The American Menu

Thanksgiving,  1943  Norman Rockwell painted this iconic scene in 1943. Depicting a family dinner on Thanksgiving, the painting “Freed...

When I look at this menu from the late 1960s, I can’t help but imagine what it would’ve been like if the English writer Virginia Woolf, and...

Boston,  1892  Any document relating to an early African-American union is a rarity, such as this menu from a ball held by the Tremont...

Akron, Ohio 1885  T his menu from a veteran’s reunion in Akron, Ohio in 1885 features an unusual dinner based solely on the basic rati...

S.S. Liberté,  1959  The great luxury liners were never more glamorous and exciting than on the day of departure. As passengers arrive...

Neuilly-sur-Seine , 1915-1917  A hundred years ago this week, Serbian nationalists assassinated the heir to the throne of Austria-Hung...

New York City,  1858  In October 1857, philosopher Henry David Thoreau wrote about a chance encounter with a nearby farmer who was twi...

New York City,  1890s  When eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon asked her father in 1897 whether Santa Claus really existed, he suggested...

U.S.S. Helena,  1906  The chronology of holiday menus from the U.S.S. Wilmington begs the question as to what the sailors in the Asia...

U.S.S. Wilmington ,  1906-1918 Caught in a storm off the coast of Luzon on the night of December 20, 1915, the U.S.S. Wilmington rol...