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Bell & Hall
A Security Guard with Photographic Materials in the U.S. Capitol Dome
n.d.
Carte de visite
Private collection of Ron Coddington
LL/99175
Bell & Hall (Washington, D.C.)
(Ron Coddington, research, provided on Facebook, 27 April 2020)
A man sits with a open book on his knee and an arm resting on a worktable. Upon the table is visible a steroviewer, field glasses and paper prints. One of the prints is tacked to a support beam. Another beam in the foreground has a sign of some sort attached to it. Sitting atop a wood platform behind him is his hat and what may be holders for glass photographic plates. An empty box sits on the floor in front of the table. The entire setup is located inside an elaborate support structure of steel beams angled and bolted in place. A cylindrical object sits in the foreground.
The structural details resemble contemporary images of the interior of the dome of the U.S. Capitol Building.
William H. Bell and A.F. Hall, were active in the District of Columbia between 1866-1867. One of Bell’s brothers, Nephi, a former ambrotypist for Washington’s Turner & Co., had started Bell & Brother by 1862. This studio became Bell & Hall.
Through extensive research Ron Coddington has identified the man as J.P. Gulick who had been both a policeman in the grounds of the Capitol and a guard inside the Dome.
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