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 1751 - 1800 of 2802
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Search by Sawyer Number (use only the number)
Title
SWY1913

Wreck of Peter Iredale on Point Adams Beach, Oregon
SWY1914

Wreck of Peter Iredale on Point Adams Beach, Oregon
SWY1915

Scotch Broom Drive, Columbia Beach, Oregon
SWY1916

Scotch Broom Drive, Columbia Beach, Oregon
SWY1917

Neacoxie Creek from Columbia Beach, Oregon Boats
SWY1918

Lily Pads, Neacoxie Creek, Columbia Beach, Oregon
SWY1919

Neacoxie Creek from Columbia Beach, Oregon Property
SWY1920

Neacoxie Creek, Columbia Beach, Oregon
SWY1921

Neacoxie Creek, Columbia Beach, Oregon
SWY1922

Portland, Oregon, Rose Festival 1910 Auto Parade, Morrison Street
SWY1923

Portland, Oregon, Rose Festival 1910 Auto Parade, Morrison Street
SWY1924

Portland, Oregon, Rose Festival 1910 Auto Parade, Morrison Street
SWY1925

Portland, Oregon, Rose Festival 1910 Auto Parade, Fire Chief\'s Car in Foreground, Meier and Frank
SWY1926

Portland, Oregon, Rose Festival 1910 Auto Parade, Seventh Street
SWY1927

Portland, Oregon, Rose Festival 1910 Parade, Vehicle, Band and Mail Carriers, Morrison Street
SWY1928

Portland, Oregon, Rose Festival 1910 Parade Vehicle, Morrison Street--Mail Carriers
SWY1929

Portland, Oregon, Rose Festival 1910 Parade--Vehicles, Morrison Street
SWY1930

Portland, Oregon, Rose Festival 1910 Parade Vehicle, Morrison Street
SWY1931

Portland, Oregon, Rose Festival 1910 Parade Vehicle--Hunt Club, Morrison Street
SWY1932

Portland, Oregon, Rose Festival 1910 Parade Mounted Horsemen
SWY1933

Rose Festival 1910 Parade Vehicle, Morrison Street
SWY1934

Rose Festival 1910 Parade, Sixth & Yamhill
SWY1935

Rose Festival 1910 Parade, Sixth & Yamhill
SWY1936

Rose Festival 1910 Parade, Sixth & Yamhill
SWY1937

Rose Festival 1910 Parade, Sixth & Yamhill, Band & Mail Carriers Float
SWY1938

Rose Festival 1910 Parade, Sixth & Yamhill
SWY1939

Rose Festival 1910, Interior Armory
SWY1940

Rose Festival 1910, Caroline Testout Roses, Armory
SWY1941

Rose Festival 1910 Auto Parade, Morrison Street
SWY1942

Rose Festival 1910 M. C. Dickinsen Decorated Auto
SWY1943

Rose Festival 1910 Friedlander Decorated Auto
SWY1944

Rose Festival 1910 Electric Parade Float No. 1, Queen of Bees
SWY1945

Rose Festival 1910 Electric Parade Float No. 3, The Winged Charioteers
SWY1946

Rose Festival 1910 Electric Parade Float No. 4, Neptune--God of the Sea
SWY1947

Rose Festival 1910 Electric Parade Float No. 5, Venus, Goddess of Beauty
SWY1948

Rose Festival 1910 Electric Parade Float No. 6, Cinderella--Another Crystal Slipper
SWY1949

Rose Festival 1910 Electric Parade Float No. 7, Comet Amid the Planets
SWY1950

Kalispell Wheat Field, H. O. Christensen
SWY1951

kalispell Wheat Field Panorama #1
SWY1952

Kalispell Wheat Field Panorama #2
SWY1953

Kalispell Grain Fields Panorama #2
SWY1954

Kalispell Grain Fields Panorama #2
SWY1955

Panorama, Many Glacier Hotel & Lake McDermitt from McDermitt Peak
SWY1956

Kalispell Grain Fields Panorama #3
SWY1957

Kalispell Grain Fields
SWY1958

Kalispell Grain Fields
SWY1960

Kalispell--Road Through the Grain Fields near Big Fork
SWY1961

Kalispell Apple Orchard, E. L. Sleter
SWY1962

Kalispell Apple Orchard, E. L. Sleter (Crabapple)
SWY1963

Kalispell Apple Orchard, E. L. Sleter