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Bureau of Florida Folklife Programs. Florida Folklife Archive
Title, Dates:
Tarpon Springs Sponge Industry Folk Arts Festival slides and release forms, 1989.
Amount:
0.50 cubic ft.
Medium Included:
slides
Organization/Arrangement:
Restrictions:
Terms Governing Use:
Biographical/Historical:
Legislation in 1979 (79-322, SB 1208) transferred the Florida Folk Arts component of the Stephen Foster Memorial to the Florida Department of State. Operating as the Bureau of Florida Folklife Programs from ca. 1985 until 1995, the Bureau coordinated the annual Florida Folk Festival and directed such programs as Folk Arts Apprenticeships, Folk Arts in Education, Folk Heritage awards, annual research surveys, and numerous other projects and programs. From 1995 through June 30, 2021, the renamed and reorganized Florida Folklife Program continued the majority of these operations from within the Division of Historical Resources, Bureau of Historic Preservation in Tallahassee. During the 1995 reorganization, the State Archives of Florida acquired the Florida Folklife Collection from the Bureau of Florida Folklife Programs’ previously maintained Florida Folklife Archives. Legislation in 2021 (2021-71, L. O. F., HB 909) transferred the Florida Folklife Program and its operations from the Division of Historical Resources to the newly renamed Division of Arts and Culture, previously the Division of Cultural Resources, effective July 1, 2021. The program is charged to "identify, research, interpret, and present Florida folk arts, artists, performers, folklore, traditions, customs, and cultural heritage and make folk cultural resources and folklife projects available throughout the state."
The city of Tarpon Springs was incorporated in 1887. The area began to develop in the mid 1800's where the Anclote River delivered freshwater to the area. Indians and settlers used the area as a safe haven and for hunting and fishing. A reputation began to grow about the recreational hunting and fishing in the area, and the population began to increase.
In 1891, an entrepreneur named John King Cheyney started the Anclote and Rock Island Sponge Company. His company initially harvested sponge from the floor of the Gulf of Mexico from boats by the hook method. In 1897, he employed a young Greek sponge buyer and technical expert named John Cocoris. Cocoris informed Cheyney of the sponge divers in Greece using rubberized wet suits. These men could harvest four times as much sponge being submerged in the suits than could people working from the boats.
Since American divers did not care for this deep water work, an advertisement for sponge divers was placed in several Greek language newspapers. In 1905, some 500 Greek men answered the ads and came to Tarpon Springs to work in the developing sponge industry. This group of sponge divers has influenced the cultural and industrial outlook of Tarpon Springs to this day.
Sponges were a major industry for the state of Florida, at one time providing up to 95% of the nation's sponge supply. In some years sponges provided more income than any other fishing activity for the state; however, in the mid to late 1950s, the sponge industry greatly diminished due to over-fishing and high sponge mortality in the 1940s. The sponge industry has rebounded since the 1940s blight, and the sponge industry remains a vital part of Tarpon Springs' economy and culture.
Summary:
This series contains the slides, negatives, and contact sheets from the Tarpon Springs Sponge Industry Folk Arts Festival which took place on June 24 and 25, 1989. Also included in this series are informant depositer agreements, a festival program, a press release and schedule, and tape logs for audio recordings of the event. The festival involved the Greek community of Tarpon Springs and all aspects of the sponge industry. This included Greek food and dancing, Nikitas Tsimouris and Tsabouna making and playing, Anthony Lerios and grandson Nich Toth making diving helmets, sponge boat building, and sponge diving.
Finding Aids:
Searchable index to images available online at http://www.floridamemory.com/PhotographicCollection/ #
Additional Physical Form:
Reproduction Note:
Location of Originals/Duplicates:
Associated Materials:
For the audio recordings documented by the tape logs in this series, see S1576, Audio Recordings of Florida Folk Festival Performances and Other Folk Events.
Language Notes:
Ownership/Custodial History:
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Electronic Records Access:
Subject Access Fields:
Tsimouris, Nikitas
Greek Americans Florida Greeks Florida Sponge fisheries Folk dancing Florida Folk music Florida Folklife.
Slides. aat Negatives. aat Audio cassettes. aat
Tarpon Springs (Fla.)
for detailed listing.