Food

Photo of McCall's Cheese

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

Date: 1950s

Ceramic Coffeepot and Lid

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

Meats with rib roast in center

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1930s-1950s
maker
Keppler, Victor
ID Number
PG.006261.H
catalog number
6261H
accession number
238737

Goblets and wheat

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1930s-1950s
maker
Keppler, Victor
ID Number
PG.006261.P
catalog number
6261P
accession number
238737

Hunts Tomato Catsup

Nickolas Muray color carbro photograph ca. 1952.
Description (Brief)
Nickolas Muray color carbro photograph ca. 1952. Advertisement for 'Hunts Tomato Catsup.' It consists of a photograph of an open faced sandwhich smeared with 'catsup.' Overlayed is another photograph of a Hunts bottle of catsup.
Photo Recto: Signed and dated by artist in lower right corner (pencil). Mount Recto: "5" (pencil). Verso: "9, Hunts Tomato Sauce" (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 1952
maker
Muray, Nickolas
ID Number
PG.007925
catalog number
7925
accession number
258415

Glass Tumbler

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca. 1955
Date made
ca 1955
designer
Diamond, Freda
maker
Libbey Glass Company
designer
Diamond, Freda
ID Number
1997.0157.15B
accession number
1997.0157
catalog number
1997.0157.15B

wine and cheeses

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1930s-1950s
maker
Keppler, Victor
ID Number
PG.006264.J
catalog number
6264J
accession number
238737

Goblets and wheat

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1930s-1950s
maker
Keppler, Victor
ID Number
PG.006261.N
catalog number
6261N
accession number
238737

Glass Bowl

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

Bread and wheat

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1930s-1950s
maker
Keppler, Victor
ID Number
PG.006261.K
catalog number
6261K
accession number
238737

Goblets and wheat

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1930s-1950s
maker
Keppler, Victor
ID Number
PG.006261.O
catalog number
6261O
accession number
238737

Dessert Plate, SS United States

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.
A survey of SS United States menus from the 1950s reveals a delectable array of choices for dessert. For luncheon on July 5, 1953, passengers might have enjoyed Lemon Chiffon or Rhubarb Pie, Chocolate Cream Puffs, Biscuit Glace, Coconut Custard Pudding, Assorted Pastries, Cream Cornets, Mixed Cookies, Strawberry Sherbet, French Crullers, and Coffee or Vanilla Ice Cream. That evening for dinner the choices were even more tantalizing: Special Parfait au Nougat, Marrons Glace, Frozen Ice Cream with Fudge Sauce, Diplomat Pudding with Melba Sauce, Champagne Sherbet, Coupe Glace St. Jacques, Biscuit Tortoni, Savarin au Rhum, Nougat Parfait, Petit Fours, Vanilla or Pistachio Ice Cream with Nabisco Wafers, Fruit Bowls, and Grapes on Ice.
date made
1950s
maker
Lamberton Sterling
ID Number
TR.335565.06A
accession number
1978.2219
catalog number
335565.06A

Tomatoes on the vine

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1930s-1950s
maker
Keppler, Victor
ID Number
PG.006263.L
catalog number
6263L
accession number
238737

Tomatoes

A Nickolas Muray 3-color carbro photograph of hands holding three large tomatoes ca. 1940s. Campbell Soup advertisment.Verso: Four Muray stamps. "Campbell Soup Ad" (black pencil). "32" (black pencil).Nickolas Muray was born in Szeged, Hungary on February 15, 1892.
Description (Brief)
A Nickolas Muray 3-color carbro photograph of hands holding three large tomatoes ca. 1940s. Campbell Soup advertisment.
Verso: Four Muray stamps. "Campbell Soup Ad" (black pencil). "32" (black 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
1940s-1950s
commissioner
Campbell Soup Company
maker
Muray, Nickolas
ID Number
PG.69.247.11
catalog number
69.247.11
accession number
287542

Woman in a Japanese kimono

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1930s-1950s
maker
Keppler, Victor
ID Number
PG.006261.V
catalog number
6261V
accession number
238737

