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

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1890 - 1910
ID Number
DL.67.0366
catalog number
67.0366
accession number
263810
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1890 - 1910
ID Number
DL.67.0364
catalog number
67.0364
accession number
263810
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1890 - 1910
ID Number
DL.67.0367
catalog number
67.0367
accession number
263810
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1890 - 1910
ID Number
DL.67.0368
catalog number
67.0368
accession number
263810
There are many stages in the process of making a luscious bar of milk chocolate from dried and roasted cocoa beans. This machine, a chocolate liquor mill used in the Hershey chocolate factory from about 1920 to the late 1970s, was critical in the early stages of the process.
Description
There are many stages in the process of making a luscious bar of milk chocolate from dried and roasted cocoa beans. This machine, a chocolate liquor mill used in the Hershey chocolate factory from about 1920 to the late 1970s, was critical in the early stages of the process. Between heated stones, the mill ground the "nibs," or cracked cores of the cocoa beans, melting the cocoa butter contained inside. The resulting liquefied cocoa butter and ground nibs produced a mixture called "chocolate liquor," (a liquor with no alcoholic content). Unsweetened chocolate liquor is very bitter, and, while normally it isn't eaten as is, it can be used in the production of certain food products or sold as baking chocolate. To make "eating chocolate," like that in candy bars, the chocolate liquor requires many more additives, as well as the processes of mixing, refining, and conching.
Milton Snavely Hershey's (1857-1945) road to becoming the most recognized name in the American chocolate industry was neither smooth nor entirely sweet. After failing at the confectionary business in Philadelphia, Denver, and New York, Hershey moved back to his hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and began a business making caramel candies. While the company enjoyed modest success, Hershey was continually experimenting with new products.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1918
maker
J. M. Lehmann Machine Works
ID Number
1980.0021.01
accession number
1980.0021
catalog number
1980.0021.01
Wire mesh or cloth dome topped by a vase-shaped wooden knop attached to a rosette-stamped circular plate. Single piece of mesh is soldered along bottom edge to a heavier gauge wire rim attached along the inside of a black-japanned band. No marks.Currently not on view
Description
Wire mesh or cloth dome topped by a vase-shaped wooden knop attached to a rosette-stamped circular plate. Single piece of mesh is soldered along bottom edge to a heavier gauge wire rim attached along the inside of a black-japanned band. No marks.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
ID Number
DL.67.0750
catalog number
67.0750
accession number
271433
This one-quart oil can and attached flexible metal hose is a prototype for measuring and dispensing motor oil. Charles Bernard Doolin, the inventor, repaired engines and sold vehicle tires at his garage in San Antonio, Texas.
Description
This one-quart oil can and attached flexible metal hose is a prototype for measuring and dispensing motor oil. Charles Bernard Doolin, the inventor, repaired engines and sold vehicle tires at his garage in San Antonio, Texas. Doolin was issued patent #1,696,079 in December 1928.
The purpose of Doolin’s invention was to provide a controlled pour of lubrication into hard-to-reach crankcase reservoirs of automobiles. The metal hook on the can’s rim holds the hose in place while oil is dispensed. The can has a handle and a trigger-like lever (marked with the instructions “to lock open pull down and back”) that controls the flow of oil. Doolin’s model was made using a can produced by the Dover Stamping and Manufacturing Company of Cambridge, Massachusetts, one of the leading American manufacturers and distributors of houseware goods and tinner’s tools and machines in the late 19th and early 20th century. Markings on the side of this can read “Pat. April 2, 1918,” a patent that relates to the 1910 sink-pail design developed for Dover by Horace B. Whitney. Doolin’s addition to the Dover patent was an adaptation of the can’s sink-pail plug to measure and release motor oil in a controlled manner.
Doolin and his sons were tinkerers who received numerous patents. Probably the most famous was the 1935 patent by his younger son, Charles Elmer (C.E.), for a machine used to produce the small fried corn chips known as Fritos. This oil can and hose are part of a collection of objects and archival materials on the Doolin family and the Frito Company donated by Kaleta Doolin, the daughter of C.E. Doolin. See Frito Company Records, 1924-1961, #1263, NMAH Archives Center.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1918
ID Number
2012.0078.01
accession number
2012.0078
catalog number
2012.0078.01
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1890 - 1910
ID Number
DL.67.0365
catalog number
67.0365
accession number
263810
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1880 - 1910
ID Number
DL.60.1717
catalog number
60.1717
accession number
200122
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1890 - 1910
ID Number
DL.380485D
catalog number
380485D
accession number
153231
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date bed caster made
1860 - 1910
date refined earthenwares made
1800 - 1900
date stonewares made
1800 - 1850
date porcelain made
1785 - 1815
ID Number
DL.252318.0030
catalog number
252318.0030
accession number
252318
Miniature or toy size, stove-top waffle iron consisting of a bail-handled collar or ring base that holds two, identical, wooden-handled, circular pans with gridded faces. Projecting from opposite edges of each pan are half a ball bearing and a handle shank with lug and hollow.
Description
Miniature or toy size, stove-top waffle iron consisting of a bail-handled collar or ring base that holds two, identical, wooden-handled, circular pans with gridded faces. Projecting from opposite edges of each pan are half a ball bearing and a handle shank with lug and hollow. When the pans are placed face-to-face, the ball bearing and interlocked handle fit in a corresponding socket and notch in the base. Backs of both pans have "”WAGNER” (arched) / PAT\D/.. / FEB 22 / 1910 / SIDNEY, O (curved)" cast in incuse sans serif letters; no marks on base.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1910 - 1920
patent date
1910-02-22
maker
Wagner Manufacturing Company
ID Number
DL.67.0369
catalog number
67.0369
accession number
263810
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1890 - 1910
ID Number
DL.380485E
catalog number
380485E
accession number
153231
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1881 - 1910
ID Number
DL.263901.0050
catalog number
263901.0050
accession number
263901
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1875 - 1915
ID Number
DL.263901.0099
catalog number
263901.0099
accession number
263901
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1914
ID Number
DL.65.2677A
catalog number
65.2677A
accession number
258259
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1914
patent date
1914 -07-28
maker
Landers, Frary & Clark
ID Number
DL.69.0327
catalog number
69.0327
accession number
283313
Two-quart, rectangular box or brick ice-cream mold with flat cover made in one piece topped by a rectangular wire handle attached slightly askew under a bowtie-shaped plate, and a box having two pieces for the sides and one for bottom.
Description
Two-quart, rectangular box or brick ice-cream mold with flat cover made in one piece topped by a rectangular wire handle attached slightly askew under a bowtie-shaped plate, and a box having two pieces for the sides and one for bottom. Soft-soldered folded seams; cover and box have wire-rolled rims. Handle plate is stamped incuse "2 Qt." in serif letters.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1880 - 1910
ID Number
DL.238049.0076
catalog number
238049.0076
accession number
238049
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1895 - 1915
ID Number
DL.257491.0071
catalog number
257491.0071
accession number
257491
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1914
ID Number
DL.65.2677C
catalog number
65.2677C
accession number
258259
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1916
Date made
DELETE
ID Number
DL.63.0197
catalog number
63.0197
accession number
243466
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date curtain or shade ring made
1865 - 1905
date comb made
1860 - 1910
date shell-edged ware made
1775 - 1810
date blue-transferware made
1815 - 1830
ID Number
DL.252318.0043
catalog number
252318.0043
accession number
252318
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1890 - 1910
ID Number
DL.380485B
catalog number
380485B
accession number
153231
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1890 - 1910
ID Number
DL.380485F
catalog number
380485F
accession number
153231

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