Ernest Hemingway's Key West Years, 1928-39

Ernest Hemingway fishing on a boat in Key West, Florida, 1928.

Joe “Sloppy Joe”/”Josie” Russell, Ernest Hemingway with a striped marlin on a boat, Havana Harbor, Cuba, 1932.

Ernest Hemingway and friends aboard the Anita, with a marlin in Key West, Florida. L-R: Ernest Hemingway, Carlos Gutierrez, Joe “Sloppy Joe”/”Josie” Russell (owner of the Anita), and Joe Lowe, 1933.

Carlos Gutierrez and Jane Mason (Mrs. George Grant Mason) aboard Joe “Sloppy Joe”/”Josie” Russell’s boat, the Anita, 1933.

Pauline Pfeiffer, Ernest Hemingway, Jack “Bumby” Hemingway, Patrick “Mouse” Hemingway, and Gregory “Gigi” Hemingway with four marlins on the dock in Bimini, Bahamas, 1935.

Ernest Hemingway at the wheel of his boat, Pilar, with Carlos Gutierrez, 1934.

Ernest Hemingway and Pauline Pfeiffer at their home in Key West, Florida.

John Dos Passos reading aloud to Katy Dos Passos aboard Joe “Sloppy Joe”/”Josie” Russell’s boat, the Anita, 1932.

Ernest Hemingway, Bra Saunders, and Waldo Peirce with fish aboard a boat near Key West, Florida. Hemingway’s caption on verso: “Papa caught both the big and the little tarpon. The big man with the beard is Waldo Pierce [sic]. The small tarpon jumped 10 times out of water–shaking his head with his mouth open to get the hook out.” 1928.

Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos pose with two tarpon fish, Key West, Florida, 1928.

Ernest Hemingway sitting on a dock next to his boat, Pilar, 1930s.

Ernest Hemingway and Pauline Pfeiffer’s house at 907 Whitehead Street, Key West, Florida.

Ernest Hemingway and his sons, Patrick “Mouse” and Jack “Bumby” Hemingway, posing with a tuna at the docks in Bimini, Bahamas, 1930s.

Ernest Hemingway with his arm around his son, Jack “Bumby”, aboard his boat, Pilar, 1930s.

L-R: unidentified man, Eva von Blixen, Pauline Pfeiffer, Ernest Hemingway, and Baron von Blixen on a dock in Bimini, Bahamas, 1935.

Ernest Hemingway boxing with an unidentified man on a dock in Bimini, Bahamas, 1935.

Ernest Hemingway posing with a marlin, Havana Harbor, Cuba, 1934.

Close-up of Ernest Hemingway aboard his boat, Pilar, 1930s.

Photographs via The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.