Misc. History: View Masters

This has taken me awhile to do. As a kid I remember having a view master & sitting in my room looking at the reels. I still have my reels. I know they still make them but it just doesn't seem the same back when I was a kid. Recently looking at my reels, I wondered where & when did it all start. I found the info & decided to share with everyone who remembers having a view master and/or has bought them for their kids. Here is what I found.

The view master goes back to the late 1930's in Portland, Oregon. Two guys named William Gruber & Harold Graves were the first to bring the view masters. Graves was president of Sawyers Photographic Services. He saw Gruber's camera rig had potential. They partnered up & the view master was born in 1938.

The view master was first intended to be as educational tool mostly aimed at adults. As time passed, it became more of children's entertainment. The view master was used in the US military & had special sets of reels to help them identify artillery & aircraft during WWII. 

The Sawyer company had a rival, Tru-Vue company. The Sawyers bought the Tru-Vue company in 1951 & obtained the rights to have Disney characters on their reels.

In 1966, the General Aniline & film corporation purchased the view masters. They had a good run but the view masters were seen as a toy & slowly the market started to shrink.

In 1981 the company was sold to Arnold Thaler & was renamed as the view master international group. Then in 1989 it was sold to Tyco toys. In 1997 Mattel, Tyco & view master merged. The view master name continues on & is now produced under the name Fisher Price.

There have been many different kinds of view masers including characters like Mickey Mouse, Big Bird, Casper, Batman, Tweety & Power Rangers. Below is a slide show with the different types of view masters that have been produced over the years. I DO NOT OWN THE PHOTOS except for 2 of them, the all white talking view master with it's reels & the photo of a few different reel stories. The photo of the reels are from my personal (sm) collection from when I was a kid.  I got my info from the web site: 

I found a site in searching for info on view masters, where you can turn your photos into a view master reel. They have different packages & one includes a view master to view your reels if you don't have a view master. I think this is the coolest thing. The prices seem to be pretty reasonable too. Here is the web site if you are interested: http://www.cinti.net/~vmmasell/custom.html