In the Trees

Mary Freeman Swimming Champion

Hank Walker, “The Diligent Mermaid,” Life, Jul 23, 1951

Belita performing underwater ballet for a movie

Walter Sanders, “Ballet Goes Under Water,” Life, Aug 27, 1945

A young woman training to perform as a mermaid at Weeki Wachee Springs in Florida. Lessons include breath control, underwater ballet, synchronized swimming, graceful movement, and underwater dining etiquette. Audiences watch the mermaids perform from an underground theater embedded in the side of the spring.

Care and Feeding of a Mermaid, 1961

Lying in the sun, college girls at Berkeley lounge around their magnificent swimming pool at the Hearst Gymnasium for women

Ralph Crane, “University of California,” Life, Oct 25, 1948

Swimmer

Loomis Dean, Life, Feb 1951

Andreas Feininger, Female Skin Diver, ca. late 1950s