View-master, Model F, Charles Harrison, 1958

I recently catalogued a View-master, Model F, stereo viewer (refer image below). It was designed by Charles ‘Chuck’ Harrison in 1958 whilst he was working for the US design company, Robert Podall Associates. It was manufactured by Sawyer’s and was their last model to be made in bakelite (phenol formaldehyde) from a range that had first been introduced twenty years earlier. On sale from 1959-1966, it cost $3.95 with separate reels available to buy for 35c.

The Model F View-master
Image credit: Katherine Pell

MoDiP has a couple of other View-master examples, including a Model C, E and J. They are all very similar in form, quite unlike the first models introduced from 1938. Model A had a round body that hinged open to insert the reel, large viewing lenses and was made from black coloured cellulose acetate. Apparently, there were some versions that also included coloured speckles within the plastics material that were made from asbestos (refer image below, left)!

The asbestos-speckled Model A (left) and Model B (right)
Image credit: https://www.viewmaster.co.uk/htm/quickref.asp  

As this View-master was prone to warping problems, the next model (B) was compression moulded in bakelite between 1944-1947, available in black, brown, blue or black/blue (refer image above, on the right). We would definitely love to add one of these to the collection if anyone has an example they would like to kindly donate!

The Model C followed from 1946 and this is the beginning of the style we most commonly recognise, with a slot at the top to insert the reel and the advance lever positioned at the side.

AIBDC : 0_6372
Image ref: MoDiP

The next major change in form was seen in the Model G, which was injection moulded in polystyrene and again designed by Charles Harrison. Compared to compression moulding, this new method of manufacture would not only speed up the process of making the View-master but reduce overall costs as well, so Sawyer’s felt they could justify the initial investments needed for the re-design and tooling. Harrison also changed the colour to beige, matching the View-master to the rest of Sawyer’s product line at that time (refer model on the right, below), with the model G being first released in the early 1960s. When the company was acquired by GAF (General Aniline & Film) in 1966, the colour was changed again, this time to red (refer below, left).

The Model G View-master.
Image credit: Harrison, 2005, p.66.

Although there were a number of other View-masters introduced afterwards, it is with the model G that this blog ends, since that was the version my family owned when I was a child. I recall looking at slides showing a snowy topped mountain in Switzerland and cows wearing bells around their necks. I have no idea why we had that particular reel, but my parents had been on holiday there (pre-children) so maybe they were just reminiscing. I never questioned it, I just enjoyed putting in the circular card reel, pushing down on the lever with my finger and listening to the strange noise the rotation mechanism would make as it advanced the next picture round.

 

If you would like to look at any of MoDiP’s View-masters, reels, or Charles Harrison’s biography, contact us to make an appointment.

 

Katherine Pell
Collections Officer

 

References:

Harrison, C., (2005) A Life’s Design: the life and work of industrial designer Charles Harrison. Chicago: Ibis Design Inc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View-Master

https://www.viewmaster.co.uk/htm/history.asp