1. Barton A. Bean, “Fishes Collected by William P. Seal in Chesapeake Bay, At Cape Charles City, Virginia, September 16 to October 3, 1890,” Proceedings of the National Museum, XIV (1891), 89.
2. Hugh M. Smith, The Fishes of North Carolina, in Joseph Hyde Pratt, ed., North Carolina Geological and Economic Survey, vol. II (Raleigh: E.M. Uzzell & Co., 1907), 316–317.
3. James Peterson, Fish & Shellfish (New York: William Morrow, 1996), 351.
4. Pooh Johnson interview with Bernard L. Herman, December 16, 2012; http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Mark-6-41/.
5. Mary Reid Barrow with Robyn Browder, “Spot: Norfolk, Virginia’s Claim to Piscatorial Fame,” The Great Taste of Virginia Seafood: A Cookbook and Guide to Virginia Waters (Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing, 1984), 84.
6. H. B. Frissell and Isabel Bevier, Dietary Studies of Negroes in Eastern Virginia in 1897 and 1898, Bulletin No. 71, U.S. Department of Agriculture (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1899), 11.
7. Charles and Meade Amory interview with Bernard L. Herman, December 28, 2011.
8. A. J. McCalne, The Encyclopedia of Fish Cookery (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1977), 124. Extended discussion of family Sciaenidae and the spot in context of the drum, 121–125: “They occur chiefly on the Continental Shelf, often over shallow sandy bottoms near estuaries and in the surf. Drums are so named because of their specialized ‘drumming muscle’ which by rapid and repeated contraction against the gas bladder, produces a distinctive sound that can be heard on land. Among some the smaller sciaenids this is more of a grunting or croaking sound, hence the common name distinction between drums and croakers” (121). Other Chesapeake sciaenids include Atlantic croaker, banded drum, black drum, kingfish, red drum, and silver perch—all fished commercially and recreationally. Note as well that otoliths (ear bones) are common to this family and that they are used to determine age, always a detrimental inquiry for the fish.
9. Alan Davidson, North Atlantic Seafood (New York: Viking Press, 1979), 112.
10. Mary Reid Barrow with Robyn Browder, “Spot: Norfolk, Virginia’s Claim to Piscatorial Fame,” The Great Taste of Virginia Seafood: A Cookbook and Guide to Virginia Waters (Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing, 1984), 84.
11. Google search result for “what is a panfish?” (July 9, 2014). Google ngrams charting the usage of the term reveal that it did not gain general circulation until after World War II, spiking in the 1980s. See, https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=7&case_insensitive=on&content=panfish&direct_url=t4%3B%2Cpanfish%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bpanfish%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BPanfish%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BPANFISH%3B%2Cc0
12. Asheville Daily Gazette, Sunday, April 1, 1900, 8. www.newspapers.com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/image/58451905/terms=panfish.
13. H. M. Arnold interview with Bernard L. Herman, Bayford, Virginia, July 30, 2014.
14. Tom Walker, personal communication to Bernard L. Herman, March 8, 2012. See also, http://www.jcwalkerbrosclams.com.
15. Danny Doughty interview with Bernard L. Herman, February 18, 2013., Elizabeth A. Thompson transcriber.
16. Bessie Gunter, Housekeeper’s Companion (New York: John B. Alden, 1889), 47.
17. Mary Onley interview with Bernard L. Herman, Fearrington Folk Art Show, North Carolina, February 18, 2012.
18. Addie Sue Smith conversation with Bernard L. Herman, Exmore, Virginia, December 16, 2011.
19. Fairy Mapp White, Foolproof Cook Book (Baltimore: Monumental Press, 1958), 183–184. White’s cookbook updated and expanded Bessie E. Ginter’s work of the 1880s, a collection compiled from local cooks and a larger regional network of family and friends.