New photography by Ed Pollard captured with a digital camera-2006.

Fishing Boats in the Harbor, Newport News, Virginia

Artist Paul Schermerhorn Carter (American, 1903 - 1938)

CultureAmerican

DateSeptember 1936

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsOverall, Image: 6 9/16 × 9 9/16 in. (16.7 × 24.3 cm)
Overall, Support: 7 7/8 × 10 in. (20 × 25.4 cm)
Overall, Mat: 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase

Object number85.1.4

On View

Not on view

DescriptionThis is one of a series of gelatin silver prints; FSA photographs in Virginia.

Label TextPaul Carter American, 1903–1938 Fishing Boats in the Harbor, Newport News, Virginia, September 1936 Gelatin silver print (photograph), printed 1985 At one time the Chesapeake Bay provided 40% of the world’s oysters, but dredging, pollution, and overharvesting destroyed 75% of the bay’s reefs. By the 1930s, regulations limited harvesting to protect the waterway. “The fisherman is his own worst enemy,” local waterman Jeff Stonehill observes, noting that the competitiveness of the industry can lead to overfishing: “if you don’t get the fish, someone else will.” Chrysler Museum purchase 85.1.4 Exhibition History"Mountaineers to Main Streets: The Old Dominion as seen through the Farm Security Administration Photographs," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, May 3 - June 16, 1985. Published ReferencesBrooks Johnson. _Mountaineers to Main Streets: The Old Dominion as seen through the Farm Security Administration Photographs_. The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA. 1985: p. 44.