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

associated date
1861 - 1865
ID Number
AF.12072
catalog number
12072
accession number
52412
Ira Wertman, a farmer in Andreas, Pennsylvania, raised fruits and vegetables and peddled them with this truck to retired coal miners near Allentown. He also used the truck to take produce to market and haul supplies from town to the farm.
Description
Ira Wertman, a farmer in Andreas, Pennsylvania, raised fruits and vegetables and peddled them with this truck to retired coal miners near Allentown. He also used the truck to take produce to market and haul supplies from town to the farm. Pickup trucks have been versatile aids to a wide range of agricultural, personal, and business activities. Early pickup trucks were modified automobiles, but postwar models were larger, more powerful, and able to carry heavier loads. Some postwar pickups were used in building suburban communities. Others were used for recreational purposes such as camping, hunting, and fishing. By the 1990s, many people purchased pickups for everyday driving.
date made
1949
maker
General Motors Corporation
ID Number
1999.0057.01
accession number
1999.0057
catalog number
1999.0057.01
Text and photograph from Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Vol. II. Negative by Timothy H. O'Sullivan, text and positive by Alexander Gardner.The commissary at General Headquarters of the Army of the Potomac was nothing less than an immense grocery establishment.
Description
Text and photograph from Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Vol. II. Negative by Timothy H. O'Sullivan, text and positive by Alexander Gardner.
The commissary at General Headquarters of the Army of the Potomac was nothing less than an immense grocery establishment. Coffee, tea, sugar, molasses, bacon, salt pork, fresh beef, potatoes, rice, flour, &c., were always kept on hand in large quantities, and of the best quality. This institution was under the charge of Brevet Major J. R. Coxe, whose portly form adorns the photograph of "What do I want, John Henry?" Occasionally some command out of provisions would suddenly call on Major Coxe for a hundred thousand rations or more, and never was the gallant Major found unable to respond. Rain, snow, darkness, fathomless roads, or unexplored forests, never hindered his wagon trains. Upon him depended the sustenance of Headquarters, and the Commissary General and Staff. It was never his fault if they went hungry.
It was interesting in the last year of the war to witness the Virginia families flock to Headquarters for the purpose of purchasing supplies of the Commissary. Decrepit [sic] men, ladies, children, and family servants crowded the Commissary at stated periods for rations, carrying off their purchased provisions in the oddest vehicles, on horseback, and on foot, some individuals every week walking twenty miles to get their supplies. The provisions sold by the Commissary were disposed of at prices far below market rates, the Government only charging the cost price at wholesale; and as great care was taken in the selection of supplies by the Government agents, it was highly desirable to citizens to purchase rations. This was especially the case with respect to tea, coffee, and sugar, which were bought by the Government in as unadulterated a form as could be found.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1864-02
maker
Gardner, Alexander
ID Number
1986.0711.0283.11
accession number
1986.0711
catalog number
1986.0711.0283.11
Straight steel blade with rounded tip. Blade and rectangular bolster are one piece of steel with tang fitted into a tapered ivory handle with straight sides and rounded butt. Metal has minor discoloration, some residues on blade. Ivory is yellowed.
Description
Straight steel blade with rounded tip. Blade and rectangular bolster are one piece of steel with tang fitted into a tapered ivory handle with straight sides and rounded butt. Metal has minor discoloration, some residues on blade. Ivory is yellowed. Blade stamped: “PRATT ROPES WEBB&Co / AMERICAN CUTLERY”. With matching fork, 1986.0531.114.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1846 - 1855
ID Number
1986.0531.113
accession number
1986.0531
catalog number
1986.531.113
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1930s-1950s
maker
Keppler, Victor
ID Number
PG.006261.W
catalog number
6261W
accession number
238737
The Remmey and Crolius families dominated the New York stoneware industry from the early 1700s through the early 1800s. Both families emigrated from Germany, bringing with them the stoneware traditions of their homeland.
