Primary Sources: Food: Menus

"The menu collection originated through the energetic efforts of Miss Frank E. Buttolph (1850-1924), a somewhat mysterious and passionate figure, whose mission in life was to collect menus."

Includes the CIA Menu Collection of more than 40,000 historical menus from around the world. A selection of CIA student and alumni publications from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s is also available digitally.

"The Ira Silverman Railroad Menu Collection consists of 238 items: 227 menus and eleven pamphlets. 35 United States and Canadian railroads are represented in the collection. All menus were issued by their respective railroad."

"Menus provide a wealth of information beyond their purely aesthetic value and are a particularly rich resource for aspects of cultural and social history. They give us information on the most popular cuisine of a time period and region and are evidence of changing culinary tastes. They can indicate how particular food items have been used regionally, and in the case of notable restaurants can provide evidence of the work of well-known chefs. Design-wise they are examples of the graphic design elements illustrative of a particular historical time period. For students of menu design they can serve as examples of graphic design, placement and layout. Last but not least, they have a purely nostalgic value for those persons who have visited a particular restaurant or hotel and want to re-live that experience by reading through the menu."

"In Summer 2009 work began to digitize the Providence campus libraries' extensive restaurant menu collection, the bulk of which currently resides at the Harborside campus. The collection includes over 7,000 menus that will be digitized and uploaded to the ScholarsArchive@JWU over the coming years.

The collection was donated to Johnson & Wales University Library by the National Restaurant Association. Many of the menus featured were part of their menu design contests in the 1980s and 1990s."

"The collection is multi-disciplinary in scope: it touches art, history, economics, sociology, culinary, and transportation topics. The value of Mr. Foster’s collection resides not only in its volume, but in the number of his hand-written comments regarding flight dates, airplane types, and food and wine ratings and descriptions. In addition is the transcript of a letter Mr. Foster wrote to share his thoughts and explain the significance of the collection. "

"This collection represents menus, placemats, and other graphic materials from many of the Puget Sound area's most famous restaurants and dining facilities in the years between 1889 and 2003. Restaurants in all styles and classes of trade are represented, from lunch counters to first class gourmet fare. Also included in the collection are travel-related menus from ships, railroads, and airplanes. Among the many historical menus in the collection are those from the Space Needle Restaurant, Ivar's Acres of Clams, the Dog House, and cruises aboard the Alaska and Pacific Steam Ship Lines."

"From the pickled relish known as chow chow and Mother’s doughnuts offered at the Third Annual Supper of the New England Society at Vilas House in Madison (1868), the Sweetbreads in Cases-- Toulouse and Thistle Punch served by the Milwaukee Curlers’ Club (1895), to the Kimchi Potato Pancakes and locally grown oats, fruit, and coconut milk steamed in lotus leaves offered at a benefit breakfast held by the Dane County Farmers’ Market (2014), the foods we eat present a tempting portrait of our culinary preferences and priorities. The Wisconsin Historical Society’s ephemera holdings include a wide range of menus (mid-1800s to the present day) from restaurants and hotels; schools; specialized organizations and societies; private homes; and menus for special occasions such as commemorative and farewell dinners; trade conferences; political events; and meals offered during transit, such as passenger ships and trains."