Frances Benjamin Johnston
1864 – 1952
One of America's first women press photographers, who turned her camera on a changing nation
![[Temporary Spanish-American war room, second floor White House office], Washington D.C., 1992](https://images.fbjohnstonarchive.com/frances-benjamin-johnston/92511565.webp)
About Frances Benjamin Johnston
Frances Benjamin Johnston was born on January 15, 1864, in Grafton, West Virginia, the only surviving child of well-connected parents who soon settled in Washington, D.C. She received an education unusual for a woman of her time, studying art as a young woman and then, from 1883 to 1885, at the Academie Julian in Paris. She intended at first to become a magazine illustrator and writer, and her early ambitions in drawing and journalism…
Read full biography →From the Collection
[Temporary Spanish-American war room, second floor White…
1992
[Frances Benjamin Johnston, three-quarter length portrait,…
1950
My patio court, March 21 to May
1946
Frances B. Johnston, 1946, in New Orleans, La
1946
[Frances Benjamin Johnston's cats, Herman and Vermin,…
1945
[Arkady, Frances Benjamin Johnston House, New Orleans,…
1945
Timeline
Born in Grafton, West Virginia on January 15
Begins studying art at the Academie Julian in Paris (through 1885)
Receives a roll-film camera from family friend George Eastman and turns to photography
Opens her own portrait studio in Washington, D.C.
Publishes the essay "What a Woman Can Do with a Camera" in the Ladies' Home Journal
"It is a profession that should appeal particularly to women, and in it there are great opportunities for a good-paying business."
— Frances Benjamin Johnston