Sandy River and Mount Hood by Kiser Studios

This hand-colored photograph of the Sandy River with Mt. Hood beyond was taken sometime between 1909 and 1915 by Fred Kiser. The image showcases one of Kiser’s many colorized “Artograph” prints made for sale to tourists. Kiser developed this specialized process using oil paints to make color images of black-and-white photographs early in his career, and he applied the technique to market his images widely in easily reproducible formats. For much of his career, Kiser held valuable concession licenses to market and sell his images at such places as Crater Lake and Multnomah Falls.

Brothers Fred and Oscar Kiser began taking photographs of the Columbia River Valley as a hobby which evolved into a business in 1902. The Kisers secured an important contract early in their careers when they were named the official photographers for Portland’s Lewis and Clark Exposition in 1905. The brothers were in business together until Oscar died of accidental drowning in late 1905. After Oscar’s death, Fred remained in business and became a premier photographer of mountain landscapes as well as one of the most successful commercial photographers in the United States during the first decades of the twentieth century.

Fred Kiser produced a wide array of work during his career. His photographs were shown in art galleries and were widely available commercially. He mass-produced his Artograph colorized prints as individual photos, mounted sets, and covered albums. In 1907 he collected 1,000 of his Artograph scenic views for a touring show that travelled to 20 cities in the United States including New York and Chicago, bringing images of Oregon to the east.

Kiser’s photographs of Crater Lake National Park helped publicize the lake, and his work photographing and promoting the region of northwestern Montana contributed to the creation of Glacier National Park. Additionally, Kiser worked as a photographer for the Great Northern Railway, compiled a major exhibition for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, and took photographs of the construction of the Columbia River Highway in the years prior to World War I.

In 1917 and 1918, during the war, Kiser served as director of photography for the Oregon District of the Emergency Fleet Corporation, taking images of shipbuilding activities primarily at Portland-area shipyards. After the war Kiser continued to produce and market his photographs. He started the Scenic America Company to sell his colorized prints using the slogan “See America First.” Under this company name, and later with the help of partners from Grants Pass, he sold prints and developed film at Crater Lake throughout the 1920s. After this venture failed, he moved to the Los Angeles area, where he died in 1955.

Further reading:

“Guide to the Kiser Photo Co. Photographs, 1901-1999” (Northwest Digital Archives Finding Aid), http://nwda-db.wsulibs.wsu.edu/findaid/ark:/
80444/xv22241, accessed Sept. 10, 2008.

Sharon M. Howe, "Photography and the Making of Crater Lake National Park," Oregon Historical Quarterly 103:1 (Spring 2002), 76-97.

Written by James V. Hillegas,  © Oregon Historical Society, 2008.