A Guest of Honor

New York City, 
1901 

Booker T. Washington signed the cover of this menu from a dinner held in his honor at the Aldine Association, a New York club, in January 1901. The autograph adds a personal touch to this keepsake from what must have been an inspiring event. The dinner was hosted by The Outlook, a weekly magazine that had recently published a series of autobiographical essays by Washington. By the time of this occasion, the essays had been reworked into book form and were about to be published as Up from Slavery. In this autobiography, the renowned educator recounts his experiences as a child born into slavery during the Civil War, the challenges he faced in pursuing an education, and his efforts to establish vocational schools. Although the book enjoyed commercial success, subsequent events would soon reveal that its release had done little to ease the enduring racial prejudices held by many whites in the South.

A Vermont Breakfast Party

New York City,
1949 

The Limited Editions Club awarded its fifth gold metal at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in November 1949. According to the rules, the award was given to an American author of a book published during the last five years that the judges believed “most likely to attain the stature of a classic.” The previous two winners were Ernest Hemingway for “For Whom the Bell Tolls” in 1941 and E. B. White for “One Man’s Meat” in 1944. While the eight-page booklet from the presentation ceremony in 1949 does not reveal who won that year, it does contain an interesting menu from a talented writer in his own right.