c 1890–1910
Photographic print, Dimensions unavailable
Library of Congress, Washington DC
Booker T. Washington, c 1895
Glass negative, 8 × 10 in
Library of Congress, Washington DC
Signing of the Peace Protocol of the Spanish-American War, August 12, 1898
Photographic print, Dimensions unavailable
Library of Congress, Washington DC
Mrs. John Astor/Ava Lowle Willing Astor, 1900–1910
Gelatin silver print, 16.9 × 13 in
Library of Congress, Washington DC
George Washington Carver with Staff Members at Tuskegee Institute, c 1902
Photographic print, Dimensions unavailable
Library of Congress, Washington DC
Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, c 1903
Photographic print, Dimensions unavailable
Library of Congress, Washington DC
Alice Roosevelt Longworth in Her Wedding Gown, 1906
Photographic print, Dimensions unavailable
Library of Congress, Washington DC
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