Food

Part of a nation's history lies in what people eat. Artifacts at the Museum document the history of food in the United States from farm machinery to diet fads.

More than 1,300 pieces of stoneware and earthenware show how Americans have stored, prepared, and served food for centuries. Ovens, cookie cutters, kettles, aprons, and ice-cream-making machines are part of the collections, along with home canning jars and winemaking equipment. More than 1,000 objects recently came to the Museum when author and cooking show host Julia Child donated her entire kitchen, from appliances to cookbooks.

Advertising and business records of several food companies—such as Hills Brothers Coffee, Pepsi Cola, and Campbell's Soup—represent the commercial side of the subject

This jug was probably made by William Lundy and Nathan Church, Jr. at Israel Seymour’s Troy, New York pottery. The potters achieved the distinctive decoration on this piece by using both cobalt and manganese oxides to fill in the incised floral motif.Currently not on view
Description
This jug was probably made by William Lundy and Nathan Church, Jr. at Israel Seymour’s Troy, New York pottery. The potters achieved the distinctive decoration on this piece by using both cobalt and manganese oxides to fill in the incised floral motif.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1819-1824
maker
Lundy, William
Church, Jr., Nathan
ID Number
1979.0577.08
accession number
1979.0577
catalog number
1979.05077.008
The salt-glazed stoneware tradition in America was brought to this country by immigrants from Central Europe.
Description
The salt-glazed stoneware tradition in America was brought to this country by immigrants from Central Europe. Potters in the New World used decorating techniques developed in Germany and other European countries, such as pictorial incising and cobalt painting, as seen the incised bird on this jug made by John Remmey III.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1791-1820
maker
Remmey III, John
ID Number
1994.0310.01
catalog number
1994.0310.01
accession number
1994.0310
Israel Seymour operated a pottery in Troy, New York from about 1809 to 1865.
Description
Israel Seymour operated a pottery in Troy, New York from about 1809 to 1865. This beautifully formed jug is a fine example of much of the stoneware made by New York potters--simple utilitarian pieces, without adornment, that met the needs of the people who used them.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1824-1850
maker
Seymour, Israel
ID Number
CE.319884.79
catalog number
319884.079
accession number
319884
Made by William Lundy in Troy, New York, the unusual decoration on this jug features two American flags and an anchor. An Irish immigrant, Lundy worked at a number of Troy potteries in the 1820s.Currently not on view
Description
Made by William Lundy in Troy, New York, the unusual decoration on this jug features two American flags and an anchor. An Irish immigrant, Lundy worked at a number of Troy potteries in the 1820s.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
about 1826
maker
Lundy, William
Church, Jr., Nathan
ID Number
1977.0803.139
accession number
1977.0803
catalog number
1977.0803.139
Stoneware containers were useful for storing many goods into the 1900s. Before the development of canning and refrigeration, stoneware forms were staples in most homes, used to hold salted or pickled food as well as beverages and dairy products.
Description
Stoneware containers were useful for storing many goods into the 1900s. Before the development of canning and refrigeration, stoneware forms were staples in most homes, used to hold salted or pickled food as well as beverages and dairy products. This jug, probably meant to hold water, ale, whiskey or beer, features an incised design. By the time this piece was made, most potters had turned to glaze painting, which was faster and easier to produce.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1866-1885
maker
Hart, Nahum
Hart, Charles
ID Number
1977.0803.77
accession number
1977.0803
catalog number
1977.0803.077
The conclusion of the War of 1812 devastated many American potteries as the importation of less expensive, foreign-made wares resumed, mostly from Great Britain and Holland.
Description
The conclusion of the War of 1812 devastated many American potteries as the importation of less expensive, foreign-made wares resumed, mostly from Great Britain and Holland. While a number of potteries went out of business, the Clark and Howe pottery in Athens, New York employed more men than any other pottery in the state, and even expanded into northwestern New York. The firm was in part responsible for sustaining the local economy, paying $1,750 in wages in 1812 (equal to over $22,000 today).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1805-1813
maker
Clark, Nathan
Howe, Thomas
ID Number
