Founded in 1949, The Sailor Circus Academy is Sarasota’s “premier youth circus training program” (yes, there are others). Florida is where in the 1940s the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus wintered. The circus and sideshow industries were headquartered in Sarasota, Tampa and Gibsonton. Photographer Joseph Janney Steinmetz moved to Florida in 1941. He loved the circus. For one of his most memorable assignments, Steinmetz travelled with the circus, photographing the performers’ life on the road. Here we look through his archive of Kodachrome images from 1940s Florida.   Handing out copies of The Evening Independent: St. Petersburg, FloridaMarch 19, 1947 Group portrait of the Sarasota Sun-Debs: Lido Beach, FloridaDate: ca. 1950 Hunting with Texas Jim Mitchell and friends in the Florida EvergladesDate: July 23, 1947 Asolo Theatre: Sarasota, FloridaDate: February 17, 1961   Lazaros Coffee Shop: Tarpon Springs, FloridaDate: April 13, 1947 John M. Gonatos in his curio shop with assistant Niki Vasilikis: Tarpon Springs, Florida, 1942   ‘Seminole mother and children: Brighton Reservation, Florida, 1949’ Identified as Mrs. Lonnie Buck, son Roly and daughter Poly. Nora Carrol and Lois Duncan Steinmetz: Sarasota, FloridaNovember 1949 New Year’s Eve on the the shantyboat Lazy Bones, December 31, 1947 Everglades Lounge at the Clewiston Inn: Clewiston, FloridaJanuary 1948. The mural in the Everglades Lounge was created by J. Clinton Shepherd in the 1940s. Venetian Pool: Coral Gables, FloridaDate: ca. 1945.  The Venetian Pool, located at 2701 De Soto Blvd. in Coral Gables, Florida. National Container Corporation Mill: Jacksonville, Florida  ca. 1945 Laurence A. Kavanaugh painting his work “The Fundamental Triangle” at the Ringling Art School in Sarasota, Florida, 1947 H.G. Champlin at the L&N Freight Depot at Pensacola, Florida 1945 Unidentified young woman picking cottonDate: ca. 1945 Ringling Circus performer Lois Duncan Steinmetz gazing at the Suwannee River Date: 1949 Born in Philadelphia in 1905,  Steinmetz, moved to Sarasota Founded in 1949, in 1941 and passed away there in 1985. . His work is now at the State Archives. The post Life in 1940s Florida in Gorgeous Kodachrome appeared first on Flashbak.