Food - Overview
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
"Food - Overview" showing 1190 items.
Page 1 of 119
[Contact sheet with 27 images of product packaging for Goya Foods, Inc. : black-and-white photoprint: contact sheet]
- Notes
- In Box 36, Folder 5
- Summary
- Photographer unidentified
- Publications
- Used April 27, 2010, on the Smithsonian Photographic Initiative web site, "click! photography changes everything" (http://click.si.edu) to accompany contributor Jeremy Wolfe's (a professor at Harvard School of Medicine who investigates visual attention) story, which reflects on how photography changes what and how much we remember
- Cite as
- Goya Foods, Inc., Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1970
- 1990
- Ca. 1970-1990
- 1970-1990
- advertiser
- Goya Foods, Inc
- Local number
- 03069443.tif (AC Scan)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
IN-N-OUT Lap Mat, 1986
- Description
- This 1986 IN-N-OUT Burger lap mat is made of white paper with the company logo printed in the top left corner. “Your Choice Made Fresh!” heads the list of menu items. IN-N-OUT used this lap mat to explain their menu items, and to reinforce their message about the quality of their food.
- While fast-food restaurants have been around since the 1920s, drive-thru dining came of age in car-crazy California in the 1950s. IN-N-OUT Burger was an early part of this trend, opening in 1948 at the intersection of Francisquito and Garvey in Baldwin Park, California. In the beginning, founders Harry Snyder and his wife Esther did all of the shopping, preparation, and accounting themselves. They also adopted a two-way speaker system, enabling customers to place their order without leaving their cars.
- Eating in the car quickly caught on in the United States and IN-N-OUT’s decision in 1961 to offer customers paper “lap mats” to protect their clothing reflects the popularity of the practice. Harry Snyder began hand cutting the brown paper used by bakeries for packaging buns into rectangular mats. He soon switched to pink butcher paper thinking it would make dashboard dining a more enjoyable experience. When a printing company contacted Snyder in 1971 about replacing the butcher paper with printed lap mats, Snyder saw an opportunity to provide consumers with more information. Early versions of the lap mats featured maps of the local area and information on other IN-N-Out Burger locations. By the 25th anniversary in 1973, IN-N-Out Burger had 13 restaurants in Los Angeles County, all featuring a two-lane drive-thru and a limited amount of outdoor seating. In 1979, IN-N-Out opened its first single lane drive-thru facility with a large open dining room, a design that became the model for future expansion. In 2012, IN-N-OUT Burger had 281 locations in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, and Utah and remains a popular destination for both locals and tourists who want to eat on the go.
- date made
- 1988
- ID Number
- 2012.0087.02
- catalog number
- 2012.0087.02
- accession number
- 2012.0087
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
McDonald's Coffee Travel Mug
- Description
- Before the 1980s, when built-in cup holders were becoming standard equipment in new cars for the American market, motorists had few choices for keeping a beverage upright while driving. The plastic, window-mounted holder, purchased separately from gas stations and other retail outlets was one popular alternative that filled the need, but introduced safety concerns as drivers had to perform an awkward maneuver to reach their beverages from the driver’s side window.
- In 1983, McDonald’s offered customers a plastic mug and lid with an adhesive-coated base that could be attached to the dashboard. The “Easy Rider” travel mug was McDonald’s answer to the growing popularity of refill clubs, promotional offers that encouraged customers to return to a particular fast-food restaurant or convenience store for refills of coffee, usually at a discounted price. Customers were expected to take the coffee with them in the special, branded mug as they drove, took public transport, or walked to their destination. A New York Times article from January 9, 1989 called the “plastic sloshproof wonder known as the travel coffee mug or the commuter mug . . . the most unheralded product of Americans on the run.”
- Carl Fleischhauer, the donor of this mug, was an on-the-go photographer, commuter, and enthusiastic coffee drinker. In the years before he acquired a car with built-in cup holders, he either carried a thermos or used a window-mounted plastic holder. He ate on the road several times a week, and enjoyed collecting “American advertising kitsch,” including McDonald’s promotional items during the 1970s and ‘80s. This travel mug was among the items he collected but decided against using because he didn’t want to mess up his dashboard with adhesive.
- date made
- 1983
- ID Number
- 2012.0088.01
- catalog number
- 2012.0088.01
- accession number
- 2012.0088
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
McDonald's Coffee Travel Mug
- Description
- Before the 1980s, when built-in cup holders were becoming standard equipment in new cars for the American market, motorists had few choices for keeping a beverage upright while driving. The plastic, window-mounted holder, purchased separately from gas stations and other retail outlets was one popular alternative that filled the need, but introduced safety concerns as drivers had to perform an awkward maneuver to reach their beverages from the driver’s side window.
