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General Note

The residences of Charles Ringling and his daughter Hester are in the center and the John Ringling home, Ca'd'Zan, is at the right.

The 1980 Legislature designated the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art at Sarasota as the "official art museum of the state." The museum, mansion and estate were bequeathed to the State by John Ringling, of circus fame, and have been operated since 1946 by board of Trustees appointed by the Governor. The trustees are authorized to loan paintings and other objects of art to the Governor's mansion and to schools, libraries and other public buildings where such loans are in the interest of the public. The homes are located within the Caples'-Ringlings' Estates Historic District which was later added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Biographical Note

Joseph Janney Steinmetz was a world-renowned commercial photographer whose images appeared in such publications as the Saturday Evening Post, Life, Look, Time, Holiday, Collier's, and Town & Country. His work has been referred to as "an American social history," which documented diverse scenes of American life from affluent northeasterners to middle-class Floridians. Steinmetz moved from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Sarasota, Florida in 1941.