Description
The Remmey and Crolius families dominated the New York stoneware industry from the early 1700s through the early 1800s. Both families emigrated from Germany, bringing with them the stoneware traditions of their homeland. Sometimes business associates, the two families also inter-married. Remmey family members went on to establish stoneware factories in Philadelphia and Baltimore, as well.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1795-1830
maker
Remmey III, John
ID Number
1980.0614.363
accession number
1980.0614
catalog number
1980.0614.363
Margaret Knight (1838–1914) applied for a patent using this model to demonstrate her machine that folded and pasted flat-bottomed paper bags. She was granted patent number 220925 for the invention in 1879.
Description (Brief)
Margaret Knight (1838–1914) applied for a patent using this model to demonstrate her machine that folded and pasted flat-bottomed paper bags. She was granted patent number 220925 for the invention in 1879. As stated in her patent specification, this design is an improvement on her earlier patent, number 116,842, granted in 1871. Her concept continues to be used in the manufacture of today's paper grocery bag.
Margaret was born in Maine, later living in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Her first patented invention, inspired by her work at a Springfield, Massachusetts paper company, was her machine for improvement in paper-feeding; it was given patent number 109224 in 1870. She received patents for inventions having to do with the paper bag, shoe manufacturing, and rotary engine industries.
While many women had innovative ideas during the 19th century, it was sometimes difficult for them to secure patents under their own names. Knight's inventions are celebrated because they demonstrate women's participation in the American patent system.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1879
patent date
1879-10-28
maker
Knight, Margaret E.
ID Number
1980.0004.01
accession number
1980.0004
catalog number
1980.0004.01
patent number
220925
catalog number
GA*89797.220925
This large Chinese export bowl features a panoramic view of the hongs—the office, warehouse, and living spaces for foreign merchants in Canton, China, in the late 18th century.
Description
This large Chinese export bowl features a panoramic view of the hongs—the office, warehouse, and living spaces for foreign merchants in Canton, China, in the late 18th century. There European and American merchants traded with their Chinese counterparts for highly desirable teas, silks, and porcelains. The presence of the Stars and Stripes outside the American factory suggests that the bowl was made in or after 1785, following America’s entry into direct trade with China in 1784. (Note that the Chinese artist painted the stars in blue on the white porcelain background, probably for technical reasons rather than in error.) The flags of France, Britain, Spain, Denmark, and Sweden also can be seen outside their respective factories. Punch bowls depicting the hongs were exotic souvenir items, brought back to America by the East Coast entrepreneurs who sailed to China as independent merchants, thereby breaking dependence on the British East India Company to provide the former colonies with tea and other luxury goods.
The Chinese produced bowls like this in the town of Jingdezhen in southern China specifically for the western market. Undecorated, they were carried five hundred miles overland to Canton, where enamel decoration was applied in workshops close to the hongs. On completion a large bowl like this was packed in a crate with several others and dispatched through the hongs. All goods for export were ferried in the small boats seen painted on this bowl, to the deep-water port of Whampoa farther down the Pearl River.
A large bowl of this kind would have been used to serve punch. The word “punch” is thought to derive from the Hindu word “pànch,” meaning “five”—for the number of ingredients used to make the brew.The custom of drinking punch reached the West through the East India trade. Punch bowls became indispensable at convivial male gatherings in the clubs, societies, and private homes of the port cities on the American East Coast in the late 18th century.
The Smithsonian Institution acquired this bowl in 1961 from dealer Herbert Schiffer. Before coming to the Smithsonian, the bowl had been broken and repaired, and then it was heavily damaged in a 1958 fire. After the fire Helen Kean, a specialist in the restoration of ceramics, reconstructed the bowl from shattered fragments. Once it came to the Smithsonian, conservators performed a radical restoration, referring to very similar hong bowls held in collections at the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum in Delaware, and the Reeves Collection at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.
Date made
18th century
date made
1785-1795
ID Number
CE.61.8
catalog number
61.8
accession number
234613
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1855 - 1866
ID Number
DL.61.0394C
catalog number
61.0394C
accession number
232677
This is a roll of first generation AFC stickers. It has the first generation AFC logo, which is a red outlined oval with the letters “AFC” and an image of two pieces of sushi inside. Underneath the logo reads “AFC Corp. 19205 S. Laurel Park Rd.
