The items in this donation cover the span of two and half decades of photography by numerous staff photographers at the Gloucester Daily Times. Following the evolution of late 20th century photography, the collection begins as polyester film negative strips and ends as digital photographs on disks or memory cards. 

The photographs in this collection come primarily from Peter Prybot’s work as a photographer documenting the work of fishermen in his books White-Tipped Orange Masts: Gloucester’s Fishing Draggers, A Time of Change, 1970-1972 (WTOM) with some new photos in his second edition; Lobstering off Cape Ann: A Lifetime Lobsterman Remembers; and his “Ebb and Flow” column in the Gloucester Daily Times.

Herman W. Spooner’s photographs hold a special place in the Museum’s archives for their quantity but also for their range of subject matter. Spooner was able to capture major moments of history on Cape Ann as well as create imaginative and artistic compositions. During his lifetime, Spooner’s photographs were successful beyond the Cape Ann Camera Club and were shown at the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts and were also featured in a traveling exhibition throughout the U.S.

Philip Reisman began visiting Cape Ann in 1944 and returned frequently through 1954. As a painter and a photographer, Reisman focused his attention on Gloucester's working waterfront. The Cape Ann Museum Library & Archives is home to a collection of 35mm color slides taken in Gloucester by Reisman in the 1950s, mainly related to St. Peter's Fiesta and the Gloucester fishing industry.