The Sigler photograph collection represents nearly 50 years of work by Boise photographer R. Harold Sigler. A native of West Virginia who studied at both Wesleyan College and Harvard, Sigler arrived in Boise in 1911 and quickly established his photographic business. Although known primarily as a portrait photographer, Sigler also photographed urban and rural landscapes, public buildings, utilities, schools, churches, businesses and homes, athletic events, parades, fetes, funerals, and theatrical productions. He served for a number of years as the official photographer for Boise High School. Sigler's work focuses primarily on the Boise area but does include several other southwestern Idaho towns.
The Sigler collection includes images of some 30,000+ individual subjects. (The exact number of items isn't known; like any good photographer, Sigler took multiple views of each subject.) Because his work spans a wide time period, a variety of photographic formats are present - glass plate, nitrate and safety film negatives, and some prints. Also included is Sigler's filing cabinet of 4 x 6 index cards, each with detailed information on the subject, date of sitting, and number and size of prints ordered by his various clients.
With the assistance of funding by the Idaho State Legislature in 2000, approximately 2,000 negatives were scanned to illustrate the collection and are available for viewing in the Research Library reading room. And a total of 750 contact prints have been made from badly-deteriorated negatives, funded in part from a grant from the Idaho Heritage Trust.
The images shown on this web page are only a few from the collection and were chosen to show the variety of Mr. Sigler's work. Inquiries about the collection and specific images are welcome. Click here to submit a request for information to the Idaho State Archives staff.
Prints or slides of materials may be purchased (unless restricted by the donor, copyright, or the condition of the item). Fee schedules and order forms are available upon request. Advance permission is required for publication or other public use and a fee is charged for all commercial uses. Additional information.
