Browse Exhibits (4 total)

CCC workers were provided a variety of food to eat at camp. Food in the camps are important because it is a form of recreation time in which workers are taking a break to eat a meal and it provided the essentials for keeping the workers alive.

The CCC menus provide the differences of what we’re being served to the workers.The food for Wilderness camp were more ethnic foods for example Hungarian Goulash, Italian Style spaghetti and iced fruit drinks. Chancellorsville camp on the other hand also had ethnic food but it was not the same compared to what the Wilderness camp were provided. The Chancellorsville camps were provided navy beans, fried salt pork, spinach and fruit. For drinks Chancellorsville camp did not get ice fruit drinks, instead they were provided coffee, milk and hot tea. The differences show how the camps were divided when it came to what types of food that were going to be served and also placed limits to what would be served in the Chancellorsville camp compared to Wilderness camps. This observation shows how divided the food were and how Wilderness camp got more options to get more food while Chancellorsville had to stay on a limit. Also, the food menus show culture expectations for what the workers in both camps would like eating.

Since the CCC was affected by the Great Depression the food resembled the effect more through the cost more than what were on the menu. Some items provided on the menu sounded fancy but according to the menu budget it had a spending plan and cost for all food items that were consumed in each camp. Wilderness Camp tended to spend more money on food compared to Chancellorsville, but some prices were equivalent to each other. The menu plans also were different, some had meals by the week with the cost and some had food items going by pounds, boxes and cans with the final cost. The menu records were important for the camps because they had to report budget and how much food that would be consumed by the workers. The CCC menus offered an insight on how segregated the camps were and how they were treated differently with getting essentials to survive.

The Mess (Food department) were important for the operations of both camps in the CCC. The camps also  provided officers to oversee the Mess. A food strike was reported by Mr. Robert Fechner on February 25, 1934 from the Emergency Conservation Work. It was reported that the Mess Fund had a deficit of five hundred dollars and the officer in charge of the Mess had to bring up the funds to get them out of red. The report expressed that the food that day was satisfactory, but the budget was still in a deficit. This explains how even though the budget was getting low providing satisfactory meals were still the goal for camp Wilderness.

Both photos and menu documents provide an insight on how the camps operated the Mess (food department). The food menus provide divisions in who would get what food items in the camps and how they would get the food items. It also shows how the work force provided things differently during the time of segregation. Most importantly the menu records show how much something was during the era and what quality of food could be obtained since recovering from the Great Depression.

Sources:

CCC. Menu of 362nd co., 000, Camp MP1- Va.

CCC Camps Vol.1, 362 Company CCC

CCC Camps Vol.1, 362nd Co., CCC Camp Mp-3-Va. Fredericksburg, Va
CCC Camps Vol.2, Headquarters 282nd Co., C.C.C. Camp MP-4, Va, Wilderness Va.

CCC Camps Vol.2, 333rd Company, CCC, Camp MP-4-Va, Wilderness, Va.

CCC Camps Vol.2, Camp MP-4 Wilderness Va.

Thanksgiving 1935.1935.CCC, Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, Fredericksburg

       The CCC enrollees did work on the environment and preservation. However, the enrollees from each of the CCC camps didn’t only do work, but they had breaks and free time as well. Apart from doing work, the white, African American, and veteran CCC camps participated in camp recreational activities. In looking for camp recreation in the CCC, the important questions that should be asked are: what kinds of recreational activities did they engaged in? What kinds of sports did enrollees from each camp play and did they participate in dances, holidays, or other special occasions? The overall purpose in showing CCC enrollees doing camp recreational activities in each camp is to show that they didn’t only perform duties in preservation and environmental work. These enrollees were involved in other extracurricular activities besides doing the work that the Civilian Conservation Corps is known for. It is important to know this because it can help give a new perspective on the CCC and give a better understanding of what went on in each of the camps. It is also important to note the different kinds of recreational activities that were available to each camp’s enrollees.
       In the CCC camps, the enrollees were engaged in camp recreation. One example is music themed activities especially done by the enrollees from the white, African American, or veteran camps who played instruments. CCC enrollees also participated in holidays, including Thanksgiving, dances, and other special occasions. CCC enrollees engaged in a variety of activities. Examples of these activities include sports like billiards as well as other activities like performing in plays. There was no work needed from enrollees on holidays such as Independence Day or on any religious holidays that are practiced by enrollees of a specific religious faith. Photographs are useful resources in relation to finding camp recreation in the CCC. One example is a photo that shows three men standing in the entrance of a building. The three men in this photo are most likely CCC enrollees that are taking a break from work. This photograph gives some sense of showing enrollees doing some kind of recreational activity, although not in the sense such as doing sports. However, the photographs of the CCC were mainly created to document the enrollees performing work. CCC newspapers and Fredericksburg area newspapers are also useful resources in relation to looking for camp recreation.
      CCC newspapers and newspapers in general give insight on discussing the daily news of a specific day. CCC newspapers were created within the camps themselves to be distributed and read by the enrollees. An example of CCC newspapers is the Battlefield News that was made in the African American CCC camp. In one newspaper published by Battlefield News, it mentions that the camp is going to set up a ping-pong match. This shows an example of recreational activities related to sports as well as a special occasion that occurred on that day within this specific CCC camp. It also shows insight in the specific kinds of recreational activities that African American CCC enrollees were involved in. Compared to the photograph that was taken in the Spotsylvania CCC camp, it gives some sense of the different kinds of recreational activities that CCC enrollees from different camps had engaged in. To see enrollees in each camp doing other activities rather than work, it can help to provide a better understanding about the lives of the enrollees in each of the camps and in the CCC as a whole.

Sources:

“Battlefield News, Volume 3, Number 2.” Battlefield News. Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Parks. Nov. 1, 1938. Accessed April 13, 2018. Virginia Chronicles. https://virginiachronicle.com/cgi-bin/virginia?a=d&d=BNE19381101&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------

Paige, John C. The Civilian Conservation Corps and the National Park Service, 1933-1942: An Administrative History. D- 189. Washington: National Park Service, US Dept. of the Interior, 1985.

Photo: item #56