Early American Architecture

Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952)
Johnston Mill, Albermarle County, Virginia
Gelatin silver print
Prints & Photographs Division

Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952)
"Mrs. Ellis's Store,"
Stafford County, Virginia
Gelatin silver print
Prints and Photographs Division
Gift/purchase from the photographer (53A.1)

Frances Benjamin Johnston, pioneering American photographer, took this image of the Johnston Mill as part of a project that occupied most of her adult life. Between 1927 and 1952, Johnston produced a systematic visual record of the earliest extant buildings in the South. From 1933 to 1940, she created 6,800 negatives with the support of the Carnegie Corporation. The mill in Albemarle County and the general store in Stafford County, designed by craftsmen rather than academically trained architects, represent the vernacular tradition in American architecture, which Johnston was one of the first to document extensively.