Charles Milton Bell photographs of Native Americans
odd: label: Local Call Number(s)
content: NAA Photo Lot 80, NAA MS 4661
name: label: Creator
content: Bell, C. M. (Charles Milton), approximately 1849-1893
label: Names
content: Joseph (Nez Percé Chief), 1840-1904
label: Names
content: Lean Wolf.
label: Names
content: Parker, Quanah, 1845?-1911
label: Names
content: Plenty Coups, 1848-1932
label: Names
content: Red Cloud, 1822-1909
label: Names
content: Spotted Tail, 1823-1881
index: label: Addl. KW Subj
content: Sioux

Gros Ventre; Hidatsa

Plains Apache

Assiniboin; Assiniboine

Blackfoot

Otoe

Chippewa

Sauk & Fox

Meskwaki; Sauk & Fox

Kansa (Kaw)

Shoshone

Palouse

Yakima

Lenape
topic: label: Topic
content: Indians of North America -- Southern states
label: Topic
content: Indians of North America -- Northeast
creator: label: Creator
content: Bell, C. M. (Charles Milton), approximately 1849-1893
culture: label: Culture
content: Pikuni Blackfeet (Piegan)
label: Culture
content: Northwest Coast
label: Culture
content: Sauk
label: Culture
content: Seminole
label: Culture
content: Indians of North America -- Great Plains
label: Culture
content: Shoshone
label: Culture
content: Sisitonwan Dakota (Sisseton Sioux)
label: Culture
content: Spokan
label: Culture
content: Wichita
label: Culture
content: Ho-Chunk (Winnebago)
label: Culture
content: Yakama (Yakima)
label: Culture
content: Yanktonnai Nakota
label: Culture
content: Oto
label: Culture
content: Osage
label: Culture
content: Kickapoo
label: Culture
content: Kaw (Kansa)
label: Culture
content: Kiowa
label: Culture
content: Plains Apache (Naisha/Kiowa Apache)
label: Culture
content: Oglala Lakota (Oglala Sioux)
label: Culture
content: Niimíipuu (Nez Perce)
label: Culture
content: Omaha
label: Culture
content: Anishinaabe (Chippewa/Ojibwa)
label: Culture
content: Cherokee
label: Culture
content: Sicangu Lakota (Brulé Sioux)
label: Culture
content: Assiniboine (Stoney)
label: Culture
content: Sahnish (Arikara)
label: Culture
content: Inunaina (Arapaho)
label: Culture
content: Indians of North America -- Plateau
label: Culture
content: Hunkpapa Lakota (Hunkpapa Sioux)
label: Culture
content: Iowa
label: Culture
content: Palouse
label: Culture
content: Chaticks Si Chaticks (Pawnee)
label: Culture
content: Minitari (Hidatsa)
label: Culture
content: Fox
label: Culture
content: Lenape (Delaware)
label: Culture
content: Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke)
label: Culture
content: Niuam (Comanche)
label: Culture
content: Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Charles Milton Bell photographs of Native Americans
bioghist: label: Biographical/Historical note
content: Charles Milton Bell (circa 1849-1893) was the youngest member of a family of photographers that operated a studio in Washington, DC, from around 1860-1874. Bell established his own studio on Pennsylvania Avenue in 1873 and it rapidly became one of the leading photography studios in the city. Bell developed the patronage of Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, who sent Native American visitors to the studio to have their portraits made. Bell also made photographs of Native Americans for the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of American Ethnology.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 340 Copy prints (circa)
label: Extent
content: 3 Prints (albumen)
label: Extent
content: 333 Glass negatives (wet plate collodion and dry gelatin)
label: Extent
content: 69 Copy negatives
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1874-1890
custodhist: label: Custodial History note
content: When the C. M. Bell studio finally closed in 1909, its entire collection of negatives was acquired by another Washington photographer, Isaac M. Boyce. Boyce separated out the Native American negatives and attempted to sell them to the Bureau of American Ethnology. It was not until the 1950s, however, that the Bureau finally bought the negatives from Boyce's son, William.
label: Custodial History note
content: The set of prints that make up this collection was prepared as working material in the task of identifying the photographs of the Boyce collection. Prints were given arbitrary numbers when they were accessioned into the archives, with numbers 266-341 going to the oversize plates. All of the plates in the collection appear to have been copied in the 1950s shortly after their purchase; copies of the non-oversize plates were originally filed in MS 4661 and copies of the oversize plates were filed in Photo Lot 80. There was a project in 1998 to copy and conserve many of the oversize plates in a larger format and these copies were also added to Photo Lot 80.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.PhotoLot.80
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Copy prints
label: Type
content: Prints
label: Type
content: Glass negatives
label: Type
content: Copy negatives
label: Type
content: Photographs
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies note
content: Digital surrogates for many of the original negatives available online.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: Portraits of Native Americans made by Charles Milton Bell in his Washington, DC studio. Depicted individuals include Red Cloud, Oglala; Spotted Tail, Brule; Quanah Parker, Comanche; Nawat, Arapaho; Scabby Bull, Arapaho; Wolf Robe, Cheyenne; D. W. Bushyhead, Cherokee; John Jumper, Seminole; Plenty Coups, Crow; Rushing Bear, Arikara; Gall, Hunkpapa; John Grass, Sihasapa; Lean Wolf, Hidatsa; Chief Joseph, Nez Perce; and Lone Wolf, Kiowa; as well as people associated with Pawnee Bill's Wild West Show. The collection also includes copies of some images by other photographers, including G. G. Rockwood and F. T. Cummins.
relatedmaterial: label: Location of Other Archival Materials
content: Copy prints previously filed in MS 4661 have been relocated and merged with Photo Lot 80. These are also copy prints of Bell negatives that were acquired from Boyce and form part of this collection.
label: Location of Other Archival Materials
content: Additional C. M. Bell photographs held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 4420, Photo Lot 24, Photo Lot 60, Photo Lot 81-44, Photo lot 87-2P, and Photo Lot 90-1.