Frances Aretta Carpenter (April 30, 1890 – November 2, 1972) was an American folklorist, author, and photographer.

Unusually for the times, her father took her traveling with him internationally as his secretary and photographic assistant from her early teenage years, with a break to complete her college education starting in 1908.

[2] The pair traveled extensively on four continents, with Frances remaining in active partnership with Frank Carpenter until his death in 1924.

This would also be the first of her popular Grandmother series, where she used the device of a central organizing narrator to convey details of national culture as well as its folk legends.

[1] S On April 6, 1920, Carpenter married William Chapin Huntington, a career diplomat with whom she continued to travel all over the world.