Self-portrait in the studio, c 1896, by Frances Benjamin Johnston One of the earliest American photojournalists, Benjamin Johnston received her first camera from George Eastman, the inventor of the Eastman Kodak and a family friend. She became a tireless and noted advocate for women’s photography as well as a documenter of key historic events. When she opened her own studio in New York in 1894, she was the only woman photographer in the city.

Photograph: Washington Library of Congress