Supper at Roberts' Hall: An Invitation from G.A.R. Post 29
A printed invitation from Waltham's Grand Army of the Republic Post 29 asking the recipient to a supper honoring the volunteers of the recent G.A.R. fair.
TranscriptionThe invitation
POST 29, G. A. R. Request your company at the SUPPER Complimentary to the Lady and Gentleman assistants at the late G. A. R. Fair, Thursday, Dec. 21, 1882, AT 7.30, In ROBERTS' HALL, WALTHAM
Reverse, illustration[No text. Chromolithograph of a girl in a purple dress holding a striped parasol, looking up at a drooping sunflower, within a blue border.]
The story on the paper
The Grand Army of the Republic was the fraternal order of Union Civil War veterans, part veterans' lodge, part political machine, part mutual aid society. By 1882 it was at the height of its influence, and Waltham's Post 29 was one of hundreds of Massachusetts posts holding rallies, parades, and fairs.
This little card is a thank-you note in print form: a complimentary supper for the "Lady and Gentleman assistants" who had worked the Post's recent fair. Fairs were the G.A.R.'s great fundraisers, financing relief funds for widows, orphans, and disabled veterans. The volunteer helpers, mostly the wives, daughters, and sweethearts of veterans, got an evening at Roberts' Hall and a card like this to keep.
The brown-spotted stains across the card are foxing, the rust-colored bloom that attacks nineteenth-century paper loaded with iron impurities. On this card it has nearly finished the job of hiding the printing; the transcription below reads it line by line.
- Type
- Printed invitation
- Date
- Thursday, December 21, 1882
- Place
- Waltham, Massachusetts