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

A poster giving examples of egg sizes and how to cook fried and poached eggs.
Description
A poster giving examples of egg sizes and how to cook fried and poached eggs.
date made
1967
copyright date
1967
associated institution
U.S. Department of Agriculture
maker
U.S. Department of Agriculture
ID Number
ZZ.RSN81724Y42
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date designed
1954
date made
c.1954
date produced
ca. 1960
designer
Kogan, Belle
maker
Gailstyn Company
ID Number
1992.0257.11D
catalog number
1992.0257.11D
accession number
1992.0257
A poster sponsored by the United States Departmentof Agriculture with examples of how to control the Wheat Jointworm.
Description
A poster sponsored by the United States Departmentof Agriculture with examples of how to control the Wheat Jointworm.
date made
1967
associated institution
U.S. Department of Agriculture
maker
U.S. Department of Agriculture
ID Number
ZZ.RSN81724Y41
This rectangular wooden box features two wood and metal strips along its upper edges, indicating its use for carrying packaged cold cheeses, bottles of milk, and other dairy products.
Description
This rectangular wooden box features two wood and metal strips along its upper edges, indicating its use for carrying packaged cold cheeses, bottles of milk, and other dairy products. Both sides of the crate are marked in black with the name 'POLLY-O' written over the Pollio Dairy Corporation’s logo, an image of a parrot wearing a chef’s hat and carrying a fork. The numbers “4-65” in the lower right-hand corner indicate the box was manufactured in April 1965. The telephone number, “MI 7-3600,” is stamped on the upper right-hand corner, confirming the dairy’s location in Midwood, Brooklyn, in the mid-1960s. In addition to the dairy’s name and location, the crate is stamped with the words “Deposit Box.” While the box would have been used to carry filled bottles of milk, it was also a deposit box or transport pack, into which consumers would place their empty milk bottles to be returned to the dairy for washing and reuse.
Giuseppe Pollio, founder of the Pollio Dairy Company, immigrated to America at age 19 and arrived at Ellis Island in 1879. He settled in the Coney Island area of Brooklyn, New York, a popular location for other immigrants from Italy. Pollio established his company in 1899, just four years after machines for the commercial pasteurization of milk were introduced to the U.S. dairy industry. Over the following two decades, as almost 3 million Italians emigrated to America, there was a substantial new audience for traditional Italian products such as fresh cheese. Pollio was the first entrepreneur to manufacture and distribute mozzarella and ricotta on a large scale in the United States. Although mozzarella and ricotta are considered the most important types of Italian cheese, having been enjoyed in Italy since the 15th century, such fresh cheeses were uncommon in America prior to the 20th century. Polly-O became a significant distributor and helped turn American palates toward the newly available cheese, and to Italian cuisine in general.
During the first boom of the dairy industry, from 1875-1940, milk was transported from farms to processing plants or industrial dairies, where it was bottled in glass containers and sealed with a paper cap seal. The filled bottles were packed into wooden crates to be stored over ice. Such crates generally withstood the moisture from melting ice, but dairies switched to hard plastic crates when they became widely available by the 1970s.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1965-04
ID Number
2014.0210.01
accession number
2014.0210
catalog number
2014.0210.01
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date designed
ca. 1955
date produced
1961
Date made
Line: 1961 Shape: Introduced 1955
designer
Diamond, Freda
maker
Libbey Glass Company
designer
Diamond, Freda
ID Number
1997.0157.16D
accession number
1997.0157
catalog number
1997.0157.16D
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1960s
date made
ca. 1967
ca. 1963
designer
Diamond, Freda
maker
Libbey Glass Company
designer
Diamond, Freda
ID Number
1997.0157.04A
accession number
1997.0157
catalog number
1997.0157.04A
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date designed
ca. 1955
date produced
1961
Date made
Line: 1961 Shape: Introduced 1955
designer
Diamond, Freda
maker
Libbey Glass Company
designer
Diamond, Freda
ID Number
1997.0157.16B
accession number
1997.0157
catalog number
1997.0157.16B
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date designed
ca.1955
date produced
1961
Date made
Line: 1961 Shape: Introduced 1955
designer
Diamond, Freda
maker
Libbey Glass Company
designer
Diamond, Freda
ID Number
1997.0157.16C
accession number
1997.0157
catalog number
1997.0157.16C
Roger F. French, Donald R. Lester, and John A. Gunnarson made this prototype microwave oven in 1961. Only two were produced. Instead of using a magnetron to generate the microwaves, this oven used a type of vacuum tube called a klystron.
