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Carnival History Goes Digital

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By LIZ BLEAU, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 16, 2008

Updated: 02/14/2008 04:11 pm

RIVERVIEW - The local showmen's club and the University of South Florida Library have teamed up to preserve the colorful history of the carnival industry.

The International Independent Showmen's Association, with headquarters in Riverview, is working with USF to develop a computer photo collection of carnival history.

There's plenty of old photographs and other paper memorabilia, such as tickets, programs and newspaper clippings, available for the digital photo history, said Chuck Mayo, the showmen's club member in charge of the photo project.

Many of the old photographs are in boxes in the carnival museum housed in a small building on the club grounds and in some of the 25 trailers of carnival history stored at the facility.

Eventually, copies of the old photos combined with the other carnival memorabilia - from horse-drawn wagons to costumes and props - will be housed in the museum. The shell of the building has been constructed; additional work is being done on a "pay-as-you-go basis," with no schedule on when the project will be completed, museum director Ivan Arnold said.

Andrew Huse, an assistant librarian for the USF library's special collections department, said he was overwhelmed on his first visit to the club grounds last year and saw what he described as "a treasure trove of history. It's truly a world-class collection."

He also saw that some of the old items were being stored outdoors and need to be preserved and copied as soon as possible.

Huse gave Mayo a list of computer equipment the club would need to copy and preserve the photos and to have the copies compatible with the USF library's archives.

The showmen's club has spent about $8,000 on the project for supplies and equipment. Huse and other staff members from USF have visited the trailer where the project is housed and instructed Mayo and other volunteers on how to create a digital history.

Huse said the plan is to have the carnival history linked or included in the university library online photo histories.

The photo partners are looking for grant money to allow the USF staff to work more closely with the carnival photos.

In the meantime, Mayo works several days a week scanning photos into the computer and then preserving the originals in clear envelopes and filing them.

For many of the photos, Mayo has no clue about details. When the photos eventually are posted to a Web site for public viewing, Mayo hopes people will recognize aspects of the old photos and contact him so he can add more information.

Mayo, who travels the carnival circuit as a glass blower and with food concessions, enjoys working with the photographs.

"If I could, I would do this full time," he said. "I think there is a lot of interest in this collection. When it's done, the whole world will be able to look at our history," he said.

Reporter Liz Bleau can be reached at (813) 865-1557 or lbleau@tampatrib.com

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