Forsyth, N. A. (Norman A.), 1869-1949

Norman A. Forsyth was born on February 10, 1869 in Syracuse, New York. Adopted as an infant, his family moved to Plainview, Nebraska, in 1870. Forsyth attended Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Nebraska and while in school, Forsyth began selling stereo cards and viewers door-to-door for Underwood and Underwood, an early producer and distributor of stereographic views.

Shortly after graduating from college in 1901, Forsyth headed west to Yellowstone National Park to work for the Shaw and Powell transportation company. Attracted by the park’s scenic beauty, Forsyth decided to continue working as a tour guide and stage driver in Yellowstone for five more summers. Forsyth purchased a stereo camera and captured Yellowstone views which he then sold to Underwood and Underwood.

By 1902, Forsyth had relocated to Butte, Montana, and he began operating a photographic studio there in 1904 as the sole agent for Underwood and Underwood in Montana, selling views under his imprint as well. Forsyth captured stereo views of Butte city life and of copper mining and smelting at Butte and Anaconda.

Forsyth developed a close friendship with Charles M. Russell, and both followed the last buffalo roundup in Montana. The two were guests of a group of Canadian peace officers who assisted in driving 800 head of bison purchased from Michel Pablo of Ronan, Montana, north to Canada. Forsyth captured stereographic views and Russell painted numerous pieces over three summers of the roundup (1906-1908).

Forsyth visited and photographed the Morrison Cave (today the Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park) between 1902 and 1911. He also made a number of trips to Northwest Montana to photograph Glacier National Park and family groups of Montana Indians (ca. 1906 - ca. 1908). In 1911, Forsyth attended the Montana State Fair and took many pictures of the event and its main attraction, aviator Cromwell Dixon and his flight across the Continental Divide.

In the early 1920s, Underwood and Underwood sold their stereograph business to the Keystone View Company and Forsyth transferred his operation to Keystone. In 1930, Forsyth moved to Dillon, Montana, and he continued to work for the Keystone Company until 1947, when he was diagnosed with kidney cancer. N. A. Forsyth passed away in his sleep on December 15, 1949.

From the guide to the N. A. Forsyth stereographs, circa 1901 - circa 1911, (Montana Historical Society Research Center)