1977.0803.66
accession number
1977.0803
catalog number
1977.0803.066
The Remmey family began producing pottery in New York City in 1735, when John Remmey I emigrated from Germany. His grandson, John Remmey III, took over the family business in 1793, continuing to produce some of the finest stoneware made in the United States at the time.
Description
The Remmey family began producing pottery in New York City in 1735, when John Remmey I emigrated from Germany. His grandson, John Remmey III, took over the family business in 1793, continuing to produce some of the finest stoneware made in the United States at the time. The somewhat lopsided incised leaf design on this jug reminds us that each piece was made and decorated by hand.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1791-1831
maker
Remmey III, John
ID Number
1977.0803.105
accession number
1977.0803
catalog number
1977.0803.105
This salt-glazed stoneware jug was made by Israel Seymour in Troy, New York between 1824 and 1850. It features an ovoid shape with a maker’s stamp above an incised bird perched on a leaf with a small bird on its back.
Description
This salt-glazed stoneware jug was made by Israel Seymour in Troy, New York between 1824 and 1850. It features an ovoid shape with a maker’s stamp above an incised bird perched on a leaf with a small bird on its back. Like designs on many stoneware vessels made in New York in the early 19th century, the bird motif is done in cobalt, a metal oxide that does not lose its color in the heat of the kiln. This is a form of decoration long used in Central Europe. The New York potters used cobalt imported from Europe, which was expensive, but little was needed to produce the characteristic strong blue. The motifs inscribed or painted on the surface have their technical origins in the European stoneware tradition, but in America potters developed their own repertoire of designs that referred to their New World context, such as patriotic subjects of the American eagle with the flag and arrows, and naval scenes depicting the War of 1812. Common subjects are birds, including recognizable species like pigeons, doves, peahens, sandpipers, and chickens, as well as others that are entirely fanciful.
Israel Seymour was in the pottery business in Troy before 1816, when his partnership with David F. Seborn was dissolved. Seymour came from a family of potters well known in West Hartford, Connecticut, and appears to have arrived in Troy on the Hudson via Albany. In Troy, Seymour married Sarah Church, and in 1816 his father-in-law, Nathaniel Church, became his new partner. This was the first of many partnerships in a long and successful business career for Seymour, who also made earthenware pottery alongside stoneware. In 1827 he claimed "the right of manufacturing, the patent Stone-Ware MILK-PANS" developed by a new partner, Sanford S. Perry.
date made
1824-50
ID Number
1979.0577.11
accession number
1979.0577
catalog number
1979.577.11
This two-gallon stoneware jug was made by Calvin Boynton & Co, Troy, New York, about 1826-29.
Description
This two-gallon stoneware jug was made by Calvin Boynton & Co, Troy, New York, about 1826-29. The maker's mark is stamped on the front shoulder above a gaff-rigged sloop in full sail with a banner flying from the masthead and "TROY" marked on the stern.
Two brothers, Jonah and Calvin Boynton, came from Vermont to, at first, become merchants in Albany, New York. The pottery on Washington Street in Troy was first in operation by 1816, but Jonah appears to have abandoned the trade early on, leaving Calvin to continue the stoneware pottery, which was then taken over by Moses Tyler and Charles Dillon in 1826. Calvin Boynton then moved his business to West Troy.
The sailing vessel incised onto the jug, was probably a local sloop used in the Hudson River trade and inshore waters. The technique of incised decoration on stoneware, common in the early 19th century, had more or less disappeared by 1840.
The presence of nearby stoneware clays gave rise to the New York state salt-glazed stoneware tradition that, by the early 1800s, developed in villages and towns along the Hudson River. Shipped upriver, the clay returned downstream after being transformed into useful ceramic vessels. With the Erie Canal completion in 1825, stoneware production extended its range to meet the increased flow of perishable goods from the Great Lakes region.
The production of these sturdy salt-glazed containers declined following improvements in tinning and canning perishable foodstuffs. In the late 1850s, the glass Mason canning jar entered the market, after which the potteries lost much of the demand for food storage containers that sustained so much of their production.
date made
1816-26
ID Number
CE.300894.18
catalog number
300894.18
accession number
300894

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