[A group of 14 photographs documenting a myriad of seized illegal moonshine stills in Connecticut, and West Palm Beach County, Florida by “Revenuers” during Prohibition, and following the repeal of Prohibition, with images by Johnson, and other commercial photographer’s. Five of them depict a large moonshine operation in a New England barn, and the remainder focus on a seized still by the U.S. Alcohol Tax Unit in 1933].

[East Hartford, CT & West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County, FL: Ralph A. Johnson; Kirbell, July 14, 1932 - ca. 1933]. 4to. Fourteen silver gelatin photographs preserved in archival sleeves, 5 sized 8.5 x 11 in., w/ sepia toning, and date & photographer’s signature w/in negative, sequence numbered in blank margin at upper fore-edge; 8 sized 8 x 10 in. (occasional minor creasing to corners, edgewear), 1 sized 3.5 x 5.5 in. Recent post binder, gilt lettering stamped on front cover, from library of former Revenue Agent, Ralph A. Johnson, R1 Box 43, Hawthorne, FL. These mostly large images depict the efforts by the U.S. Official Bureau of Prohibition, and the reconstituted Bureau of Alcohol Tax Unit (now ATF) attempting to root out and destroy a large farm-based still in Connecticut, and others in Palm Beach County, Florida following the repeal of Prohibition. From 1919-1933, large farms across New England were hiding industrial sized moonshine operations in large barns across the countryside, and the first five images here show an immense moonshine still. Massive still, holding vats, and equipment are shown inside the huge New England barn discovered during a July 14, 1932 raid. Interestingly, the laws against farm distilleries marketing their own products were finally suspended in Oct, 2017, so that farmers who distill and sell spirits using their own produce no long required licenses, or distributors. The remainder of the photos focus on a very large still in Florida where next to truck farming, moonshining was one of the most lucrative enterprises for intrepid rural Floridans, and was usually made in large hand-fashioned copper stills. Thousands of illegal distilleries had sprouted after the passage of Prohibition, but after its’ repeal in 1933, many Florida residents had developed a taste for it, liked that it was cheaper, and an entire untaxed bootleg infrastructure was already in place fueling an underground economy. These images show large copper stills connected to barrels, above cooking fires, large glass carboys to hold the product, and stove-in barrel tops. One of the images shows Ralph Johnson in uniform standing next to possibly the well-dressed moonshiner. Kirbell (1888-1940) was a glazier before World War I, who later became a successful crime photographer with the Connecticut State Police Department. See: Tim Henderson, ‘Farm to Flask’ Laws Give Craft Distilleries a Boost, Pew (2017); Dana St. Claire, Moonshine Fueled Cracker Economy, Orlando Sentinel, July 27, 1997; In Pictures: History of Moonshining in Florida, WESH 2, March 11, 2014; Karl Grismer, Prohibition Years, Tampa in the 1940s, “Tampa -- A History of the City of Tampa and the Tampa Bay Region of Florida.”