Tappan Model RL-1 Microwave Oven

Developed by Tappan in conjunction with Raytheon, the RL-1 was the first microwave oven designed for home use. With a retail price of $1,295, only 34 units were manufactured in 1955, the first year of production.
Description
Developed by Tappan in conjunction with Raytheon, the RL-1 was the first microwave oven designed for home use. With a retail price of $1,295, only 34 units were manufactured in 1955, the first year of production. The company sold a total of 1,396 units before production ended in 1964.
When first introduced in the 1950s, microwave ovens were promoted as the wave of the future, the latest in modern electrical cooking. By 2000, microwaves were found in 90 percent of U.S. households. The same technology now used to pop popcorn, defrost a roast, or reheat a casserole originated as a method of detecting ships and planes, as well as tracking and coordinating Allied aircraft during World War II.
In 1940 British physicists discovered a way for generating invisible electromagnetic waves that could bounce back undetected after contact with a ship or plane. Called radar for radio detection and ranging, the British used the technology as an early-warning system. Eighty percent of all magnetrons used by the Allied forces were produced in America by Raytheon.
For Raytheon to survive in a postwar world, it sought commercial uses for its successful war product. Engineer Percy Spencer suggested using the magnetrons, which generated heat from the vibration of molecules reacting to the frequency of the microwaves, for heating food.
Raytheon’s first microwave oven, the Radarange, was bought by a Cleveland restaurant in 1947 for $3,000. The 1955 model produced for home use failed to sell well due to its steep price as well as customer confusion about how to use the appliance. By 1976, a brand-new microwave oven cost less than $300 and people bought them for offices, dorm rooms and break rooms. The microwave has become more than a tool for re-heating—it is a large part of lifestyles that do not always accommodate lengthy cooking times or complex food preparation.
date made
1955
maker
Raytheon Manufacturing Co.
Tappan
ID Number
1991.0727.01
catalog number
1991.0727.01
accession number
1991.0727

Butter Scoop

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1930
ID Number
1984.0298.01
accession number
1984.0298
catalog number
1984.0298.01

Canned sea food

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1930s-1950s
maker
Keppler, Victor
ID Number
PG.006263.C
catalog number
6263C
accession number
238737

Carrot Stick Slicing Machine

This unique carrot stick slicer is mounted on a table-height platform. It produced ready-to-eat carrot sticks in the 1960s and 70s, decades before the hugely successful “baby carrots” industry popularized carrots as a convenient snack food in the 1990s.
Description
This unique carrot stick slicer is mounted on a table-height platform. It produced ready-to-eat carrot sticks in the 1960s and 70s, decades before the hugely successful “baby carrots” industry popularized carrots as a convenient snack food in the 1990s. It is a good example of an inventive, entrepreneurial, and small-scale method for partially automating the manufacture of a ready-to-eat food product in the exhibition, Food: Transforming the American Table, 1950-2000.
In 1960 Joseph T. Listner formed Listner, Inc., a small company based on the idea of selling prepackaged, cleaned, and ready-to-eat vegetables. The product line centered on carrot sticks, but also included soup greens, dehydrated herbs, and sliced cabbage and carrot chips, called cole slaw, which were mostly packaged in clear polyethylene bags. Starting the small business with limited funds, Listner constructed much of his own equipment including the automated carrot slicer, conveyor belts, a refrigeration apparatus, and a dehydrator.
Previously, as a scientist and engineer, Listner held a position in a spectroscopy laboratory at the Bendix Corporation (1947-1954). According to his son, Chem, he left the company because he was “never happy working for someone” and wanted to pursue a different kind of business for himself. He began selling fresh chickens and later fresh French fries; the cut potatoes for the fries inspired the idea for producing fresh carrot sticks. While a manual slicer for carrots existed, Listner wanted to pursue a larger scale operation and wondered, “How can I make that work automatically?”
To create the automated slicer, Listner assembled five individual components into one device. Mounted on a steel workbench, the main components include an electric motor (110 - 120 volts), gear reducer with pulley, a steel arm, and the slicer with stainless steel blades. He designed the slicer to quickly produce substantial volumes of carrot sticks with minimal down time. Although originally designed to slice one carrot at a time before stopping, the machine’s micro switch could be disabled to allow the machine to run continuously to increase production.
The company’s main customer was the Grand Union Supermarket chain, which had over 200 stores at the time, mostly in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and Connecticut. The upscale chain learned about the carrot sticks from Listner prior to 1960, when he took samples to the store to determine Grand Union’s interest in selling his products. With a positive response, he incorporated his business in Wallington, New Jersey. Loyal customers followed, and despite interest among store managers in how he produced such a uniform product, Listner was never interested in sharing information about his operations or patenting his inventions.
Listner, Inc. remained active for 16 years and employed 15 to 20 people at a time, including Listner’s wife Helen, daughter Beverly, and son Chem, among other local workers. In the production of the carrot sticks, while the slicing was automated, the carrots still had to be hand-peeled and trimmed. Other tasks for workers at Listner, Inc. included weighing the carrots, filling bags, and then sealing the bags with a heat-sealer.
When the aging Listner and his employees were unable to keep up with the demands of the business, he decided to cease operations rather than sell the company and, in the words of his son Chem, “risk tarnishing his stellar reputation for quality.” He closed the business in 1976 after 16 years of operation and slicing an estimated 500 tons (1 million pounds) of carrots.
In his retirement, Joseph T. Listner continued tinkering, and turned primarily to hydroponics or the soilless growth of plants, a hobby he started back in the 1950s. Local newspapers documented his successes with tomatoes, light technology he developed to grow plants, and growing stands he produced for both commercial and home use. Mr. Listner passed away in 1990 at the age of 72.
date made
late 1950s
maker
Listner, Joseph T.
ID Number
2011.0222.01
catalog number
2011.0222.01
accession number
2011.0222

