American Historical Ephemera and Photography

Archive comprised of approx. 125 photographs and related documents associated with English-born American photographer William H. Bell (1830-1910), as well as his son Dickenson Sargent Bell (1874-1944) and grandson Robert Cresson Bell (b. 1913), who were avid photographers during the late 19th and early 20th century. William H. Bell was best known for photographing war-time diseases and combat injuries in addition to taking images for the Wheeler Expedition of 1872.

The archive contains several photographs, including formal studio portraits, informal snapshots, and real photo postcards of members of the Bell family, some subjects identified. Featured family images include: Silver gelatin photograph of William H. Bell taken later in life by his son D. Sargent Bell. -- 9 CDVs and cabinet cards of D. Sargent Bell as a toddler, some with imprint of his father, "Bell, Philadelphia," and some with imprint of George & William H. Rau, Philadelphia. William H. Rau was William H. Bell's son-in-law.

[With:] Approx. 12 silver gelatin photographs, 8 x 10 in. or smaller, credited to D. Sargent Bell, Philadelphia. Subject matter includes a series of images documenting a formal naval yard gathering with several officials in attendance, two views of a beached whale, and unidentified residences. A photo of Bell warming his hands by a heater is also enclosed.

[With:] A small group of approx. 25 photographs, documents, and imprints related to Robert Cresson Bell and his US Army service. Documents include an Honorable Discharge, a Certificate of Merit for "meritorious and outstanding performance of military duty" while with Battery C, 465th AAA, an Army Service Forces Transportation Corps document, an Army Exchange Ration card, and a US Army "Separation Qualification Record" that lists his "Civilian Occupation," as a commercial photographer that was "self employed for 13 years as a photographer in Philadelphia." Assorted snapshots of Bell and fellow servicemen in the United States and abroad are also included, as well as a portrait of Bell in uniform with his father, D. Sargent Bell, in South Carolina.

[Also with:] ALS addressed to William Bell from G. Brown Goode, Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian's US National Museum, telling him that an acknowledgement of Bell's gift was sent. 1p, 24 August 1885, on Smithsonian Institution letterhead. -- Manuscript written in the hand of Robert Cresson Bell, detailing his experiences as well as that of his father and grandfather as photographers, with details about "sizes of cameras used" and Robert's work as a photographer. -- GLENN, Thomas Allen, Ed. Some Colonial Mansions and Those Who Lived in Them. Vol. I. Philadelphia: Coates & Co., 1897 (wear to covers, title page fully detached, some water damage). Front, inside cover inscribed to D. Sargent Bell by Wm. Bell.

Together, an archive of more than 125 photographs and documents associated with William H., D. Sargent, and Robert C. Bell.