Charles Milton Bell
Charles Milton Bell (April 3, 1848 – May 12, 1893) was an American photographer who was noted for his portraits of Native Americans and other figures of the United States in the late 1800s. He was called "one of Washington's leading portrait photographers during the last quarter of the nineteenth century" by the Library of Congress.
Charles Milton Bell | |
|---|---|
Image of Bell from his own studio | |
| Born | April 3, 1848 Fredericksburg, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | May 12, 1893 (aged 45) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Resting place | Oak Hill Cemetery Washington, D.C., U.S. 38.913575, -77.058380 |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | C.M. Bell |
| Known for | Photography |
| Spouse | Annie Colley |
| Children | Charles Milton Bell, Jr. Colley Wood Bell |
| Website | cmbellstudio.com |
Bell was the youngest member of a photographer family who had a studio in Washington, D.C. in the 1860s and 1870s. He took over the family studio Bell & Brothers and started his own studio, C. M. Bell, in 1873. Bell worked with Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, who sent visiting Native Americans to Bell's 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, where he assisted in-house photographers.