Edwardian Children in the Studio

The photographic studio of Charles Milton Bell was, towards the end of the 1800s, one of the primary studios in Washington, D.C. Bell’s studio took portraits of many of Washington’s eminent citizens and families.

The studio was located at 459-465 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, together with a second studio at 701 Fifteenth Street NW. Bell’s also boasted that it had the best camera in America—a device made for Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exposition

By the time these pictures were taken, Charles Bell had died, in 1893. His wife and sons ran the studio until 1900, when they sold the business—though it continued to operate under Bells name.

These portraits show unfinished shots of children. Often the only information to identify them is their surname, written on the border of the original shot.