Bell, William Abraham, Dr.
American (b. England, 1841-1921)

TITLE ON OBJECT: Across the Continent on the Kansas Pacific Railroad: Camp of Surveying Party at Russel's Tank, Arizona

ca. 1867-68
PUBLISHER: Gardner, Alexander
albumen print
14.9 x 20.3 cm
Museum Purchase
GEH NEG: 14861
70:0075:0032

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES:
This image was part of GEH's submission to Art Museum Image Consortium (AMICO) in 1999.//
Mulligan, Therese & Wooters, David. --Photography from 1839 to today: George Eastman House, Rochester, NY.-- Cologne: Taschen, 1999. p. 244.//

EXHIBITION HISTORY:
"The American Situation: The Camera's Century", US, NC, Chapel Hill, William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Center, January 11 - February 23, 1976.//
"Inside Out: 50 Years of Collecting", US, NY, Rochester April 24, 1999 - March 12, 2000.//

NOTES: "Gardner's ... large-plate images were captioned 'Across the Continent on the Kansas Pacific Railroad.' ... "Although the portfolio [sic] conmtained views of New Mexico, Arizona, and California, which were taken along the thrity-second parallel and carried the caption of a Gardner photograph, they were undoubtedly taken by Dr. Bell. Gardner had stopped photographing in Hays, Kansas, in October 1867. The expedition arrived in San Francisco in September 1868. As official photographer for the expedition, Gardner was allowed to publish all the expedition photographs under his name. In 1867 he stated in a deposition that although a photograph was identified on the mount as a 'Photograph by A. Gardner,' it simply meant that it was printed or copied in his gallery; he was not necessarily the photog- rapher. The other photographers on the expedition were Dr. William A. Bell, William R. Pywell, and Gardner's son, Lawrence, who apprenticed on the expedition." [D. Mark Katz, --Witness to an Era, The Life and Photographs of Alexander Gardner,-- 1991, pg. 220]