The Digital Library of Georgia (DLG) has partnered with the 6th Cavalry Museum to digitize its collection of historic holiday menus created at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia from 1925-1940, thanks to a digitization grant awarded by the DLG.
The collection is available at https://dlg.usg.edu/collection/scm_scthm.
Holiday menus combine economic, cultural, and social histories of holidays as well as food and cooking history. Some of these menus also include rosters of US military personnel, as well as guests and family members. In some cases, the menus include a “year in review” section, providing key insights that aren’t offered elsewhere in materials held by the 6th Cavalry Museum.
These materials have proved to be particularly helpful to genealogists who have made use of them as a source of historical information, thanks in part to rosters recorded inside of the menus.
Food historians will be able to consult these resources for a history of food or a study of ritualized meals, and menu highlights provide critical information about military life and help provide a better understanding of the loss, change, and growth that took place during the 1920s and 1930s.
Camilla Canty, a family historian doing research on her family, notes:
“My father joined the 6th Cavalry for officer’s training in 1940 at Fort Oglethorpe and eventually attained the rank of Major by the end of World War Two. Fort Oglethorpe held special memories for my parents because they met there when my father was in training and my mother worked for Col. James Troutt in the Office of the Surgeon.”
Selected Images
Thanksgiving dinner menu for troop A of the 6th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia.
https://dlg.usg.edu/record/scm_scthm_1933-11-30-troop-a
Christmas dinner menu for troop B of the 6th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. This page identifies members of the troop.
https://dlg.usg.edu/record/scm_scthm_1935-12-25-troop-b
About the 6th Cavalry Museum
The 6th Cavalry Museum preserves the rich military history of the Fighting Sixth Cavalry, the former Army Post at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia (1902 – 1946), and the Third Women’s Army Corps Training Center. Located on the Post’s original parade ground, the area is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, surrounded by officer’s homes and other Post buildings. The 6th Cavalry Museum was founded in 1981 by members of the 6th U.S. Cavalry Veterans Association and continues the mission of Sharing History for All.
Visit the 6th Cavalry Museum at https://www.6thcavalrymuseum.org/
About the Digital Library of Georgia
Based at the University of Georgia Libraries, the Digital Library of Georgia is a GALILEO initiative that collaborates with Georgia’s libraries, archives, museums, and other institutions of education and culture to provide access to key information resources on Georgia history, culture, and life. This primary mission is accomplished through the ongoing development, maintenance, and preservation of digital collections and online digital library resources. DLG also serves as Georgia’s service hub for the Digital Public Library of America and as the home of the Georgia Newspaper Project, the state’s historic newspaper microfilming project.
