William Cheney was a machine shop operator and inventor. As a child in Oregon City, Or., Bill became interested in photography. While still in school, he discovered astronomy and started mountain climbing to take advantage of the clear air at high altitudes. To further his photography, Cheney built telephoto lenses for his cameras and also experimented with slow-motion and split-screen photography. Cheney joined the Portland-based Mazamas mountaineering organization in 1922, when he lived at Tillamook, Or. He and his wife lived at Oceanside, Or., in 1927, then in the Portland area briefly before moving to Longview, Wash., about 1930. They moved to Seattle about 1933.
This collection consists of Bill Cheney's home movie projects, filmed in black-and-white and color. Some record recreation and entertainment, such as mountain climbing; fishing; rodeos, including the Pendleton Roundup; circuses; and speedboat racing. Others cover travels to California and Oregon or document jobs he worked on, most notably bridge, railroad, and tugboat construction for logging. Many of the films record life in the Pacific Northwest, especially in the Seattle, Wash., area. A commercial film on a 1940 corn husking contest also is included. Although some of the films cover a single time period, many are compilations of material that cover extended time periods.
The films are individually numbered. They have been organized into two series and arranged chronologically:
Viewing copies are available at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library for all films except 02183 CHEN and 02446 CHEN.
The collection is open to the public.
The Oregon Historical Society is the owner of the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from the Research Library before any reproduction use. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.
William Cheney Motion Picture Collection (Mic 4), Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Gift of David Cheney.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.
Scenes of welding, bridge building, machinery, and vehicles. Part of welding sequence is on lenticular film.
Various industrial scenes, including a bottle plant, bridge construction, and logging.
Scenes from the Pendleton Round-Up rodeo, including the parade through town, taken over several years. In addition to the parades, there is footage of the bucking horse event (filmed partly in slow motion), calf roping, and various races. Additionally, there is a panorama of Pendleton, and a wonderful sunset sequence.
Repair yard for lumber company railroad.
Fabricating parts and assembling a tugboat. Also includes footage of a bear cub.
Scenes of Native Americans dancing, a baseball game, and canoes and boats, on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state.
Scenes on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state, including a derelict riverboat, snap pea harvesting, clam digging, forests and clearcutting, fish stocking, and wildlife. Includes scene of William Cheney cooking pancakes.
Scenes include group climbs in the Mt. Baker area of the Washington Cascades, a parade of floats, and a small airplane from West Coast Air Transport Co.
Views of a gibbous moon.
Many scenes of autumn foliage in color, along with black & white footage of ski jumping competitions.
Scenes around western Washington, including a timber carnival, the U.S.S. Constitution (Old Ironsides), fishing, and the Longview flood of 1933.
Scenes around the Seattle area, including retail areas, industrial areas, and restaurants.
A family hike and picnic with visits to two large caves. Several scenes were photographed underground.
Scenes of life around Seattle in the World War II era, including the waterfront, scrapped airplanes, neon signs at night, a clam-eating contest, boat show and entertainment.
A visit to the Cole Bros. Circus and a small rodeo. The film includes setting up the traveling circus tents.
Compiled from several trips through Oregon. Includes a trout hatchery, parade, Lambert Gardens in Portland, distilling mint, picking strawberries, Oregon beaches, a fire, smelt, Bonneville Dam, Celilo Falls, Crater Lake, forests, sagebrush, mountains, farm animals, lava fields, hunting, and power plants.
A trip through Montana featuring a burning house, clearing brush from the edge of the road, many mountains and rivers, a dam and power house (possibly Fort Peck Dam), crossing the Continental Divide, and industrial buildings.
Scenes around the Seattle area during the Depression and World War II. Includes a snow storm, auto racing, a Hooverville, baseball, fishing, navigation locks, Boeing Field, a wartime scrap metal drive, a soap box derby, the Lake Washington floating bridge, and several parks.
Documenting a trip down the Oregon coast beginning north of Heceta Head, and continuing, through road construction, to the San Francisco World's Fair on Treasure Island.
Scenes around Washington state, including maintaining roads by burning grass on the shoulders, mountains, wildflowers, parades, apple orchards, family outings, fireworks, farming, the Gingko Petrified Forest, and rock art.
A tour through Death Valley, California. Includes wildflowers, especially cactus, and salt mining.
Summer vacation trip including the floating bridge on Lake Washington, Mt. Rainier, and Crater Lake on the way to Yellowstone Park. Scenes in the park include mudpots, geysers and waterfalls.
Scenes around Seattle, especially the harbor, the airport, the ferries. Also includes trips to Westport, Wash., and Victoria, British Columbia. The film ends with the 1953 Parkland Roundup parade.
Scenes around the Seattle waterfront, including Grayline Tours, fishing, boats passing through locks and under bridges, catching and steaming shrimp, Gold Cup speedboat racing, and celebrations.
A trip to Paradise Inn and around Mount Rainier.
Images of the moon during several phases and several images of the sun.
A miscellany of scenes: a fountain in Seattle, children's carnival rides, pickets during a retail workers strike, driving through the mountains, the Oregon beach, garden flowers.
Street scenes around Seattle, parades in Portland (Rose Festival) and Seattle (Seafair), 1962 World's Fair, the Jackson Court House historic site, and a circus act.
An outdoor fundraiser, the I.O.O.F. [International Order of Odd Fellows] circus, mainly small booths; various views of Seattle showing the Space Needle; a trick photography section done with double exposure that has Bill Cheney talking to himself; a trip to Death Valley, California.
Highlights of the 1940 national corn husking contest. It includes scenes of Native Americans dancing at the opening ceremony. Shows part of a plowing competition held in conjunction with the corn husking contest. Also shows several corn-husking competitors. A Travelon picture. Producer: Dubay.