Many thanks to Eric Beheim for capturing the images from six Viewmaster reels.

The idea for mass-producing full color 3-D transparencies in an easy-to-use format was conceived by William Gruber, a piano tuner and organ maker from Portland, Oregon. During the summer of 1938, Gruber described his idea to Harold Graves, president of Sawyer's, a Portland company that made postcards and did photo finishing work. Suitably impressed with the sales potential of such a system, Graves persuaded his partners to add it to their line. Uncertain as to what to call their new product, people within the Sawyer's organization eventually came up with the name View-Master. (Even though the View-Master brand name would eventually come to be recognized by 65% of the world's population, William Gruber its inventor hated it, since it sounded too much like Toast-Master, Mix-Master or some other kitchen appliance.)

Gruber himself designed the machine that mounted the tiny pieces of Kodachrome color transparency film into reels made from heavy paper stock. A special viewer was also designed and produced

During 1939, Harold Graves and William Gruber traveled to various scenic locations around the country to obtain 3-D images for the first View-Master reels to be issued. Among the places that Graves visited was the New York World's Fair. The photographs he took there were eventually released as reels #86, #87, #88, and #89.

After some test marketing in the Portland area in late 1939, the Sawyer's View-Master was officially introduced to the public in 1940 at the New York World's Fair and at the Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco. Viewers sold for $1.50 and individual reels sold for 35 cents each.

After some test marketing in the Portland area in late 1939, the Sawyer's View-Master was officially introduced to the public in 1940 at the New York World's Fair and at the Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco. Viewers sold for $1.50 and individual reels sold for 35 cents each.

An immediate hit with the public, View-Master went on to become one of the most successful products of all time. To date, well over 1 billion reels have been produced as well as hundreds of millions of viewers.