Object Details
- Local Call Number(s)
- NAA Photo Lot 80, NAA MS 4661
- Creator
- Bell, C. M. (Charles Milton), approximately 1849-1893
- Names
- Joseph (Nez Percé Chief), 1840-1904
- Lean Wolf.
- Parker, Quanah, 1845?-1911
- Plenty Coups, 1848-1932
- Red Cloud, 1822-1909
- Spotted Tail, 1823-1881
- Addl. KW Subj
- Sioux Gros Ventre; Hidatsa Plains Apache Assiniboin; Assiniboine Blackfoot Otoe Chippewa Sauk & Fox Meskwaki; Sauk & Fox Kansa (Kaw) Shoshone Palouse Yakima Lenape
- Topic
- Indians of North America -- Southern states
- Indians of North America -- Northeast
- Creator
- Bell, C. M. (Charles Milton), approximately 1849-1893
- Culture
- Pikuni Blackfeet (Piegan)
- Northwest Coast
- Sauk
- Seminole
- Indians of North America -- Great Plains
- Shoshone
- Sisitonwan Dakota (Sisseton Sioux)
- Spokan
- Wichita
- Ho-Chunk (Winnebago)
- Yakama (Yakima)
- Yanktonnai Nakota
- Oto
- Osage
- Kickapoo
- Kaw (Kansa)
- Kiowa
- Plains Apache (Naisha/Kiowa Apache)
- Oglala Lakota (Oglala Sioux)
- Niimíipuu (Nez Perce)
- Omaha
- Anishinaabe (Chippewa/Ojibwa)
- Cherokee
- Sicangu Lakota (Brulé Sioux)
- Assiniboine (Stoney)
- Sahnish (Arikara)
- Inunaina (Arapaho)
- Indians of North America -- Plateau
- Hunkpapa Lakota (Hunkpapa Sioux)
- Iowa
- Palouse
- Chaticks Si Chaticks (Pawnee)
- Minitari (Hidatsa)
- Fox
- Lenape (Delaware)
- Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke)
- Niuam (Comanche)
- Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne)
- See more items in
- Charles Milton Bell photographs of Native Americans
- Biographical/Historical note
- 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.
- Extent
- 340 Copy prints (circa)
- 3 Prints (albumen)
- 333 Glass negatives (wet plate collodion and dry gelatin)
- 69 Copy negatives
- Date
- circa 1874-1890
- Custodial History note
- 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.
- 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.
- Archival Repository
- National Anthropological Archives
- Identifier
- NAA.PhotoLot.80
- Type
- Collection descriptions
- Archival materials
- Copy prints
- Prints
- Glass negatives
- Copy negatives
- Photographs
- Citation
- Photo Lot 80, Charles Milton Bell photographs of Native Americans, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
- Rights
- Contact the repository for terms of use.
- Existence and Location of Copies note
- Digital surrogates for many of the original negatives available online.
- Genre/Form
- Photographs
- Scope and Contents note
- 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.
- Restrictions
- The collection is open for research. Access to the collection requires an appointment.
- Record ID
- ebl-1503513357470-1503513357473-0
