The SOHS Sawyer Collection

The images presented here are part of a donation we are calling the Sawyer Collection. The images have come from multiple photography studios, some of them unidentified. Most were taken by the Kiser Studio of Portland, Oregon in the 'Teens and early 'Twenties, especially of rugged scenes in Crater Lake and Glacier National Parks and along the Columbia River. A small collection was taken 1905-07 by photographer H. G. Peabody of Massachusetts and Maine urban and coastal scenes. An anonymous collection portrays architectural and rural views taken in Central Mexico in the same era.

The collection was saved and cared for by William Gruber, who had a long working relationship with the Portland photography studio Sawyer Service Inc. Gruber was the inventor of the popular View-Master, which he produced in collaboration with Sawyer’s. According to the donor, in 1939 Sawyer’s was poised to dispose of these glass plate negatives in order to focus on the View-Master, when Gruber offered to take the plates. Over the past eight decades, the Gruber family has meticulously maintained the collection of approximately 3,000 plates, weighing roughly half a ton. Southern Oregon Historical Society received the plates as a donation in 2019, and has made them publicly available with additional grant funding from Oregon Parks and Recreation and the Oregon Cultural Trust.

 SAWYER COLLECTION INDEX        WILLIAM GRUBER       WHEN THE COLLECTION ARRIVED AT SOHS     

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Title
SWY0257

Banked or superelevated curve with possibly Mount St. Helens in the distance.

SWY0258

Possibly Columbia River from Sauvie Island with Mount Hood in the distance.

SWY0259

Portland and Mount Hood from the West Hills.

SWY0260

Unlabeled

SWY0261

Columbia Gorge, possibly east of Hood River (note beaches).

SWY0262

Unlabeled

SWY0263

Probably SPand S Railroad on the Columbia River circa 1915.

SWY0264

Unlabeled

SWY0265

Unlabeled

SWY0266

Unlabeled

SWY0267

Unlabeled

SWY0268

Most likely the SPand S railroad tracks on the Oregon side of the Columbia Gorge.

SWY0269

Unlabeled

SWY273

Likely the SPand S railroad cars, possibly on the Oregon coast.

SWY274

Railroad tracks along the Columbia River?

SWY275

Railroad tracks along the Columbia River.

SWY276

Unlabeled

SWY277

Unlabeled

SWY278

Wooden ship with two tugboats possibly near mouth of the Columbia River.

SWY279

Ships near the mouth of the Columbia, with what might be Tongue Point in the distance.

SWY280

Ship and tugboat near Astoria on the Columbia River.

SWY282

Columbia River Highway, possibly the Moffat Creek Bridge.

SWY283

Columbia River Highway bridge over what is possibly Oneonta Creek.

SWY284

What looks to be a section of pioneer road on the Columbia River Highway with the beginnings of a tunnel.

SWY285

Unlabeled

SWY286

<span class=\"aDMkBb\">Looking up the Columbia River from Crown Point (?) circa 1916.</span>

SWY287

Columbia River Highway before paving.

SWY288

View of Multnomah Falls from Columbia River Highway (?)

SWY289

View showing portion of elevated Columbia River Highway probably east of The Dalles.

SWY290

Multnomah Falls prior to construction of lodge on the Columbia River Highway.

SWY291

Multnomah Falls

SWY292

Section of Columbia River Highway looking west.

SWY293

Falls of the Willamette at Oregon City.

SWY294

Possibly the Hood River Valley.

SWY295

Pacific rhododendrons

SWY0296

'Rhododendrons', '', '2'),

SWY0297

Tree in foreground, snow-cover peak (McLoughlin?) in background

SWY0298

Lake, railroad track, train, cliff with tunnel, possibly on Washington side of the Columbia River.

SWY0299

Trees, road, lake, probably at Glacier National Park.

SWY0300

Snow-covered mountain reflected in lake, with trees in foreground

SWY0301

Coast, Rocks, Ship

SWY0302

Bridge on the Columbia River Highway, Gorge section.

SWY0303

River

SWY0304

Oneonta waterfall, Punchbowl Falls, Columbia River Gorge.

SWY0305

Waterfall, tree trunk on the Columbia River Highway.

SWY0306

Graded Columbia River Highway, Gorge section, with masonry guardrail as barrier.

SWY0307

Graded road surface, Oregon side, Columbia River Highway.

SWY0308

Rose Bushes

SWY0309

Garden, tree, roses?

SWY0310

Rose bushes, close