Some of the photographs identified in the Garden Club of America Collection depict private estates documented by Johnston for her 1930s Carnegie Survey of the Architecture of the South, a project funded by the Carnegie Corporation and coordinated by the Library of Congress.
The Library of Congress is the primary repository of Johnston’s photography collection including her earlier garden photography work of the 1910s-1920s and is explained in more detail here: "Lantern Slides for Garden and Historic House Lectures."
Below is a 'sneak peek' of one of the lantern slides now attributed to Johnston in the Archives of American Gardens.
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| Hand-painted glass lantern slide, Woodberry Forest, Louisa County, VA, 1932. Frances Benjamin Johnston, photographer. Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, Garden Club of America Collection |
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| Safety film negative, Woodberry Forest, Louisa County, VA, 1932. Frances Benjamin Johnston, photographer. Courtesy Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-J7-VA-2120 |
Kelly Crawford
Museum Specialist
Posts
Hi Kelly,
ReplyDeleteThanks for highlighting a shared interest across our institutions! Your readers will definitely enjoy seeing more of Johnston’s beautiful garden photos at the Library of Congress, where close to 1,150 lantern slides remain in Johnston’s personal collection. (http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=j717&co=fbj&st=gallery)
We released this online collection just last spring, working with historian Sam Watters, whose book Gardens for a Beautiful America, 1895-1935: Photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnston has provided so much new information about Johnston’s images, life, and era for all of us to benefit from.
It’s good to see your new photo identifications coming to light using Johnston’s later work for the Carnegie Survey of the Architecture of the South.
Helena Zinkham
Chief, Prints & Photographs Division
Library of Congress