Description
Roger F. French, Donald R. Lester, and John A. Gunnarson made this prototype microwave oven in 1961. Only two were produced. Instead of using a magnetron to generate the microwaves, this oven used a type of vacuum tube called a klystron. To see how the ovens would work in actual kitchens, Gunnarson used this one in his home and French used the other. Children of the inventors recall impressing their friends with the ease of cooking with microwaves, years before such ovens became commonplace.
French had founded Servodyne Corporation in 1960 to produce and sell microwave ovens for the home. But they faced stiff competition. Other companies like Raytheon, which had produced a large "Radarange" for commercial use in 1954, were working on home ovens that used magnetrons. Servodyne failed to attract enough funding to bring the invention to market, and the company folded in 1968.
Date made
1961
user
Gunnarson, John A.
maker
Gunnarson, John A.
French, Roger F.
Lester, Donald R.
ID Number
2003.0107.01
catalog number
2003.0107.01
accession number
2003.0107
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca.1960
Date made
1960s (?)
designer
Diamond, Freda
maker
Libbey Glass Company
designer
Diamond, Freda
ID Number
1997.0157.17D
accession number
1997.0157
catalog number
1997.0157.17D
This 6-oz. metal can that once held frozen orange juice concentrate represents the way many Americans got their morning glass of juice in the 1950s and ‘60s. It contained a frozen cylinder of concentrated juice that had to be thawed and mixed with water in order to drink.
Description
This 6-oz. metal can that once held frozen orange juice concentrate represents the way many Americans got their morning glass of juice in the 1950s and ‘60s. It contained a frozen cylinder of concentrated juice that had to be thawed and mixed with water in order to drink. Many households adopted the habit of placing a frozen can of concentrate in the refrigerator to thaw overnight so that mixing it with water in the morning would be faster and easier.
Frozen orange juice concentrate was developed by scientists at the National Research Corporation (NRC), working with support from the federal government and the Florida Department of Citrus. Their goal was to improve the quality of food for American troops during World War II. In the early 1940s, soldiers were supplied with lemon crystals for Vitamin C, but too many of the crystals went uneaten because of the unpleasant taste. The NRC scientists examined the conventional process for evaporating the water from fresh juice, which was done in a vacuum at very low temperatures (minus 80 degrees Fahrenheit). The resulting flavor was so concentrated it didn’t taste like fresh juice. The researchers discovered, however, that flavor was restored by adding more fresh juice to the concentrate as it came out of the evaporator. The process of adding "cut-back" to the concentrate was patented in 1948 and quickly adapted for the postwar consumer market. Orange juice concentrate production in Florida grew from 3 plants in 1948 to 10 the following year.
Minute Maid, born out of the success of frozen orange juice concentrate, was named to reflect the product’s convenience and ease of preparation. In 1965, after the company was sold to Coca Cola, Minute Maid’s packaging underwent a dramatic redesign, from its original white, orange, and green color scheme to the dramatic black and orange design of this can.
See Hamilton, Alissa. Squeezed: What You Don’t Know About Orange Juice (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009).
date made
1965
ID Number
2012.0019.01
accession number
2012.0019
catalog number
2012.0019.01
This object is a left-handed, stainless steel French fry scoop with a black plastic handle.
Description
This object is a left-handed, stainless steel French fry scoop with a black plastic handle. On the reverse, writing etched into the scoop says “Bagging Scoop.” This scoop, used by left-handed employees, was designed to dispense a precise amount of French fries to create uniformity between servings in the quickest, most efficient way possible.
The McDonald’s Corporation is one of the most recognizable hamburger restaurants in the United States. As of 2011, the McDonald’s Corporation and franchisees were operating in 119 countries with 1.9 million employees, making it the 4th largest employer in the world.
