On April 14, 2009, Dr. Ann McCleary, Director of the University of West Georgia ‘s Center for Public History, and history graduate students Kristina Hartmann and Katherine Hicks will present, Food at the Center of Everything: Traditional Food Culture in Georgia at Ingram Library. This program, part of the Library’s Lunch and Learn series, will begin at noon. Campus and community members are invited to bring their lunch; sweets and beverages will be provided.
In this presentation, McCleary, Hartmann, and Hicks will share their recent research on Georgia food culture. In 2007, McCleary was selected by the Georgia Humanities Council to be the state scholar for the Georgia tour of the Smithsonian Institution’s travelling exhibit, Key Ingredients: America by Food. This honor launched McCleary and her two graduate students on an extensive research project of Georgia foodways in which they interviewed residents from throughout the state. The end product was the state catalog, “Food, Family, and Community: A Collection of Georgia Memories,” which is accompanying the Smithsonian exhibit as it currently tours Georgia. The catalog explores the connections between Georgians and the food they have traditionally produced, prepared, preserved, and presented at meals.
Dr. McCleary, who is also a professor in the University of West Georgia’s Department of History, researches American social and cultural history with a particular focus on twentieth-century rural life. In her role as Director of the Center for Public History, she oversees projects which research, document, preserve, and promote public discussion of the history and resources of western Georgia and the surrounding region. In May 2005, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue awarded McCleary the Governor’s Award for the Humanities.
Catalog co-authors Kristina Hartmann and Katherine Hicks are University of West Georgia graduate students in Public History. Hartmann came to UWG from Asheville, North Carolina, and Hicks from Danville, Illinois.
McCleary, Hartmann, and Hicks hope that the Georgia catalog for Key Ingredients: America by Food will not only document Georgia’s food culture but also encourage Georgians to preserve the heritage of their family food traditions and consider the role that food has played in their families, communities, and state. Their catalog will accompany Key Ingredients: America by Food as it tours twelve Georgia communities between June 2008 and February 2010, with the final site being the Haralson County Historical Society in Buchanan. Further details are available at www.gafoodtour.org.
For further information on the Ingram Library program, Food at the Center of Everything: Traditional Food Culture in Georgia, call (678) 839-5337 or contact chendric@westga.edu.
