The SOHS Library is OPEN to the public at 106 N. Central Avenue in Medford, with FREE access to the SOHS Archives, from 12:00 - 4:00 pm, Tuesday through Saturday. Appointments are not necessary. Please contact library@sohs.org, or call 541-622-2025 ex 200 to ask questions or request research.

 

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     

Displaying 1001 - 1050 of 2802
Keyword Search
Search by Sawyer Number (use only the number)
Title
SWY1037

Statue of Minute Man, Concord, Massachusetts
SWY1038

The Old Manse, Concord, Massachusetts--Copyright 1906
SWY1039

The Wayside, Home of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Concord, Massachusetts
SWY1040

Israel Putnam House, Danvers, Massachusetts
SWY1041

Old Wentworth House, Portsmouth, New Hampshire
SWY1042

Old Wentworth House, Portsmouth, New Hampshire
SWY1043

The Willows, Eastern Point, Gloucester, Massachusetts
SWY1044

York River, Sewall Bridge and Club House--First Pile Bridge Ever Built, York, Maine
SWY1045

Bar Harbor, Maine--Great Head, Mt Desert
SWY1046

Great Head, Mt Desert, Maine
SWY1047

Looking North from Great Head, Mt Desert, Maine
SWY1048

Bar Harbor, Maine, from Porcupine Island
SWY1049

Lubec, Maine--West Quoddy Head Lighthouse
SWY1050

New Brunswick--Seal Cove Grand Manan
SWY1051

Cliffs at Southern Head, Grand Manan, New Brunswick
SWY1052

Gull Cliff Light House, Grand Manan, New Brunswick
SWY1053

Southern Cross, Grand Manan, New Brunswick
SWY1054

Surf at Nahant, Massachusetts
SWY1055

Surf at Nahant, Massachusetts
SWY1056

Surf at Marblehead Neck, Massachusetts
SWY1057

Churn, Marblehead Neck, Massachusetts
SWY1058

Rebecca Nourse House, Danvers, Massachusetts
SWY1059

Birthplace of Israel Putnam, Danvers, Massachusetts
SWY1060

Manchester, Massachusetts--Singing Beach
SWY1061

Among the Isles of Shoals
SWY1062

Picnic Rocks, Kennebunk River, Maine
SWY1064

Unlabeled
SWY1065

Bishop\'s Head, Grand Manan, New Brunswick
SWY1066

Cliffs, Northern Head, Grand Manan, New Brunswick
SWY1067

Seven Days Work, Grand Manan, New Brunswick
SWY1068

Whale Cove, Grand Manan, New Brunswick
SWY1069

Spraggs Cove, Grand Manan, New Brunswick
SWY1070

Cliffs at Southern Head, Grand Manan, New Brunswick
SWY1071

Cliffs at Southern Head, Grand Manan, New Brunswick
SWY1072

Southern Cross, Grand Manan, New Brunswick
SWY1178

Glacier National Park--Going-to-the-Sun Camp, Head of Lake from Chalet
SWY1179

Glacier National Park--Going-to-the-Sun Camp Looking South from Sexton Glacier
SWY1181

Glacier National Park--Going-to-the-Sun Camp Along Sexton Glacier Trail
SWY1182

Glacier National Park--Going-to-the-Sun Camp Along Sexton Glacier Trail
SWY1183

Glacier National Park--Going-to-the-Sun Camp South from Sexton Glacier
SWY1184

Glacier National Park--Going-to-the-Sun Camp Looking South from Sexton Glacier
SWY1185

Glacier National Park--Going-to-the-Sun Camp on Sexton Glacier Trail
SWY1186

Glacier National Park--Many Glacier Hotel
SWY1187

Glacier National Park--Many Glacier Hotel--Boats
SWY1188

Glacier National Park--Many Glacier Hotel--Telephoto
SWY1189

Glacier National Park--Many Glacier Hotel--Night
SWY1190

Glacier National Park--Many Glacier Hotel, Showing McDermitt Peak
SWY1191

Glacier National Park--Many Glacier Hotel, Interior
SWY1192

Glacier National Park--Many Glacier Hotel, Looking Out of Window
SWY1193

Glacier National Park--Many Glacier Camp Hotel and Lake from McDermitt Peak