Large archive of 13 individual 11½x16” scrapbooks containing approximately 1200 pages of clippings, photographs, program tickets, letters and memorabilia documenting the activities of world famous fisherman, photographer, lecturer, author and cinematographer, Jack Lamb of Ft. Worth, Texas from 1933-1943.
Jack Lamb, generally considered the most outstanding bass fisherman in the world, at least in the 1930’s, was an author, cinematographer, and according to Ripley, fished every day for 17 straight years. Born in 1905 in Oklahoma, Lamb had a meager education, was raised without parents and grew up a transient farm worker, eventually ending up in the oilfields. Lamb became interested in fishing and determined to be the best. He supposedly caught over 35,000 bass between 1930 and 1935, and began a series of lecture and casting demonstration tours that lasted through the early 1940’s. He was paid by Gulf Oil Co and went from city to city lecturing on fishing, giving casting demonstrations and refusing to take any money for his efforts. Lamb’s ability as a fly caster was also legendary and he consistently could cast within a foot of the world’s distance record. It is said he never ate a fish in his life and released most of his catches, except for ones he photographed. In 1937 he wrote “How To Catch Game Fish”, which was reprinted in 1990 by the Bass Anglers Sportsman’s Society of America. Lamb owned the largest collection of movies of cowboys and ranch life in the entire country. An early cinematographer in his own right his work with the camera has gained him as much fame as his fishing ability. There are over 800 mostly 4x5 black and white photographs of all manner of fishing, ranching, hunting, car crashes, construction workers, cotton field workers and images of the crowds at his lecture and demonstration events, mostly in the Southern states. A vast archive of a fascinating fishing personality in post depression America.