His name was Al Monner and he never became a world-famous photographer (unlike his peers Ray Atkeson, Minor White, and Dorothea Lange). As far as Oregon is concerned though, I would argue that Monner gave us a priceless look into life during WWII.
Al Monner, Self Portrait / Image via / OHS Digital Collections
Born and raised in Portland and small Eastern Oregon communities, Monner was hired as a staff photographer for the Oregon Journal newspaper in 1938 where he continued on until retiring in 1975. During his tenure, Monner made thousands of film images for the paper, covering everything from the mundane "slice of life" editorial sets to news events in every corner of the state.
Despite being frequently staged for the Journal, his images of those five wartime years in the 1940s are especially poignant.
Rubber being given to a Shell Oil Company representative in exchange for admission to Vaughn Street Park, Portland, 1942 / Image via / OHS Digital Collections
From the early days of WWII to the ending celebrations in Portland, Monner's lens captured it all. In scrolling through his collection we see how life for Oregonians began to phase into the wartime efforts of rationing (in everything from sugar to shoes). Women left their traditional roles in the home to venture into the workforce while their husbands were away on the front. Meanwhile, their children still found ways to have fun. In the meantime, Asian Americans were increasingly looked at with scrutiny and persecution in this tumultuous period of American history. Those images are particularly hard to view.
Beginning in 2020, the Oregon Historical Society was busy processing thousands of Monner's negatives and digitizing them for online research. Today the incredible collection can be found on their website. We've selected the following 49 images to highlight here.
Oregon Life During WWII
1. Children swimming at Sellwood Park, July 1, 1940
Children swimming at Sellwood Park, July 1 1940 / Image via / OHS Digital Collections
2. Japanese boy scouts outside the Portland Journal Building, 1940
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
3. Young men reading magazines inside a Hollywood neighborhood store, Portland, November 1940
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
4. Hollywood Theater, Portland, November 1940
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
5. Crossing at SE Bybee and Milwaukie Ave, Portland, 1940
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
6. A young boy in a leather pilot's helmet selling newspapers, Portland, 1941
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
7. Rose Festival Court, Portland, 1941
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
8. A Navy sailor on the S.S. President Jackson, 1941
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
9. Kids playing in a Portland city park, July 1, 1941
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
10. Demolishing buildings on Front Avenue, Portland, 1941
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
11. Springer Spaniel field competition, Deer Island, September 1941
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
12. The chapel at Providence Hospital, Portland, 1941
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
13. Harvesting flax, Clackamas County, 1941
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
14. Chinese American women, Portland, 1942
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
15. A female welder for the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation, Portland, January 1942
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
16. Female workers for the Columbia Aircraft Corporation, 1942
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
17. Illustrating the rationing of sugar with Paul Shaw, administrator of the Multnomah County Rationing Board, April 1942
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
18. Female truck drivers, Portland, 1942
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
19. Japanese Americans in a temporary detention center, Pacific International Livestock Exposition Building, Portland 1942
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
20. Portland policemen receiving gas masks, 1942
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
21. War hero parade float, Portland, June 1942
22. Milk delivery at Commercial Iron Works, Portland, 1942
23. Students with their teacher at war worker housing, Portland area, 1942
24. Navy recruits leaving en masse at George A. White Center and Victory Center, SW 6th and Morisson, Portland, 1942
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
25. Elva May Poole, the first black member of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps from Portland, being sworn in by Lt. D.K. MacDougall, September 1942
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
26. Scrap metal drive at Lincoln High School, Portland, 1942
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
27. War industry workers at a meeting, Portland, 1942
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
28. Worker with leather mitts at St. Johns Welders' Supply Company, Portland, 1943
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
29. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visiting George M. White Service Men's Center, Portland, 1943
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
30. Victory Center dedication at Pioneer Courthouse Square, Portland, June 1943
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
31. Women workers in an electric shop at Commercial Iron Works, Portland, 1943
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
32. A crowd at a Portland shoe store on the last day to use shoe stamps during rationing, June 1943
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
33. A performer putting on makeup at Earl Carroll's Vanities Road Show, Portland Mayfair Theater, 1943
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
34. Navy blimp over Oregon Journal building, Portland, 1943
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
35. Meadowlark Trailer Camp for shipyard workers, St. Johns, 1943
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
36. Junior Rose Festival parade, Portland, 1943
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
37. Street at Meadow Lark Village Camp for war workers, St. Johns, 1944
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
38. Arrival of a ship with returning servicemen and U.S. employees at Portland port, April 13, 1945
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
39. A Navy sailor returns home, Portland, April 1945
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
40. Iris Mandy of Sears Roebuck, and Clara Markstaller of Fred Meyer, holding large paper war bonds, Portland, 1945
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
41. President Truman visiting Portland, June 1945
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
42. Celebrating the end of World War II, downtown Portland, August 14, 1945
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
43. Celebrating the end of World War II, downtown Portland, August 14, 1945
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
44. Celebrating the end of World War II, downtown Portland, August 14, 1945
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
45. Celebrating the end of World War II, downtown Portland, August 14, 1945
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
46. Celebrating the end of World War II, downtown Portland, August 14, 1945
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
47. A woman looking at the Oregon Journal cover, 1945
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
48. Mrs. W. H. Caplan throws newspapers to navy men on U.S.S. Barrow, Portland, October 1945
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
49. U.S.S. Mormacsea with returning troops, Portland, November 1945
Image via / OHS Digital Collections
