Viewmaster from the viewing side
The Wolford/Longenbach Collection at Old Independence Regional Museum is home to this Viewmaster and picture packets. The Viewmaster has a hard plastic casing. It is brown with an ivory rectangular box on the top with the word LIGHT and when pushed down lights up the pictures. The handle on the side turns the circle of slides when pushed down and released. The word Viewmaster is in gold on the top back. In the front in raised script are the words: Lighted Stereo Viewer and under that is the word Sawyer’s and Viewmaster. It needs 2 C batteries to operate the light.
This toy was first introduced as a souvenir at the New York World’s Fair and the Golden Gate exposition in California in 1939-1940. These early souvenirs were composed of plastic, film and paper. During WWII, Viewmasters were used as a training tool and the military ordered around 100,000 of them for training purposes. In the 1950s they were sold as toys with a package containing three reels and a storybook. Some of the reels featured television shows and cartoons while others depicted locations. The Viewmaster is considered a cousin to the stereoscope.
Top View of Viewmaster
The Viewmaster Stereo Picture Packets pictured below have reels of film and a booklet showing photos and giving information. The three packets pictured depict Mount Rushmore, The Grand Canyon, and Yellowstone National Park.
Three Viewmaster Packets
