TOPIC: Some CarAqua Research

One of the more valuable tools for researching these old boats are newspaper databases. Lots of information out there from period articles and notices of stock issues, plant openings, fires, bankruptcies, and so forth.

The past couple days I have focused on the little-known 1950's Florida boats such as "Crest Craft", "Gulf Liner", "Muir-Maid", "Flare", and so forth. Google has indexed and made freely available the St. Petersburg Times, Lakeland Ledger, the Miami News, and a few more newspapers that have been of use in this research. When I find substantial information, I create or add to the relevant entries in the FiberGlassics Library with appropriate citations documenting the source of the information. We are finding search engines are picking up on information in the FiberGlassics Library and bringing in lots of folks with family connections to 1950's boat companies and those just searching for more information on their old boats.

Anyhow, I have attached a recent find- a news article from the Oct. 12, 1957 St. Petersburg Times and found through Google's news archive. The news article is on CarAqua Boats which sheds some new light on the company. This article provides a description of the CarAqua and gives a tip on a previously unknown person behind the development of the CarAqua, Bill O'Keefe. Also previously unknown, the CarAqua was intended to be developed further into an amphibious model.

news.google.com/newspapers?id=OAhSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JnYDAAAAIBAJ&dq=dick-bradley%20fiberglass&pg=5415%2C5083861

I find it so fun and rewarding doing historical research such as this. It is amazing what can be found these days. I remember the olden days with microfilm and NO indexes to anything. If you desired to do some research on a topic in Sioux Falls, SD you have to travel to Sioux falls and cross your fingers you might stumble into something. Or roll thru the newspapers on microfilm in a dank, dark, dusty recess of the library basement. Page by page by page by page by page.

Andreas

I find the interconnected nature of the research fun- following one line will turn up leads on other companies and further interesting details. It can be a challenge to stay organized and record what's uncovered- one detail may make all the difference for follow-up research or help someone connect with their family history.

But I see this online research as limited. For smaller or defunct newspapers/magazines there will always be a need to visit libraries and crawl through back issues, books, microfilm. Then, on-the-ground sleuthing to find people, collect oral histories and get copies of personal collections. I have a running list of libraries, for instance, I need to visit for their unique holdings (say, anyone in Indianapolis?)

I consider online research as a seed pearl around which further information will collect and gather as people become interested and share their collections or are inspired to pursue further research. Once a history write-up is created and shared online, it can only be built upon and further details uncovered. Why else has Wikipedia, Ancestry, and specialized collector and hobbyist websites grown so well?