And when we came back with a boatload of fish, we would sort them out in these live cars, and butterflyfish here, and triggerfish here, and groupers here. And after two weeks, then the tugboat came back and picked us up. And we had loaded, taken all of those fish… Read More
I know I’m jumping all around the place here, but that’s basically what the collecting trips were. One of them, when I came back to the aquarium, we headed for the island of Bimini, which is just 60 miles across from Miami. And we just hit a tremendous storm out… Read More
And I swear it was like watching a cartoon where the plates go up, and then they come (mumbles) back like that. And you had to hold on to them, bunks we were in to keep from falling out. I was very glad to get to Bimini. You mentioned the… Read More
And I did went to Key West, came back. Oh, and Mr. Chute, who was the director at that time, originally came from Boston. He had been a director of the South Boston Aquarium and retained his Boston accent until the day he died. And as he was telling me… Read More
Can you tell us a little about that first sojourn into the world of professional fishers?… Read More
Yeah, well, those collecting trips are really a story unto themselves. We had no real boat. We had small, almost skiffs, and we rented a barge in Miami from Bacchus Towing Company, and put all our equipment on the bars. We had a little house about the size of a… Read More
How did you have and develop an interest in fishers?… Read More
Well, as a kid, I went fishing in a little lake up in Michigan, near Three Rivers, Michigan. It was called Fisher Lake, and my mother was sort of the neighborhood mother. She taught school, and during the summer, she’d go around and gather up a bunch of the neighborhood… Read More
And he pointed out characteristics of a lot of the fish that we saw. And pretty soon, they were just not things with scales swimming around in the tanks. They were animals who had certain characters that coincided with their body length with their jaw structure. And I said this… Read More
In zoology. Read More
And did you serve in the army?… Read More
Served first of all in the Merchant Marine for 18 months, then came back, and we were supposed to be exempt from further service. And then when the Korean War broke out, they grabbed me again for two years. Very fortunately, I was not sent overseas and it was during… Read More
And what type of schooling did you have?… Read More
I went to, I think, a typical Chicago grade school, then for high school, I went to Morgan Park Military Academy and onto Northwestern for college and to George Washington University in Washington DC for a master’s degree. Read More
And your master’s degree was in?… Read More
Bill Braker, I was born in Chicago in 1926, long time ago. Read More
What could zoos do to enhance their attendance regarding exhibits?… Read More
Any little tricks?… Read More
Well, I think keeping your name in front of the press and news agencies as we did for so long, every single Friday, they were sure to be getting a story from the zoo. And that can’t do any harm. Read More
Oh, yes. Read More