Description
This is a roll of first generation AFC stickers. It has the first generation AFC logo, which is a red outlined oval with the letters “AFC” and an image of two pieces of sushi inside. Underneath the logo reads “AFC Corp. 19205 S. Laurel Park Rd. Rancho Dominiguez, CA 90220” and “For most enjoyment eat on day of purchase” written in both English and French.
These stickers are used to seal the prepackaged sushi and mark them as AFC products. The suggestive phrase, “for most enjoyment eat on day of purchase” reminds the customer to consume the product on the day of purchase to ensure freshness, and avoid cases of food poisoning that develop from eating old raw products.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1980s
maker
unknown
ID Number
2012.3099.08
catalog number
2012.3099.08
nonaccession number
2012.3099
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
Bellied-bowl porringer with angled rim and bossed bottom; cast crown handle with triangular bracket is pierced with 11 voids and struck on top with the incuse serif letters "LB" at center of a circular shield on indistinct support flanked by bossed foliate volutes below a five-pe
Description
Bellied-bowl porringer with angled rim and bossed bottom; cast crown handle with triangular bracket is pierced with 11 voids and struck on top with the incuse serif letters "LB" at center of a circular shield on indistinct support flanked by bossed foliate volutes below a five-pearl (ducal) coronet with textured ground. "Mason" and "10" scratched on underside of boss. No touchmarks. Diamond or lozenge linen mark with sink hole from tinker's dam used to burn handle on to bowl. Turning marks across entire bottom underside.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 18th or early 19th century
1770 - 1780
ID Number
DL.388320
catalog number
388320
accession number
182022
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1930s-1950s
maker
Keppler, Victor
ID Number
PG.006261.X
catalog number
6261X
accession number
238737
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date produced
c.1950
date made
c.1950s
designer
Kogan, Belle
maker
Hull
ID Number
1992.0257.13.ab
accession number
1992.0257
catalog number
1992.0257.13ab
Handleless, cylindrical caster on cove-molded base with screwed-on, low-domed, perforated cover having twelve alternating lines of three and five pierced holes radiating from center; no finial.
Description
Handleless, cylindrical caster on cove-molded base with screwed-on, low-domed, perforated cover having twelve alternating lines of three and five pierced holes radiating from center; no finial. Small crescents or other shapes stamped in two rows around upper half of body and one around base. Three incised concentric circles on underside of inset flat bottom. No marks.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1800
ID Number
1986.0027.85
catalog number
1986.0027.85
accession number
1986.0027
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1968-1970
author
Waters, Alice
ID Number
2016.0085.20
accession number
2016.0085
catalog number
2016.0085.20
This dessert plate was used aboard the SS United States, the largest and fastest passenger liner ever built in the United States. Launched in 1952, it was billed as the most modern and luxurious ship in service on the North Atlantic.
Description
This dessert plate was used aboard the SS United States, the largest and fastest passenger liner ever built in the United States. Launched in 1952, it was billed as the most modern and luxurious ship in service on the North Atlantic. This plate was one of the 125,000 pieces of chinaware supplied to the ship by the United States Lines. The china—a pattern featuring a ring of gray stars—was produced by Lamberton Sterling, an American manufacturer.
There were plenty of choices for dessert aboard the SS United States. Menus from a December 1954 voyage—the first taken by the Duke and Duchess of Windsor on an American vessel—reveal a combination of American favorites and fancy confections inspired by the French. For dinner on December 10, passengers enjoyed Old Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake, and Peach Melba, as well as Meringue Glace au Chocolat, Frangipan, and Petits Fours. For luncheon the next day, the choices ranged from Green Apple or Blueberry Pie to Biscuit Glace and Chocolate Éclairs.
date made
1950s
maker
Lamberton Sterling
ID Number
TR.335565.06B
accession number
1978.2219
catalog number
335565.6b
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1950 - 1959
1950 - 1959
date produced
ca. 1950
associated dates
1992 06 02 / 1992 06 02
designer
Kogan, Belle
maker
Kogan, Belle
ID Number
1992.0257.12.ab
accession number
1992.0257
catalog number
1992.0257.12ab
This bottle once held Angelica wine, produced by Concannon Vineyards in Livermore, California, in 1929, at the height of Prohibition in the United States.
