[FISHING]. HENSHALL, James ABiblio.com
Trophy Fishing Charter Boats and Florida's Booming Gulf Coast: Clearwater Sporting and Waterfront Leisure Photo Archiveof 101 Photographs and Negatives circa 1951 to 1952
1951ref. 238461951. Clearwater Florida fishing boat leisure and sporting photo archive circa 1951 to 1957 documenting the charter boats trophy catches fishing tournaments family recreation and marina culture that accompanied the Gulf Coast city's explosive postwar growth as a Sunbelt tourist destination. Photographed by Clearwater commercial photographer George Fulmer the archive records sport fishing as Clearwater entered the decade with 15581 residents and reached 34653 by 1960 an increase of roughly 122 percent during the most dramatic decade of population growth in the city's twentieth century history. Fishing supplied Clearwater with more than recreation: charter captains sold access to the Gulf tournaments converted catches into civic competition marina displays turned fish into public spectacle and photographs allowed visitors and residents to preserve and circulate the experience. By 1956 Clearwater's Fun in the Sun Festival incorporated fishing contests into its public programming placing angling beside beauty contests and other organized expressions of the city's tourist identity. Fulmer photographed the waterfront culture through which Clearwater converted marine abundance into leisure civic identity and tourist value. Photo archive of approximately 101 items comprising 51 silver gelatin photographs and 50 corresponding large format negatives contained in 19 original George Fulmer studio job envelopes Clearwater Florida circa 1951 to 1957. Ranging from 4 x 5 inches to 2.5 x 4 inches. The photographs repeatedly return to Clearwater's docks and charter fleet. Anglers pose beneath the large "Clearwater Florida Marina" sign with racks of grouper and other catches; captains and passengers stand beside large fish suspended from dockside hoists; and parties gather aboard the Flo Jo where a sign identifies "Capt. Nick Lopez" and gives a ship to shore telephone number. Several photographs record enormous individual catches as public events including a tarpon identified on its Fulmer envelope as weighing 143 pounds a shark suspended beside the charter boat Doolie Brook and men and women displaying fish large enough to dominate the composition. Fulmer also photographed the social organization surrounding the catch including Clearwater Fishing Club tournament boards listing snapper grouper red fish trout and other categories. Women appear as anglers and participants posing aboard charter boats beside trophy catches and with fishing parties. Other photographs extend the recreational setting beyond deep sea fishing including Crest Lake outings tour boats crowded with passengers and children gathered along the water for organized fishing. Fulmer's numbered studio envelopes preserve names dates boats addresses catch information and assignment descriptions among them "Flo Jo" "red fish contest" "Crest Lake fishing" "two manfish" and "143 lb tarpon" connecting the photographs to the commercial photography operation that recorded Clearwater's sporting life. Fishing had formed part of Clearwater's tourist identity for decades before Fulmer made these photographs. A city promotional booklet from the late 1920s described fishing as a "favorite sport" singled out tarpon as the Gulf Coast's premier game fish and noted that fishermen traveled to Clearwater specifically for the spring tarpon season with boats and guides available to take them onto the water. The early 1950s gave that established regional pastime a new mass scale. Motorboats charter services tackle organized tournaments tourism and rising disposable income turned recreational fishing into a consumer culture built around access to the Gulf while the 1950 Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act reflected the national expansion of sport fishing by directing fishing equipment excise taxes toward state fisheries programs and recreational access. Fulmer's photographs record the local expression of that postwar transformation: fish are caught weighed ranked suspended from marina racks surrounded by spectators awarded prizes and photographed as evidence of an experience that Clearwater could repeatedly sell. The trophy photograph itself became part of the tourist economy converting a day on the Gulf into a visible record of Florida abundance. Light surface wear occasional handling marks and curling to photographs with expected wear and toning to the original studio envelopes; negatives generally preserved in their corresponding sleeves. Overall in very good condition. A concentrated visual record of how fishing boating tournament competition and dockside display made the Gulf a central arena of leisure and tourist culture during Clearwater's defining postwar Sunbelt boom. unknown
Max Rambod Inc. · Estados Unidos850,00 US$≈ 757,91 €
