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: 1960s

Slide Chart, Shopper's Guide Calorie Counter

This red, white, and blue cardboard slide chart has logarithmic scales for calculating the cost per ounce or unit of goods selling at prices ranging from ten cents to ten dollars apiece.
Description
This red, white, and blue cardboard slide chart has logarithmic scales for calculating the cost per ounce or unit of goods selling at prices ranging from ten cents to ten dollars apiece. The cost is given on the envelope, the number of ounces or units on the sliding scale, and the cost per ounce or unit on a scale below on the slide. Windows in the envelope reveal the scales.
The reverse side of the slide has a listing of the calorie content of a single serving of selected common foods and beverages.
A mark on the front reads: Hudson Shopper’s Guide. A mark on the back reads: Hudson Calorie Counter. Other mark there read: Copyright 1969 I. Taxel, Woodmere N.Y., and: Hudson Pulp & Paper corp. (/) 477 Madison Avenue (/) New York, N.Y. 10022. Hudson sold napkins, towels, and bathroom and facial tissue, and urged consumers to compare prices before making purchases.
The I. Taxel mentioned is most probably Irving Taxel, who established Promotional Slideguide in Woodmere, New York, after World War II. His son Nelson Taxel took over the business.
Compare 1988.3078.03.
Reference:
F. Lowery, “Irving Taxel, Helped Found Boca Lodge, B’nai Brith,” Sun Sentinel, July 9, 1994.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1969
maker
Hudson Pulp & Paper Corp.
ID Number
2001.3103.03
nonaccession number
2001.3103
catalog number
2001.3103.03

Lisa Law and baby Baba

With her camera, Lisa Law documented history in the heart of the counterculture revolution of the 1960s as she lived it, as a participant, an agent of change and a member of the broader culture.
Description
With her camera, Lisa Law documented history in the heart of the counterculture revolution of the 1960s as she lived it, as a participant, an agent of change and a member of the broader culture. She recorded this unconventional time of Anti-War demonstrations in California, communes, Love-Ins, peace marches and concerts, as well as her family life as she became a wife and mother. The photographs were collected by William Yeingst and Shannon Perich in a cross-unit collecting collaboration. Together they selected over two hundred photographs relevant to photographic history, cultural history, domestic life and social history.
Law’s portraiture and concert photographs include Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Lovin Spoonful and Peter, Paul and Mary. She also took several of Janis Joplin and her band Big Brother and the Holding Company, including the photograph used to create the poster included in the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum’s exhibition 1001 Days and Nights in American Art. Law and other members of the Hog Farm were involved in the logistics of setting up the well-known musical extravaganza, Woodstock. Her photographs include the teepee poles going into the hold of the plane, a few concert scenes and amenities like the kitchen and medical tent. Other photographs include peace rallies and concerts in Haight-Ashbury, Coretta Scott King speaking at an Anti-War protest and portraits of Allen Ginsburg and Timothy Leary. From her life in New Mexico the photographs include yoga sessions with Yogi Bhajan, bus races, parades and other public events. From life on the New Buffalo Commune, there are many pictures of her family and friends taken during meal preparation and eating, farming, building, playing, giving birth and caring for children.
Ms. Law did not realize how important her photographs were while she was taking them. It was not until after she divorced her husband, left the farm for Santa Fe and began a career as a photographer that she realized the depth of history she recorded. Today, she spends her time writing books, showing her photographs in museums all over the United States and making documentaries. In 1990, her video documentary, “Flashing on the Sixties,” won several awards.
A selection of photographs was featured in the exhibition A Visual Journey: Photographs by Lisa Law, 1964–1971, at the National Museum of American History October 1998-April 1999.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1969
date printed
1998
maker
Mauney, Michael
ID Number
1998.0139.175
accession number
1998.0139
catalog number
1998.0139.175

Syrup Pitcher

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1963
maker
Washburn Company
ID Number
1993.0397.05
catalog number
1993.0397.05
accession number
1993.0397

Pie Pan

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1960
maker
Mirro Aluminum Company
ID Number
1991.0825.02
catalog number
1991.0825.02
accession number
1991.0825
catalog number
1991.825.02

Loaf Pan

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1960s
maker
Wear-Ever Aluminum
ID Number
1991.0825.04
catalog number
1991.0825.04
accession number
1991.0825
catalog number
1991.825.04

1964 World's Fair Florida Citrus Commission Souvenir Orange

This plastic orange is a souvenir from the Florida state pavilion at the 1964 New York World’s Fair.
Description
This plastic orange is a souvenir from the Florida state pavilion at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. Visitors to the pavilion’s “Florida Citrus Tower” and Minute Maid Company exhibit were invited to taste juices, see a live porpoise show, and watch the “Florida Citrus Water Ski Show.” The surface of the plastic orange is embossed with a porpoise shape and the message: “I’ve seen the fabulous Florida Porpoise Show, New York World’s Fair,” “The real thing - O.J. from Florida,” and “Compliments of the Florida Citrus Commission.”
The Florida Citrus Commission is a 12-member board, appointed by the Governor of Florida to oversee the Florida Department of Citrus (FDOC). The FDOC, a separate agency from the state’s Department of Agriculture, includes citrus growers, processors, and packers, and is responsible for the marketing, research, and regulation of the state’s citrus industry. In cooperation with the state government, the citrus industry helped promote Florida to tourists. While orange trees were not native to Florida, they—and the warm climate they depended on—became powerful symbols of the sunshine state.
In 1967, the Florida State Legislature declared "the juice obtained from mature oranges of the species Citrus sinensis and hybrids” as the official beverage of the State of Florida (Fla. Stat. 15.032). However, since the 1960s, citrus cultivation rapidly decreased as Florida's population increased and land was developed for other uses. Orange County, Florida, home of Disneyland and Orlando, for example, produced 95% less citrus in 1990 than in 1970.
date made
1964
ID Number
1989.0438.2466A
catalog number
1989.0438.2466A
accession number
1989.0438
catalog number
NY1964TY17A

Colonel Sanders Weathervane

This weathervane is topped by a two-sided lithographed steel image of Harland Sanders in his genteel image as “Colonel Sanders”—a white suit, black string tie, and cane.
Description
This weathervane is topped by a two-sided lithographed steel image of Harland Sanders in his genteel image as “Colonel Sanders”—a white suit, black string tie, and cane. The use of the image was meant to reinforce brand loyalty by featuring the company’s iconic founder at restaurants he franchised. The image sat atop the red and white steel cupola made by the Trachte Metal Buildings Company during the 1970s, sold to franchisees to present a unified image.
Harland Sanders began selling his fried chicken at his filling station in North Corbin, Kentucky in 1934. Two years later the governor granted Sanders the honorary title of “Kentucky Colonel,” a title that was renewed in 1950 by Governor Lawrence Weatherby. Around then Sanders adopted the persona of a genteel Colonel with his suit, string tie, and cane. In 1952, Colonel Sanders licensed his chicken to Salt Lake City restaurant owner Peter Harman, and in 1955 he sold his store and traveled the country full-time selling franchises. By 1964 there were more than 600 franchisees, and Sanders sold his interest in the company for $2 million dollars.
date made
1960s
ID Number
2014.0120.01
accession number
2014.0120
catalog number
2014.0120.01

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