Related Resources

This section provides pointers to collections that have content related or similar to the C. M. Bell Studio Collection.

C. M. Bell Photographs in the Prints & Photographs Division

Bell and Brother photographs (search result)
The division holds photographic prints from Bell and Brother, the predecessor studio in which C. M. Bell worked. The prints are generally found in groups of images related by subject matter or source and include images by other photographers, as well.
C. M. Bell Studio copyright deposits (search result)
Groups of photographic prints received through copyright deposit.

Photographs by Washington, D.C.-based Commercial Photographers, Late 19th and Early 20th Century

Listed below are collections from photographers and photo studios that have significant online content and that may offer insight on how Bell's contemporaries operated. Additional collections may be found in the Washingtoniana Photographs guide, cited in the Published Sources tab.

Brady-Handy Collection (summary & search)
Levin C. Handy (1855?-1932) was apprenticed at the age of twelve to his uncle, famed Civil War photographer Mathew B. Brady. Handy became an independent photographer and over the years owned studios in partnership with Samuel Chester and with Chester and Brady. The majority of the Brady-Handy negatives are of Civil War and post-Civil War portraits, with a small collection of Washington views,
Frances Benjamin Johnston Photograph Collection (finding aid)
One of the first women to achieve prominence as a photographer, Johnston opened a studio in Washington, D.C., in 1890, carrying out portrait and photojournalism assignments while also contributing to art photography and pictorialism.
Harris & Ewing Collection (summary & search)
These glass and film negatives taken by Harris & Ewing, Inc., provide excellent coverage of Washington people, events, and architecture, during the period 1905-1945. The collection includes about 50,000 news photographs and 20,000 studio portraits of notable people.
National Photo Company Collection (summary & search)
Operating between 1909 and 1932, this news photo service covered many Washington, D.C., events, sites, and individuals.

Public institutions that have cited holdings by C. M. Bell are listed below.

Amon Carter Museum of American Art - collection search External
The collection search returns multiple portrait views, particularly of Indigenous men.
National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution (guide entry)
The entry in the Library of Congress Washingtoniana Photographs guide notes that James Glenn, deputy director and archivist, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Insitution, Washington, D.C. supplied information on C. M. Bell. C. M. Bell is listed among the correspondents in the Guide to the Collections of the National Anthropological Archives.
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Portrait Search
The system returns multiple entries for Charles Milton Bell, with information about the portrait sitters.

These resources may assist in researching and exploring the context of the images found in the C. M. Bell Studio Collection.

Washingtoniana by Kathleen K. Collins
Call Number: Z663.39 .W37 1989
ISBN: 0844405884
Published/Created: 1989-01-01
The entry for the C. M. Bell Studio Collection is found on pp. 14-22. The entry is available online External via the Hathitrust.org presentation of the guide. This title links to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.

Picture This blog posts featuring the C. M. Bell Studio Collection (search result)
,American Women: Resources from the Prints & Photographs Collections - Professional Photographers from the Post-Daguerreotype Era (research guide)
Briefly discusses C. M. Bell's coverage of women, as well as other commercial photography operations of the era.

C. M. Bell Studio Collection of Photographs at the Library of Congress

Prints & Photographs: Ask a Librarian

Related Resources

C. M. Bell Photographs in the Prints & Photographs Division

Photographs by Washington, D.C.-based Commercial Photographers, Late 19th and Early 20th Century