Carriages Awaiting Guests at Cleveland's New Year's Reception Outside the North Portico

In this photograph taken in 1889 by Frances Benjamin Johnston, carriages wait for guests of President Grover Cleveland's New Year's Day reception near the North Portico. This annual tradition started in 1801 during the Adams administration and ended in 1932 during the Hoover administration. Johnston was one of the first influential female photographers in America and she well known for her intimate photographs of the Roosevelt family, White House, and Washington D.C. society.