Description
This bottle once held Angelica wine, produced by Concannon Vineyards in Livermore, California, in 1929, at the height of Prohibition in the United States. National Prohibition, the 18th amendment to the Constitution, was passed by Congress in January 1919 to prohibit the manufacture, transport, sale, export, and import of alcoholic beverages in the United States. Lasting almost 14 years (Repeal took effect on December 5, 1933), Prohibition had a tremendously negative impact on the American wine industry. Yet this Angelica was produced legally during Prohibition, due to an exception in the law, which permitted certain wineries to make wines for sacramental and medicinal purposes. The Concannon family made altar wine for the Catholic Church during this period.
The bottle includes a stamp indicating that taxes had been paid on the wine and the permit information: “Bonded Winery 616 / 11th Permissive Dist. Calif. / Permit Calif. A 854"
Concannon Vineyards was established by James Concannon, a native of County Galway, Ireland, who arrived in Boston in 1865 and San Francisco in 1878. As a rubber stamp salesman whose territory extended into Canada and Mexico, he was a well-traveled entrepreneur. In 1883 he bought 47 acres of land in California’s Livermore Valley and established vineyards there, with a winery to follow in 1895. James’s son Joseph took over the business and kept it going through Prohibition. By the 1950s another generation—Joseph Jr. and James (Jim)—were running the company. Although the winery has been owned by the Wente family since 1992, the Concannon family is still very much involved in the management of the operation. John Concannon is now the fourth generation vintner at his family’s historic vineyards and winery.
date made
1929
ID Number
2014.0095.02
catalog number
2014.0095.02
accession number
2014.0095
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1925 - 1940
maker
Stieff Company
ID Number
2002.0021.01
accession number
2002.0021
catalog number
2002.0021.01
This cart was used by shoppers at the Costco Wholesale warehouse store in Arlington, Virginia.
Description
This cart was used by shoppers at the Costco Wholesale warehouse store in Arlington, Virginia. Although its shape is typical of carts used since the end of the 1940s, it is designed with a deep and wide basket with a sturdy lower rack for carrying oversized-sized and bulk packaged goods.
The convenience and carrying capacity of shopping carts play an important role in the sales of a self-service supermarket. Inventor of the earliest model of the shopping cart, Sylvan Goldman of Oklahoma City, described his idea in 1939 as a "combination of basket and carriage." The frame he devised held two baskets and was like a folding chair with wheels. In 1946, Orla E. Watson of Kansas City, developed these telescoping shopping carts that were "always ready" and required no assembly or disassembly of components before or after use.
Since their inception in the 1950s, warehouse stores represented a new, highly efficient model for distributing food and other goods to consumers at reduced prices. For shoppers, warehouse stores offered a radical alternative to the meticulously arranged supermarkets that had become so popular with the rise of suburbs in the postwar period.
date made
ca 2011
ID Number
2011.0233.01
accession number
2011.0233
catalog number
2011.0233.01
This shipping crate side has a label for Gilbert S. Graves Family Gloss Starch that was manufactured by the National Starch Company of Buffalo, New York during the late 19th and early 20th century. The crate contained 16 3-pound boxes of starch.
Description (Brief)
This shipping crate side has a label for Gilbert S. Graves Family Gloss Starch that was manufactured by the National Starch Company of Buffalo, New York during the late 19th and early 20th century. The crate contained 16 3-pound boxes of starch. The National Starch Company was one of the largest American producers of starch during the early 20th century, controlling a number of companies including the Gilbert S. Graves Company.
Location
Currently not on view
referenced business
National Starch Co.
ID Number
1979.0441.333
catalog number
1979.0441.333
accession number
1979.0441
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1930s-1950s
maker
Keppler, Victor
ID Number
PG.006261.LL
catalog number
6261LL
accession number
238737

Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.

If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.