Don’t worry, you haven’t skipped the weekend and fast forwarded to Wednesday — we’re just launching a new set today because I love random connections…

For those of you who have been following the blog posts for the past couple of days, I’ve been telling the story of Fred Kiser, a Gifford contemporary and fabulous photographer out of Portland in the early part of the 20th century. Why? It all started with a comment on this photo asking if we could provide a date for it.

That set us sleuthing, which led us to a treasure trove of information on dear old Fred. For those of you who want to know more about him, read the blog posts for August 26th and 27th — there’s a lot there!

One of the things that did stand out in Kiser’s biographical information was his involvement with the Mazamas, a climbing club in Portland. It just so happens that we have some wonderful, and wintery, pictures of the Mazamas that we’ve added to the Gerald Williams Collection set. For more on what’s in the Williams Collection, check out our collection guide.

Now for more on this set… Thanks to Doug for the witty narrative description!

Have you ever wondered what your grandfather did for fun? While some undoubtedly whittled their lives away, others were out conquering the wilderness. If you’re from Oregon, ol’ grandpa might have even been part of the Mazamas. On top of Mt. Hood, the original 105 charter members of the Mazamas founded their organization on 19 July 1894. Since the organization’s founding, the Mazamas have fought for environmental preservation, built a number of lodges, named Mt. Mazama, and, of course, promoted and taught basic climbing education.

Spend a little time hiking through the snow, check out the new Mazamas set in Flickr Commons! And, of course, for more information on the Mazamas check out their site and find out how to start your own adventure!