The Monthly Read Cover to Cover - Front Porch Fredericksburg On-Line Magazine

Back to Previous Page

WOMEN IN HISTORY MONTH
She Captured the World	Mary Helen Dellinger
March 2010 MARCH IS WOMEN IN HISTORY MONTH She Captured The World By Mary Helen Dellinger To capture the world through the lens of a camera is an art form. Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864–1952) was one of the best. During a career that spanned seven decades, she embraced a role traditionally reserved for men and established herself as one of the first American female photojournalists. Working during a time when opportunities for women were limited, Johnston ignored society’s notions of what was appropriate and followed her interests around the globe. These interests eventually led her to Fredericksburg. In 1927, Johnston was hired by Mrs. Daniel B. Devore of Chatham to photograph her residence and the surrounding property. Johnston spent several weeks taking dozens of images of the main house and gardens. While enjoying an occasional break from her work, Johnston took the opportunity to travel around the countryside and became captivated by what she saw. Fredericksburg at that time was still home to many nineteenth century homes, warehouses, cabins, and other iconic structures that had survived the destruction of the Civil War. Many of these structures were in terrible condition. Johnston understood then the importance of what she was looking at and became determined to capture as many of these buildings on film as she could. Hers was more than just a passing interest in architecture and she knew that many of these structures would soon be lost forever. Johnston began lobbying Mrs. Devore for additional monies to do a photographic survey of Fredericksburg and Falmouth. Her persistence paid off, and later that year Johnston was awarded private funding for the project. The outcome of her efforts is stunning—247 images of important early buildings, private residences and gardens, as well as numerous other sites in the surrounding counties. The entire collection was publicly displayed for the first time in 1929 in Fredericksburg’s Town Hall, now one of two sites comprising the present day Fredericksburg Area Museum. The show was advertised as “A Series of Photographic Studies of the Architecture of the Region Dating by Tradition from Colonial Times to Circa 1830.” Johnston was right to be in such a hurry to document these sites for today many of these anonymous structures have been lost to decay or the effects of progress and are only preserved through her photographs. On March 27, over eighty years since they were first shown, some of Johnston’s original photographs are returning to the area when the Fredericksburg Area Museum opens History Through a Lens: The Photographs of Frances Benjamin Johnston in the Mansard Gallery. Working in partnership with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, the Museum has secured the loan of nine original Johnston images to display alongside one dozen reproductions from the collections of the Library of Congress. Concurrently, Gari Melchers Home and Studio will exhibit original Johnston photographs from the same survey, focusing exclusively on images of Belmont. This temporary exhibition will remain on public view through June 20 at both institutions. We hope to see you at the Museum this spring where the past is present. Mary Helen Dellinger is Senior Vice President, Collections and Exhibitions, at the Fredericksburg Area Museum.
Back to Previous Page Back to the Top

MARCH IS WOMEN IN HISTORY MONTH