Capturing Time

Otto C. Schallerer (1884-1968)
        Photographer

Otto Schallerer was born in 1891 and came to Alaska in 1909. He first lived in Seward, where he began photographing and making postcards. Here he met his spirited wife, Lillie, who had come to Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush, become one of the first residents of Seward, and worked as postmistress for eight years. In 1932, they bought the photography shop in Ketchikan.

For the next three decades, Mr. Schallerer and his wife ran the local photo store on Front Street. As they developed the town's negatives, they also concentrated on bringing Mr. Schallerer's work into being. They sold prints and postcards of his photographs - many of which Ms. Schallerer hand-tinted - alongside a supply of cameras and film.

Mr. Schallerer photographed Ketchikan from the 1930s to the 1960s, making such innovations as creating some of the earliest aerial work of the area. One of his strategies was to climb the town's large communication towers. He was among the first Alaskans to recognize the importance of Sydney Laurence's work, as they had met in the early 1900s when both were starting out. Indeed, it was he who donated the Sydney Laurence painting on display at Ketchikan High School to this day.

Otto Schallerer shot scenes that were of interest to the market, but, ultimately along the way, he also captured the spirit and mystery of Southeast Alaska.

Additional photographers featured in this exhibit

• Harriet Elizabeth Hunt (1865-1934)
  
• Con Giebel (1878-1965)
  
• Benjamin Alfred Haldane (1874-1941)
  
• David Nicoll (1877-1937)
  
• Alfred Milotte (1904-1989)
  
• Hall Anderson (1949- )
  
• Paulu T. Saari (1919-2011)