Commercial fishing for shad in the St. Johns River

General Note/Comment

• 151 color slides. Images of commercial fishers Sheffield and the Schmidt family catching, hauling, and cleaning shad (and some flounder). They would fish the St. Johns River and then take their catches back to the fishhouse for processing. The Schmidts were from Illinois originally, and Sheiffield was a native of Floridia. For an interview with the Schmidts, see S 1714, Box 3, tapes 28-29; for Sheffield, see tape 27.. In winter 1985, the Bureau contracted with two folklorists to conduct a folk arts survey of the St. Johns River basin in northeastern Florida. The St. Johns River is the largest and most used river in Florida, supporting much river commerce as well as a modest amount of commercial fishing. Folklorists Mary Anne McDonald and Kathleen Figgen conducted the survey from January through March 1985 under the direction of Folklife Coordinator Blanton Owen and Bureau Chief Ormond Loomis. Documentation compiled in the survey was used to prepare and present the 'St. Johns River Basin Folklife Area' at the 1985 Florida Folk Festival.