The Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, holds several historical collections of images related to forestry and forests in Switzerland. A majority of the photographs, negatives and slides in the collections are stored on glass plates. The archives also contain some paper copies and special thematic sub-collections on cardboard. This contribution describes various aspects of forest images dating from the first half of the 20^th century. A photograph of a wood pasture taken by Hermann Knuchel (1884–1964) near the village Sufers, Canton Grisons, in June 1913 serves as a starting point.