In 1940, Richard (Dick) and Maurice (Mac) McDonald opened the first McDonald’s Bar-B-Q drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino, California. In 1948, the brothers redesigned their menu, centering on the 15 cent hamburger. In 1954, Ray Kroc, a Multimixer (milkshake machine) salesman, became interested in the McDonalds brothers’ high volume restaurant. He worked out a deal with the brothers to be their franchising agent and opened the first franchise location in Illinois the following year. Under Kroc’s direction, the company grew to become the giant we know today.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
mid 1960s
maker
Prince Castle
ID Number
1991.0324.04
catalog number
1991.0324.04
accession number
1991.0324
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca. 1960s
ca. 1963
Date made
ca 1960s
designer
Diamond, Freda
maker
Libbey Glass Company
designer
Diamond, Freda
ID Number
1997.0157.04B
accession number
1997.0157
catalog number
1997.0157.04B
This KFC Franchise Agreement and Rulebook was given to KFC franchisees during the 1960s. The Franchisee Agreement set up the rules for owning and operating KFC franchises.
Description
This KFC Franchise Agreement and Rulebook was given to KFC franchisees during the 1960s. The Franchisee Agreement set up the rules for owning and operating KFC franchises. Harland Sanders had perfected his fried chicken recipe with “11 herbs and spices” by 1940, and the invention of pressure cookers helped him quickly fry the chicken without resorting to deep frying. By 1955, Sanders decided to sell his method and recipe to franchisees, traveling the country to teach owners how to make his chicken, biscuits, and gravy. Sanders received five cents on every head of chicken sold, by 1964 there were more than 600 franchisees, and Sanders sold his interest in the company for $2 million dollars.
Location
Currently not on view (staples)
Currently not on view
date made
1960s
ID Number
2014.3056.02
catalog number
2014.3056.02
nonaccession number
2014.3056
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date designed
1954
date made
c.1954
date produced
ca. 1960
associated dates
1992 06 02 / 1992 06 02
maker
Gailstyn Company
designer
Kogan, Belle
ID Number
1992.0257.11A.ab
accession number
1992.0257
catalog number
1992.0257.11Aab
This object is a right-handed, stainless steel French fry scoop with a black plastic handle.
Description
This object is a right-handed, stainless steel French fry scoop with a black plastic handle. On the reverse, writing etched into the scoop says “Bagging Scoop.” This scoop, used by right-handed employees, was designed to dispense a precise amount of French fries to create uniformity between servings in the quickest, most efficient way possible.
The McDonald’s Corporation is one of the most recognizable hamburger restaurants in the United States. As of 2011, the McDonald’s Corporation and franchisees were operating in 119 countries with 1.9 million employees, making it the 4th largest employer in the world.
In 1940, Richard (Dick) and Maurice (Mac) McDonald opened the first McDonald’s Bar-B-Q drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino, California. In 1948, the brothers redesigned their menu, centering on the 15 cent hamburger. In 1954, Ray Kroc, a Multimixer (milkshake machine) salesman, became interested in the McDonalds brothers’ high volume restaurant. He worked out a deal with the brothers to be their franchising agent and opened the first franchise location in Illinois the following year. Under Kroc’s direction, the company grew to become the giant we know today.
date made
mid 1960s
maker
Prince Castle
ID Number
1991.0324.03
catalog number
1991.0324.03
accession number
1991.0324
Off-white letter and envelope with red lettering.
Description
Off-white letter and envelope with red lettering. On the upper left-hand corner of the envelope reads in red letters “The Mandarin 2209 Polk Street, San Francisco.” On the white letterhead, in the upper right hand corner of the letter spears a symbol, the name of the restaurant and an address. The symbol is of a woman in Chinese dress wear outlined in gold and underneath it in red letters reads “The Mandarin” and finally an address below “2209 Polk St., San Francisco GR 4-5438” in gold letters.
A letterhead is the heading at the top of a piece of stationary, usually signaling the name and contact information of the company. An envelope is the packaging stationery that encloses the letterhead. The letterhead was first known as “letter paper” in the late 19th century. In the beginning of the 20th century, letterheads were customized to fit typewriters. By the 1940s, many companies began to place their logos on letterhead.
