Tuesday, May 9, 2023
Where the Immigration Inspectors Dined
New York City,
The immigration station on Ellis Island reopened in 1900, following a devastating fire three years earlier. In 1902, substantial changes were made to operations, including the posting of “Kindness and Consideration” signs as reminders to unfriendly and disrespectful members of the workforce that included inspectors, interpreters, doctors, nurses, and social workers. Between 1900 and 1918, ten million people entered the United States through Ellis Island. Unlike the nineteenth century, when immigrants mostly came from countries in northern and western Europe, the early twentieth century witnessed a surge of arrivals from czarist Russia, eastern Europe, and southern Italy. Menus from employee outings in 1904 and 1905 reflect the ethnic cuisines of the newcomers, which is not to imply that everyone on the staff supported the immigration laws then in force.
1904-1905
Wednesday, November 23, 2022
Impressions of American Hotels
1883-1898
Thursday, July 14, 2022
When Maria Parloa Visited Tilden Ladies’ Seminary
New Hampshire,
1881
Tilden Ladies’ Seminary in West Lebanon, New Hampshire was a progressive institution established in 1855 when most female boarding schools focused on activities like needlework and music. Two pieces of ephemera from 1881 provide a rare glimpse of this school and a guest lecturer named Maria Parloa, one of the country’s first celebrity chefs.
1881
Tilden Ladies’ Seminary in West Lebanon, New Hampshire was a progressive institution established in 1855 when most female boarding schools focused on activities like needlework and music. Two pieces of ephemera from 1881 provide a rare glimpse of this school and a guest lecturer named Maria Parloa, one of the country’s first celebrity chefs.
Wednesday, January 26, 2022
An Early Chidren's Menu
Boston,
Menus that were composed, designed, and printed exclusively for children first appeared in the 1920s. They were initially adopted by department stores and railroad dining cars and eventually became common in restaurants after the Second World War. A hand-written menu from a seven-year-old birthday party in February of 1885 reveals what children’s menus might have looked like had they existed in public dining spaces in the late nineteenth century.
1885
Saturday, November 6, 2021
The 15-Cent Houses
Boston,
Almost everyone living in large cities ate in a restaurant from time to time during the late nineteenth century. Unless poverty stricken, average citizens patronized small eateries that served English-style fare at rock-bottom prices. There was nothing fancy about the food or the service. Dubbed 15-cent houses, these meat-and-potatoes restaurants seldom warranted attention in the press and exceedingly few menus have survived. One source of historical evidence is provided by handbills and business cards advertising specific dishes. A selection of such ephemera from ordinary restaurants in Boston from 1875 to 1885 reveals the food customs of the middling and working classes, especially when compared to similar material from other dining niches of society.
1875-1885
Wednesday, September 1, 2021
Charles Dickens in Boston
1842 & 1925
Charles Dickens was enthusiastically fêted when he visited the United States in 1842 and 1867-68. For many years afterward, these grand affairs lingered in the collective memory of the novelist’s most ardent admirers, as revealed by a menu from a dinner of the Dickens’ Fellowship in Boston in 1925.
Charles Dickens was enthusiastically fêted when he visited the United States in 1842 and 1867-68. For many years afterward, these grand affairs lingered in the collective memory of the novelist’s most ardent admirers, as revealed by a menu from a dinner of the Dickens’ Fellowship in Boston in 1925.
Thursday, August 12, 2021
In the Good Old Summertime
Wilmington, Delaware
This postcard marks the second day of a trapshooting competition at the DuPont Gun Club on July 11, 1911. The recreational club had been established the previous year on the grounds of the Experimental Station of the DuPont Company that was then in the business of manufacturing gunpowder. Interestingly, the card includes the lunch menu—fried chicken, potato salad, and ice cream. The scene recalls the song “In the Good Old Summertime,” a popular tune of the era when life was seemingly less complicated.
1911
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