This image of Sara Chisholm Farrington (1907-1992), an accomplished hunter and sportfisherwoman, comes from The East Hampton Star’s archive. According to her New York Times obituary, Farrington was a world traveler who held seven world records for her sportfishing feats. This included being the first woman to catch two broadbill swordfish in one day, according to the International Game Fish Association.
Chisie, as she was known, shared her passion for hunting, fishing, and wilderness adventure with her husband, Selwyn Kip Farrington Jr. (1904-1983). S. Kip Farrington started his professional life as a stockbroker, but he quickly became a leading expert on sportfishing, acting as the saltwater editor for Field & Stream magazine from 1937 to 1972. The couple were based in East Hampton and kept an apartment in the 1770 House here, but spent much of their time traveling the world, visiting places like Peru, Ecuador, and Nova Scotia.
In this 1951 picture, Chisie is wearing a distinctive jacket and hat combination. Looking closely, you can see patches representing some of the places where she hunted and fished, including a patch for the “Club Pesca y Caza de Valparaiso,” or the Fishing and Hunting Club of Valparaiso, Chile, just one of many places she frequented.
In between her journeys, Chisie found time to write for major magazines like Vogue and Mademoiselle. One of her crowning achievements was “Women Can Fish,” a book about her life as a fisher and adventurous outdoorswoman. An advertisement for it ran in The Star, and the image on its cover is the same as the one seen here. If you are interested in the book, it is available for viewing at the East Hampton Library’s Long Island Collection upon request.
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Julia Tyson is a librarian and archivist in the East Hampton Library’s Long Island Collection.