Eat Fruits and Vegetables

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1930s-1950s
maker
Keppler, Victor
ID Number
PG.006269.A
catalog number
6269A
accession number
238737

Still life with silver-top decanter

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1930s-1950s
maker
Keppler, Victor
ID Number
PG.006261.M
catalog number
6261M
accession number
238737

Champagne Glass, SS United States

This champagne glass was among the 57,000 pieces of glassware furnished to the SS United States before its maiden voyage in 1952. Launched in 1952, the “Big U,” as the ship was affectionately called, was 990 feet long, about the length of five city blocks.
Description
This champagne glass was among the 57,000 pieces of glassware furnished to the SS United States before its maiden voyage in 1952. Launched in 1952, the “Big U,” as the ship was affectionately called, was 990 feet long, about the length of five city blocks. On its maiden voyage, the ship broke the speed records for crossings in both directions and captured the Blue Riband trophy, an award for the ship making the fastest round trip passage on the North Atlantic. The time set by the United States on the westbound leg from New York to England was 3 days, 12 hours, and 12 minutes, with an average speed of 34.51 knots, a record that remains unbroken.
The SS United States was built in Newport News Virginia, and was the largest and fastest transatlantic passenger liner ever built in the country. The ship had 695 staterooms located on eight of the liner’s 12 decks. It could accommodate 1,972 passengers in first, cabin, or tourist class. Some 1,011 crew were required to run the ship and serve the passengers.
date made
1952
ID Number
TR.335564.02B
accession number
1978.2219
catalog number
335564.2b

wine and cheeses

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1930s-1950s
maker
Keppler, Victor
ID Number
PG.006264.I
catalog number
6264I
accession number
238737

Grape Crate Label, Bocce

By the 1880s, fruit growers and shippers were marking the ends of their wooden shipping crates with colorful paper labels made possible by advances in lithographic printing.
Description
By the 1880s, fruit growers and shippers were marking the ends of their wooden shipping crates with colorful paper labels made possible by advances in lithographic printing. The labels identified the source of the fruit, while the designs, images, and names helped encourage brand recognition among buyers. California growers used such labels on grape crates until the 1950s, when printed labels on corrugated cardboard boxes replaced the old wooden crates.
While many packers used imagery of attractive women to decorate their labels, Cesare Mondavi and his two sons turned to the popular Italian sport of Bocce to brand their products. The label shows two young men playing bocce while an older gentleman watches and presides over a table of bread and wine. The meaning here is clear: Cesare Mondavi and his sons, Robert and Peter, and their Italian heritage, were an integral part of the branding message.
Cesare Mondavi was born in Le Marche, in northern Italy, in 1883 and immigrated to the United States in 1906. His wife Rosa was also born in Italy and, in 1908, came to the U.S. as a young bride. They settled on the “Iron Range” in northern Minnesota, an area that attracted miners from various European countries including Finland, Poland, Sweden, and Italy. Mondavi worked for a time in the mines, but left to run a saloon and grocery business in Virginia, Minnesota. The Mondavis had four children: Mary (born 1910), Helen (1912), and sons Robert and Peter, who were born in 1913 and 1914, respectively.
Prohibition had a major impact on the course of the Mondavi family’s history. Wine and winemaking were important traditions among Italian immigrants and members of the Italian American community in the small mining towns of northern Minnesota designated Cesare Mondavi as their grape buyer for home winemaking. Prohibition’s Volstead Act allowed families to make up to 200 gallons of wine per year for their own use and, beginning in 1919, Mondavi traveled to California to purchase wine grapes on behalf of his Italian neighbors. In 1922 he moved his family to Lodi, California, in the Central Valley’s grape-growing region. From there he began buying grapes wholesale and shipping them to customers in the Midwest and on the East Coast. This was the beginning of what became one of California’s most significant and innovative winemaking families, with sons Robert and Peter, and their children, continuing the tradition shaped by Cesare Mondavi.
date made
before 1950
ID Number
2010.3091.05
nonaccession number
2010.3091
catalog number
2010.3091.05

Ceramic Sugar Bowl and Lid

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
1992.0257.11B.ab
accession number
1992.0257
catalog number
1992.0257.11Bab

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