Got any family history connections to Florida between 1899 and 1963? Even if you don’t, you’ll enjoy browsing the Burgert Brothers Photographic Collection for photographs showing a broad spectrum of people and places including African-American and Hispanic families, workplace shots, recreational sites and many other views of life in Florida in the early 20th century.
I discovered the collection while searching for images from Ocala, Florida in the 1930s. Although the collection’s emphasis is on Tampa and the west coast of Florida, I found the 1939 shot above showing Silver Springs in central Florida just east of Ocala. I love the combination of cheesecake and artsy in the photo of the swimsuit clad models along with the glass-bottom boats. Note the dramatic pose of the woman on the high dive in the background.
The photographs in the collection are in the public domain and can be used without charge, but users need to include the credit line of “Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System. “ Grants and donations from patrons and researchers provided the funding for the digitization of more than 14,000 photographs in this collection.
Each record for each individual photograph provides information about the date of the photograph, locations, and sometimes names of people in the photograph.
You can find digitized images of the Burgert Brothers Collection on the Hillsborough County Library System website at hcplc.org/hcplc/research/burgert/ or do a web search for “Burgert Brothers Photographic Collection” for updated links.
Photo credit:
Burgert Brothers. Woman on shore and boats in water : Silver Springs, Fla. 1939. Burgert Brothers Photographic Collection, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System. Accessed 14 December 2015 at http://hcplc.org/hcplc/research/burgert/
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