Burgeoning Bourgeoisie

New York City, 1841-1860

Astor House (1851)

“I don’t have the faintest idea what’s going to happen to business or markets in the next year or two. The one thing I do know is, over time, people will live better and better in this country.” 

— Warren Buffett 1

The rise of the American middle class is one of the most pervasive themes that can be identified in the chronology of the country’s ephemera. Driven at first by the industrial revolution, the overall improvement in the standard of living played out differently for various segments of the population. Nevertheless, despite many obstacles such as the great wars and economic downturns, people continued to live better and better over time, as revealed by the minor documents of their everyday lives, including menus.

The Doe-Birds

Boston, 
1849-1851

Tremont House - Boston (ca.1838)

Hotels are so ubiquitous that it is easy to forget that they were once a novel concept, invented in the United States in the early nineteenth century. The first hotels were large, impressive structures that boasted private bedrooms, grand public ballrooms, and elegant architecture. By the late 1830s there were hundreds of them across the country. Historian Andrew Sandoval-Strausz argues that the hotel was, in essence, “the physical manifestation of a distinctly American vision of mobility, civil society, democracy, and space.”1 In other words, hotels were an expression of American culture—not only as a safe and comfortable place for travelers, but also as an integral part of everyday urban life.