Once in a very rare while something long-lost and fantastic comes to our office. Among those terrific recoveries for us are photos of fishing and oystering in local waters, taken many decades ago.

Elizabeth Titlow Anderson brought a box full of negatives that she found in a closet of her Mathews home. They were taken and stored by her grandfather, Paul Titlow, longtime editor of the Gazette-Journal and before then reporter, editor, and owner of the Mathews Journal, having joined that paper in 1910.

Mr. Titlow retired as editor in 1955 and died in 1962. We suspect his negatives had not seen the light of day for many years until his granddaughter discovered them. We are so grateful to her for bringing them to add to our collection.

In addition to being almost a one-man band in running the paper, Mr. Titlow was an excellent photographer and recorded the people, places and occupations of Gloucester and Mathews in a time that has passed forever.

One package of negatives tells the story ...