Sponges from Tarpon Springs, Florida, circa 1971

About this postcard

Five natural sponges rest on a green slatted surface, each labeled with a commercial type: yellow, wire, finger, grass, and wool. The shapes range from rounded yellow sponges to long finger sponges, showing the variety harvested for sale. Tarpon Springs, on Florida's Gulf coast, became a sponge-diving center after Greek immigrants settled there in the early 1900s. Its sponge docks and diving demonstrations drew tourists, and the message's account of a glass-bottomed boat ride and a man diving for sponges fits that trade.