My father died June 2005. He served in the 4th Cavalry in Fort Meade, South Dakota. He had several of the very large pictures of life at Fort Meade in 1937, one of which I had copied and mounted. It is of the entire Regiment mounted in front of the buildings of the post. It hung above his fireplace for many years until his death. It took up the whole mantle! Other pictures are portraits of soldiers. We are looking for an appropriate organization to take custody of these photos. We are aware of the Cavalry Museum at Fort Riley, Kansas and the Fort Meade Museum but wanted to know if anyone on this message board might have other ideas. Thank you.

I have visited the Cavalry Museum and examined some of the collected photos. My wife and I were stationed there in the early '90s. The museum is very careful and protective of those collections and are strict about reproduction, insisting on permission from families wherever they have the ability to contact them. You may donate them their with confidence. Another possibility is the Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor at Fort Knox, KY.

My grandfather retired as a colonel of Cavalry in the Fifties, passing away at the end of that decade. 1958. I served as an Armor officer, Armor being the Army inheritor of the Cavalry tradition. We also have several large photos similar to yours, of regiments abreast, at Fort D.A. Russell (now Frances E. Warren AFB.

If you have not yet donated this collection, and would be interested in simply passing them to a family with a military tradition that would care for and treasure them, please consider ours. We lost almost all of our family heritage in our grandfather's acrimonious divorce from his second wife. I assure you that your collection would be cared for, valued, and enjoyed. I have a mantle already prepared.

Jim Kilian

Jim, thank you for your suggestions. I think my father would prefer the photos in a public place for others to appreciate but if we don't find one we like, I'll get back in touch with you.