The Smithsonian holds several letterheads and envelopes from different locations of Mrs. Cecilia Chiang’s restaurant, The Mandarin. The letters and envelope signal a formal business culture and the reliance of correspondence through the post office. These letterhead and envelopes certainly take us back to a time before computers and the internet.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1960s
ID Number
2013.0127.05a
accession number
2013.0127
catalog number
2013.0127.05a
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca. 1960
Date made
1960s (?)
designer
Diamond, Freda
maker
Libbey Glass Company
designer
Diamond, Freda
ID Number
1997.0157.17B
accession number
1997.0157
catalog number
1997.0157.17B
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1940 - 1959
date made
ca. 1940 - 1959
date produced
ca. 1964
associated dates
1992 06 02 / 1992 06 02
designer
Kogan, Belle
maker
Libbey Glass Company
ID Number
1992.0257.07
catalog number
1992.0257.07
accession number
1992.0257
Invitation for the opening of The Mandarin in Ghiradelli Square during June 1968 Features large image of a Chinese banquet and scroll. Includes menu of dishes to be served, in English and Chinese. Printed in black ink on white background. Orange background on reverse side.
Description
Invitation for the opening of The Mandarin in Ghiradelli Square during June 1968 Features large image of a Chinese banquet and scroll. Includes menu of dishes to be served, in English and Chinese. Printed in black ink on white background. Orange background on reverse side. Tri-fold.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1968
ID Number
2011.0115.12
catalog number
2011.0115.12
accession number
2011.0115
Invitation for the opening of The Mandarin in Ghiradelli Square on June 18, 1968 Features large image of a Chinese banquet and spare text. Printed in black ink on white background. Orange background on reverse side. Tri-fold.Currently not on view
Description
Invitation for the opening of The Mandarin in Ghiradelli Square on June 18, 1968 Features large image of a Chinese banquet and spare text. Printed in black ink on white background. Orange background on reverse side. Tri-fold.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1968
ID Number
2011.0115.13
catalog number
2011.0115.13
accession number
2011.0115
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date produced
1961
date designed
ca.1955
date produced
1961
designer
Diamond, Freda
maker
Libbey Glass Company
designer
Diamond, Freda
ID Number
1997.0157.16A
accession number
1997.0157
catalog number
1997.0157.16A
A Nickolas Muray dye transfer photograph of apples. One apple is cut, one is whole. A knife lays across the fruit.Recto: Signed by artist bottom right (pencil). Verso: Muray stamp. Muray label."Apples" (pencil).
Description (Brief)
A Nickolas Muray dye transfer photograph of apples. One apple is cut, one is whole. A knife lays across the fruit.
Recto: Signed by artist bottom right (pencil). Verso: Muray stamp. Muray label."Apples" (pencil). "#50" (pencil).
Description
Nickolas Muray was born in Szeged, Hungary on February 15, 1892. Twelve years after his birth, Muray left his native town and enrolled in a graphic arts school in Budapest. Enrolling in art school was the first step on a road that would eventually lead him to study a photographic printing process called three-color carbro. In the course of his accomplished career, Muray would become an expert in this process and play a key role in bringing color photography to America.
While attending art school in Budapest, Muray studied lithography and photoengraving, earning an International Engraver's Certificate. Muray was also introduced to photography during this time period. His combined interest in photography and printmaking led him to Berlin, Germany to participate in a three-year color-photoengraving course. In Berlin, Muray learned how to make color filters, a first step in the craft that would one day become his trademark. Immediately after the completion of the course, Muray found a good job with a publishing company in Ullstein, Germany. However, the threat of war in Europe forced Muray to flee for America in 1913. Soon after his arrival in New York, Muray was working as a photoengraver for Condé Nast. His specialty was color separations and half-tone negatives.
By 1920, Muray had established a home for himself in the up-and-coming artists' haven of Greenwich Village. He opened a portrait studio out of his apartment and continued to work part time at his engraving job. Harper's Bazaar magazine gave Muray his first big assignment in 1921. The project was to photograph Broadway star Florence Reed. The magazine was so impressed with his photographs that they began to publish his work monthly. This allowed him to give up his part time job and work solely as a photographer. It did not take long for Muray to become one of the most renowned portrait photographers in Manhattan. Muray spent much of the early 1920s photographing the most famous and important personalities in New York at the time.
