The American Menu

New York City & Chicago 1904-1911 In the early twentieth century, there was a growing awareness that exercise and diet played an ...

New York City,  1903-04 The Laurel was one of only a few vegetarian restaurants in New York at the turn of the last century. Techni...

Iowa, Kansas, New Jersey & New York The major happenings of 1885 involved large things—the Statue of Liberty arrived from France; th...

Washington, D.C. & San Francisco Christmas, 1890 Two menus from Christmas Day in 1890 reflect regional differences in cuisine at a...

San Francisco,  1940 Working from drawings of ordinary restaurants in New York, Edward Hopper painted Tables for Ladies in his stud...

Philadelphia,  1854    This November is the 329th anniversary of the landing of William Penn. Today, a statue of the entrepreneurial...

Chicago, 1900 “ …The works of religion and charity have everywhere been manifest. Our country through all its extent has been blessed ...

Chicago,  1877-1881 The annual game dinner at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Chicago was a nationally-renowned event in the late nineteenth...

New York City,  1885-1986 The 125th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty in 2011 was celebrated with the issuance of a “forever” stamp...

New York City,  ca. 1935 The three-story townhouse at 59 Charles Street in Greenwich Village is much the same as it was when it was bu...