THE BURGERT BROTHERS OF TAMPA - Act 1 of 5 Act 1 | Act 2 | Act 3 | Act 4 | Act 5 Some photos and information for this feature were obtained from an article in the Sunland Tribune 16/1 (November 1990), Tampa Historical Society by Dr. Jack B. Moore and Dr. Robert E. Snyder and "Pioneer Commercial Photography" by the same authors.
Many of the images presented here were made possible by the tremendous efforts of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library, by preserving, scanning and sharing on the web, over 15,000 of the Burgert Bros. images. Other sources equally deserving of recognition for doing the same for thousands more images, are the University of South Florida Digital Collections, the Florida State Archives "Florida Memory" Project, and the University of Florida Digital Collections, all of which were photo sources as documented in this feature.
Also, credit is due to David Parsons, curator of the Burgert Bros. photo collection at the THCPL, for his assistance and cooperation with providing high resolution images, and William LaMartin, for maintaining a very useful way to search the THCPL Burgert Collection in a way that produces thumbnail images of search results, an indispensible feature at LaMartin.com.
Introduction
The Burgert family's greatest impact on commercial photography began when S.P. Burgert and Son first opened a photographic studio in Tampa. Although they did do portrait work, by 1918 the Burgert Brothers Commercial Photography Studio, with brothers Jean and Al Burgert at the helm, was firmly established in Tampa, providing commercial photography services to the West Coast region of Florida. The firm continued in operation until 1963. During this time, the firm took over 80,000 photographs for their clients. Burgert Brothers photographs appeared in Life and National Geographic magazines, as well as local newspapers, advertisements, promotional brochures and displays for stores and offices. The distinctive handwritten Burgert Brothers logo on the lower corner of the photographs became a hallmark of photographic excellence, reflecting both the quality of the Burgert's work and their business integrity.
From the intersection of Madison St., looking north The building with the Maas Bros. sign was the Krause building, now the location of the Franklin Exchange tower at 600 Franklin St. From the University of South Florida Digital Collections
The tall building in the background was the Citizens Bank Building on the northwest corner of Franklin and Zack St. See this building in 1926 in another Burgert Bros. photo, now the site of TECO Plaza. In front of it can be seen the building Maas Bros. occupied in 1920 after expanding from the Krause Bldg. From the University of South Florida Digital Collections Though brothers Al and Jean were the two principal sons of Samuel and Adelina Burgert whose photographic work has endured, all the brothers made contributions to the history of photography in the Tampa area, and all were involved in various ways with the community.
From the University of South Florida Digital Collections
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The
Burgert family of photographers spanned three generations and worked
productively in the field for nearly 100 years, beginning in the 1860s in
Cincinnati, Ohio, and travelling into several states of the southeastern
United States; primarily Florida. They were six sons and one daughter-in-law
of the original photographic progenitor of the family, Samuel Peter
Burgert. Samuel and his sons, at various times took, sold or marketed
supplies for hundreds of thousands of photographic images, usually requested by
commercial clients, and in the process coincidentally documented primarily the
Tampa Bay region’s development from little more than a scrubby port village to
a major urban center of international importance.