- In 1983, McDonald’s offered customers a plastic mug and lid with an adhesive-coated base that could be attached to the dashboard. The “Easy Rider” travel mug was McDonald’s answer to the growing popularity of refill clubs, promotional offers that encouraged customers to return to a particular fast-food restaurant or convenience store for refills of coffee, usually at a discounted price. Customers were expected to take the coffee with them in the special, branded mug as they drove, took public transport, or walked to their destination. A New York Times article from January 9, 1989 called the “plastic sloshproof wonder known as the travel coffee mug or the commuter mug . . . the most unheralded product of Americans on the run.”
- Carl Fleischhauer, the donor of this mug, was an on-the-go photographer, commuter, and enthusiastic coffee drinker. In the years before he acquired a car with built-in cup holders, he either carried a thermos or used a window-mounted plastic holder. He ate on the road several times a week, and enjoyed collecting “American advertising kitsch,” including McDonald’s promotional items during the 1970s and ‘80s. This travel mug was among the items he collected but decided against using because he didn’t want to mess up his dashboard with adhesive.
- date made
- 1983
- ID Number
- 2012.0088.02
- catalog number
- 2012.0088.02
- accession number
- 2012.0088
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
[Woman with baguettes (French bread), France : color slide (phototransparency).]
- Notes
- Series 5: box 171, sheet 25
- Date
- 1951
- 1981
- 20th century
- photographer
- Sultner-Welles, Donald H (Sultner, Donald Harvey) 1914-1981
- Local number
- AC0145-0000048.tif (AC scan no.)
- 53496 Videodisc frame
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
Around the World with Doughnuts [magazine page]
- Summary
- Page 8 from The Doughnut Magazine, containing reproductions of photographs and drawings depicting the production, sale, and consumption of doughnnuts in England, South Africa, the Arctic, Genoa, and China
- Cite as
- Sally L. Steinberg Collection of Doughnut Ephemera, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1940
- 1950
- Undated
- 20th century
- 1940-1950
- collector
- Steinberg, Sally L
- Creator
- The Doughnut Magazine
- Local number
- AC0439-0000049.tif (AC Scan)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
Goya / Ripe Plantains / Platanos Maduros [color cardboard packaging]
- Notes
- In Box 49, Folder 15
- Summary
- Cardboard packaging with reproduced color photograph of cooked plantains; photographer unidentified
- Cite as
- Goya Foods, Inc. Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1980
- 1990
- Ca. 1980-1990
- 1980-1990
- advertiser
- Goya Foods, Inc
- Local number
- 02069405.tif (AC Scan)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
Dunkin' Doughnut Degree [certificate]
- Summary
- Blank certificate from "Dunkin' Donuts University" for successful completion of a course in shop management and donut production. A faint photographic image of a doughnut, coffee cup, and spoon is visible behind the text
- Cite as
- Sally L. Steinberg Collection of Doughnut Ephemera, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1950
- 1999
- Undated
- 1950-2000
- 20th century
- collector
- Steinberg, Sally L
- creator
- Dunkin' Donuts, Inc
- Local number
- AC0439-0000052.tif (AC Scan)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Frances S. Baker Product Cookbooks, ca. 1900-1993
- Summary
- Small cookbooks, primarily in pamphlet form, produced either by the manufacturer of one of the ingredients or by the manufacturer of appliances used in preparing the recipe. These cookbooks also advertise the products represented. Collection includes pamphlets on canning, canning labels, recipes from newspapers, and several regional cookbooks, including Canada and the Pacific Northwest
- Cite as
- Frances S. Baker Product Cookbooks, 1900-1990, Archives Center,National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1900
- 1990
- ca 1900-1993
- 1900-1990
- 20th century
- collector
- Baker, Frances S. 1911-1999
- Local number
- Pending (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Goya Foods, Inc. Collection, 1960-2000
- Notes
- Prudencio Unanue emigrated to Puerto Rico from northern Spain in 1902, but moved his family to New York in 1916. They opened Unanue, Inc., in 1936 to supply local bodegas. Over the next 30 years the business grew tremendously and eventually began its own food processing, canning, and packaging. In 1961 the company assumed the name Goya Foods, Inc., although it had used Goya as a product name since 1936. By sponsoring music festivals, sports teams, parades, and other activities, Goya Foods supported the cultural life of various communities in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. The company's current headquarters is in Secaucus, New Jersey
- Summary
- Photographs, calendars, sales promotional materials, cookbooks, packaging, and news clippings. Photographs depict primarily company sponsored events, but a few are family pictures
- Cite as
- Goya Foods, Inc. Collection, ca. 1960-2000, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1960
- 1960-2000
- 1950-2000
- 20th century
- donor
- Goya Foods, Inc
- creators
- Unanue family
- author
- Unanue, Prudencio
- Local number
- 1999.3017 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
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