A Price Family dinner in Carroll County, no date
The Akers Family reunion, summer 2003
A Price Family dinner in Carroll County, no date |
The Akers Family reunion, summer 2003 |
Cornbread and biscuits, banana pudding and tea cakes... What do these foods have in common? All represent the types of baked goods that people in the West Georgia piedmont prepared for their daily meals and seasonal celebrations.
In association with the Southern Foodways Alliance at the University of Mississippi, the Center embarked on an oral history project to document the types of baked goods found in our region. So far, we have collected more than 30 interviews about Southern baking traditions. All of the interviews are being transcribed and archived in the Center.
Click here for some of the facts we've found so far about west Georgia piedmont baking traditions!
To read portions of our interviews, Click here.
"It was passed down
from generation to generation": Baking Traditions in the Georgia Piedmont--our
new exhibit!
With
the support of the Georgia Humanities Council, the Center has prepared a traveling
exhibit on Southern Baking Traditions. This nine-panel exhibit is currently
available for complimentary rental and can be sent to schools, churches, senior
centers, and other organizations for temporary exhibitions. Along with the exhibit,
Center staff will come to conduct one or two public programs. If you are interested
in sponsoring the exhibit, please contact Dr.
McCleary, project coordinator, at 678-839-6141.
 Our baking exhibit at its inauguaral site--the Carrollton Junior High Media Center. |
 A close-up view of the panel on specialty baked goods. |
 For our exhibit opening, several of the cooks we interviewed brought some of their favorite backed goods. Here Eula Stitcher, with her granddaughter Angela Tyson, displays her specialty Red Velvet Cake. |
 At the Warren Sewell Library in Bremen, a church group met at the exhibit to enjoy a traditional fried chicken lunch and participate in a program to share their own family and personal baking traditions, led by Ann McCleary. |
What's Cooking for the
Holidays?
In
November of 2003, the Center sponsored an exhibit on baking traditions at the
Carrollton Junior Women's Club "On the Square Art Show." For the exhibit,
we printed a booklet featuring several favorite holiday recipes from some of
our project participants. The cookbook features recipes for old-time chocolate
pie, caramel cake, red velvet cake, sweet potato pie, Christmas Lizzies, and
punchbowl cake. Copies of this cookbook are available on line at What's
Cooking for the Holidays or through the Center.
What's
next, and how can you help?
The
Center for Public History is continuing this project by sharing the results
of our research both on our web page and through a publication of stories, recipes,
and photographs. We welcome your input! Please write to us or call us to share
your favorite receipes, but be sure to include the stories that make the recipe
come alive! Contact Ann McCleary by
email or by phone at 678-839-6141.
Please check out our on-line exhibit and recipes!
Evelyn
Tamplin (above) shares some of her baking traditions with us.
Photos by Deidre Haywood-Rouse, 2002.
This
project funded by the
the Southern Foodways Alliance, University of Mississippi;
the Crisco Company;
and the State University of West Georgia
[Center for Public History Home Page] [Center for Public History Projects]
Center
for Public History, History Department, University of West Georgia, Carrollton,
GA 30118
678-839-4161