The fonds consists of photographs by Ken Bell, taken during his career as a professional photographer, as an official photographer in the Film and Photo Unit of the Canadian Army, and as the official photographer of the National Ballet of Canada, as well as other graphic material, textual records, medallic material, and audio-visual records documenting Bell's career.
The fonds is divided into six series which spans his career from the 1930s to the 1990s. The military series is further divided into 4 sub-series which include: the Royal Regiment of Canada, Royal Canadian Regiment and the Royal Canadian Military Institute.These sub-series include photographic work of events and personnel each subject.The fourth sub-series is World War Two and Later, which includes photography of the personnel and operations of the Canadian Army during WWII and photographs for his three books, "The Way We Were", "Curtain Call", and "Not in Vain" which documents Europe after 5, 10 and 25 years of the Second World War. The National Ballet of Canada series consists of photographs of the company including several ballet productions (ie. Swan Lake, the Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet etc.), portraits of company members (such as Celia Franca, Karen Kain, Lois Smith, Rudolph Nreyev) and publicity photographs. Cardinal Leger series documents the Cardinal and his work in Cameroon at a rehabilitation centre for children during the 1970s. The travel series includes photography of landscapes and people of various parts of the world, including South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. The commerical series encompases all of his professional work from the 1940s to the 1990s, including photography for advertisements, magazines, and book publications, such as cook books, "Oil Lamps: The Kerosene Era in North America" and "Collecting Canada's Past". Lastly, the personal series contains correspondence, certificates, plaques, WWII photo passes and slides used as a teaching aid during his teaching career at the Ontario College of Art.
Most of his photographic work is arranged by docket numbers (assignment envelopes) with information about the client and in most cases, includes the original negatives, contact sheets and some prints. His work is also in exhibition print form used for exhibitions and photography contests. And lastly Ken Bell's published photographs (1940-1990), can be found in brochures, booklets, reproductions of commercial advertisements, as well as tearsheets from such publications as Canadian Home Journal, Canadian Photography, Chatelaine, Maclean's Magazine etc.
