The American Menu

New York City,  1904-1905  The immigration station on Ellis Island reopened in 1900 after a fire destroyed the original complex three years ...

1883-1898 Max O’Rell was the pen name of Léon Paul Blouet, a well-known French author and journalist in the late nineteenth century. Beginni...

New Hampshire, 1881 Tilden Ladies’ Seminary in West Lebanon, New Hampshire was a progressive institution established in 1855 when most femal...

Boston,  1885  Menus designed exclusively for children first appeared in department stores and railroad dining cars in the 1920s and were mo...

Boston,  1875-1885  Almost everyone living in large cities ate in a restaurant from time to time during the late nineteenth century. Unless ...

1842 & 1925 Charles Dickens was enthusiastically fêted when he visited the United States in 1842 and 1867-68.  For many years afterward,...

Wilmington, Delaware 1911 This postcard marks the second day of a trapshooting competition at the DuPont Gun Club on  July 11,  1911. The re...

1864-1938   O ne of the underlying themes of American ephemera is the expansion of the middle and upper classes. Over time, higher incomes a...

Los Angeles,  1971  The  front  of this large menu from 1971 features the word “om” in Devanagari script. Underneath is a description of thi...

New York City,  1948  The Dairy Restaurant is a fascinating new book by writer and cartoonist Ben Katchor. Jewish dairy restaurants attract...