A Different View
of the
World
VIEWERS: Featuring monoviewers & stereoviewers, including Tru-Vue; View-Master and related products, films and reels.

This site has been accessed times since 12/24/95.
Or so the Master Web-Counter tells me!
Created on 12/9/95. Last modified on 1/30/00.

Note that I purchase entire collections as well as individual items. Contact me with full identification information of your items.
This website lists my own personal collection of viewers and films/reels of both the stereoscopic (including 3-D) variety, as well as what I term the "monoscopic" variety. As this page is further revised and refined, it will expand its coverage to encompass more history, images, bibliography, sources and related information.

Macro Views

A BRIEF HISTORY

Tru-Vue
Viewers and filmstrips and cards. Following the development of 35 mm filmstrips in the 1920's, stereo filmstrips were introduced by the Tru-Vue company which was founded in 1931 by Rock Island Bridge & Iron Works in Illinois. These new filmstrips featured 14 stereo frames each, and by 1949 Tru-Vue sold over a million of these per year. In 1950, Tru-Vue went color with "Stereochromes" in order to compete with Sawyer's popular View-Master. In 1951, however, Tru-Vue was bought out by Sawyer's because Tru-Vue had previously acquired the coveted exclusive license to use Walt Disney Production's popular cartoon characters in 3-D format. After moving the Tru-Vue operations to Beaverton, Oregon closer to Sawyer's Portland home, stereo cards were created and came to replace the filmstrips. These new cards featured only 7 stereo frames, just like the View-Master reels. By the 1960's, Tru-Vue had been phased out in favor of the View-Master line.
View-Master
Viewers and reels. Invented in 1939 in Portland, Oregon by William Gruber with Harold Graves, president of Sawyer's. Originally View-Master products were sold through a national network of 1,000 dealers, Following World War II, demand soared and Sawyer's began marketing through department stores by repackaging its single reels into 3-reel packs. General Aniline and Film Corporation (GAF) purchased Sawyer's, Inc. in 1966. It was GAF that introduced the Talking View-Masters as well as the View-Master projectors. The View-Master line subsequently sold in 1980 to Arnold Thaler, who also purchased Ideal Toys. TYCO then purchased View-Master Ideal, Inc. and then sold to Fisher-Price a subsidiary of Mattel, Inc., which is the current producer of View-Master products.


reel Cataloging & Identifying Your View-Master Reels
reel Alternate Views - 3D Resources & Links
reel Publications
reel 3D Advertising (Realist, View-Master, Tru-Vue)
reel Tiny TV Mono Viewers
reel Cameras, Viewers & Projectors
reel Personal View-Master Reel Collection
reel Personal Tru-Vue Collection

This RingSurf Stereoscopic 3D Web Ring Net Ring
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