Archives West Finding Aid

Herbert B. "Cris" Crisler was born in Comer, Elberto County, Georgia on July 23, 1893. While serving in the U.S. Army Signal Corps he became acquainted with the Pacific Northwest, and relocated in 1919 to Washington's Olympic Peninsula. Settling in Port Angeles he opened his own photography business. He purchased a 100-lb. Pathe newsreel camera and began filming wildlife and the Olympic Mountains. In the winter, he supplemented his income by working in construction. Because the format of a newsreel camera was compatible with motion picture projection, Mr. Crisler began shooting footage that was later released as his first documentary, From the Mountains to the Sea (1924). In 1934 he became a wildlife photographer, and on December 7, 1941 married University of Washington English professor Lois Brown. Together, the Crislers began recording Olympic habitat and wildlife, producing several films and featuring them in cross-country lectures. Herb Crisler contracted with Disney Studios in 1950 to film the elk herds of the Olympic Mountains. In April 1951, Disney sent the Crislers to Colorado to film bighorn sheep and in the fall of 1952, they continued on to Denali National Park in Alaska to film grizzly and brown bears. The Crislers moved to the Brooks Range within the Arctic Circle in April 1953 for 18 months, where Herb filmed the caribou and Lois kept journals of her observations of the wildlife and her surroundings. The Crislers relocated to the Tarryall Mountains near Lake George, Colorado, where they continued to care for the wolves they had raised. Lois' book Captive Wild (1968) relates the story of her relationship with the wolves. The strain of protecting the wolves took a toll on their marriage, and the couple subsequently divorced. In later years, Mr. Crisler's companion was Pacific Northwest historian and author Ruby El Hult. He died in Puyallup, Washington on December 15, 1985.