In his spare time Muray enjoyed fencing. In 1927, he won the National Sabre Championship and in 1928 and 1932, he was on the United States Olympic Team. During World War II, Muray was a flight lieutenant in the Civil Air Patrol.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1964
maker
Muray, Nickolas
ID Number
PG.69.247.14
catalog number
69.247.14
accession number
287542
This 78 rpm record was made by the PAMS (Production, Advertising, Merchandising Service) production company in February 1962 for the Frito-Lay company to promote its Fritos snack food with a dedicated jingle, the “Frito-Twist.” The disc’s white paper label bears the Fritos and PA
Description
This 78 rpm record was made by the PAMS (Production, Advertising, Merchandising Service) production company in February 1962 for the Frito-Lay company to promote its Fritos snack food with a dedicated jingle, the “Frito-Twist.” The disc’s white paper label bears the Fritos and PAMS logos on both sides. Side A plays “The Frito Twist,” and Side B contains the instructional “How to Twist.” (In earlier versions of this promotional record, side A featured “Dallas: My Home Town” with “The Frito Twist” on side B.) The music for the “Frito Twist” was written by Euel Box, a Dallas-based composer and arranger best known for his work on the “Benji” movies of the 1970s and 80s, and a music director for the PAMS company. The sound engineer on the recording was Dick McGrew (as noted in the fine print along the edge of the record).The Dallas-based PAMS production company was founded in 1951 by William B. Meeks, Jr., often credited as the creator of the musical station break. In the 1950s-1970s, advertisers looked to music and dedicated jingles to help promote their products. They aimed branded dance fads in particular at teenagers and young adults.
This record was purchased by Kaleta Doolin, whose father, C.E. Doolin, founded The Frito Company in 1935. Though she did not remember the release of the original recording (she was 12 years old at the time), she later learned how to dance the Twist. This record is 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.
C.E. Doolin launched “Fritos” in 1932, inspired by a recipe he had purchased from Gustavo Olguin, a Mexican-American restaurant owner in San Antonio, where Doolin had worked as a fry cook. Olguin’s “fritos” (the name came from the Spanish word frit, meaning fried) were small fried corn chips made from masa dough. Doolin bought the recipe, Olguin’s hand-operated potato ricer, and nineteen customer accounts for the snack, all for $100. He then patented his own device for extruding the masa dough through a cutter, which produced ribbon-like strips that were then fried in hot oil. Doolin marketed the chips as an ingredient in recipes, many of which were inspired by his mother Daisy Dean Stephenson Doolin’s dishes for entertaining. The chips were used in both sweet and savory preparations, including as crust for fruitcakes, breading for salmon croquettes, and garnish for tuna salad.
In 1945 Doolin connected with Herman Lay, famous for automating the manufacturing process of potato chips and the head of H.W. Lay & Co. Lay took on the nationwide distribution of Fritos at this time. Doolin passed away in 1959, and in 1961 The Frito Company officially merged with H.W. Lay & Co. to become Frito-Lay. Frito-Lay went on to develop more products (including the wildly popular snack foods Cheetos and Doritos) and become the largest snack conglomerate in the world. Initially promoted as an ingredient in foods for entertaining, Fritos were advertised mostly to children, both in print and television campaigns and via cartoon characters such as the cowboy-inspired “Frito Kid.”
Fritos were most successful as a standalone snack. Following the success of the commercial potato chip in the 1930s, there was a growing market for other salty snacks and pre-packaged foods to be eaten on the go and in-between meals. The creation of “snack time” as a new type of American meal helped bolster the popularity of Doolin’s invention. The packaging of these snacks would also prove revolutionary—before 1900, snack foods and sweets were sold in small paper bags and portioned out by the grocer or shop owner. As manufacturers experimented with cans and glassine bags and materials such as wax paper and cellophane, they found new ways to keep food fresh and vacuum-packed until the customer opened it. Over the second half of the twentieth century, snack foods would develop into a $22 billion dollar industry.
The Frito Twist on Youtube
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1962
ID Number
2012.0079.04
catalog number
2012.0079.04
accession number
2012.0079

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