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 8 items.
- 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
- No Image Available
Whitman's Chocolates Collection of Print Advertisements
- Summary
- Materials trace the evolution of product packaging and advertising of Whitman's Chocolates. Includes business records and photographs of early product displays
- Cite as
- Whitman's Chocolates Collection of Print Advertisements, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1900
- 1992
- 20th century
- donor
- Whitman Chocolates
- Local number
- 1992.3047 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Frito Company Records, 1924-1961
- Notes
- The Fritos snack food was developed in 1932 when Charles Elmer Doolin of San Antonio, Texas, bought a corn chip recipe and began delivering the chips to local stores. He later moved the enterprise to Dallas, hired sales people and delivery trucks, and started advertising. In 1961, Doolin's company merged with potato chip manufacuter H.W. Lay and Company, creating Frito-Lay
- Summary
- Archival materials documenting Charles Elmer Doolin and the Doolin Family, their development of the Fritos snack food, and the Fritos Company. The papers include books, correspondence, business and financial papers, a print, product packaging, photographs and photograph albums, scrapbooks, printed materials including company newsletters, clippings, recipes, letters, an address book, and miscellaneous other papers
- Cite as
- Frito Company Records, 1924-1961, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1924
- 1924-1961
- 20th century
- creator
- Frito Company
- Doolin, Charles Elmer 1903-1959
- donor
- Doolin, Kaleta
- creators
- Doolin Family
- Subject
- Frito-Lay, Inc
- Local number
- 2012.3048 (NMAH Acc.)
- 2012.3049 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
El Chico Restaurants Collection, 1908-2006
- Notes
- Texas-based restaurant chain, and its products, that grew out of a cafe started in the 1920s by Adelaida Cuellar
- Summary
- The collection documents the history of the El Chico chain of Mexican restaurants in Texas, and includes photographs, menus, product packaging and labels, place mats, newspaper and magazine articles, newsletters, brochures, and annual reports
- Cite as
- El Chico Restaurants Collection, 1908-2006, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1908
- 1908-2006
- 20th century
- creator
- El Chico Restaurants
- donor
- Benson, Fifi Caballero
- Summers, Carmen
- Cueller, John A
- Subject
- Cuellear, Adelaida
- Local number
- 2011.3061 (NMAH Acc.)
- 2011.3062 (NMAH Acc.)
- 2011.3063 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Darrell F. Corti Food and WIne Collection, 1931-1965 (bulk 1940-1960)
- Notes
- A food and wine critic, Corti owns and runs a gourmet and wine shop in Sacramento, California
- Summary
- The collection contains wine and food menus from a variety of events, including cruises, banquets, parties and honorary dinners. Some of the menus are autographed and a few are hand-drawn or hand-lettered. A large number of the menus are for events organized by the WIne and Food Society of San Francisco
- Cite as
- Darrell F. Corti Food and Wine Collection, 1931-1965 (bulk 1940-1960), Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1931
- 1931-1965
- bulk 1940-1960
- 1930-1970
- donor
- Corti, Darrrell F
- Subject
- WIne and Food Society
- Local number
- 2011.3076 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Product Cookbooks Collection, ca. 1874-2007
- Notes
- Initial donor was a Smithsonian Institution librarian
- Summary
- These items are termed cookbooks though most are pamphlets or booklets containing recipes.. They were produced either by a manufacturer of the ingredients of foods or by the manufacturer of appliances for which certain recipes or ways of cooking were particularly appropriate, so they also advertise the products represented
- 2012 addendum includes recipe books issued by electric utilities in the state of Wisconsin and the city of Madison. Some of them feature the Reddy Kilowatt character
- Cite as
- Product Cookbooks Collection, 1874-2007, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1874
- 1874-2007
- ca 1874-2007
- 1870-1990
- donor
- Wells, Ellen B
- Collector, Mary Lou
- Boldt, O.C
- Boldt, Pat
- Cherkasky, Shirley E
- Ravnitzky, Michael
- Neuner, Tillman
- Subject
- Madison Gas and Electric Co. (Madison, Wis.)
- Reddy Kilowatt (Cartoon figure)
- Wisconsin Power and Light Company
- Local number
- 1990.3236 (NMAH Acc.)
- 2007.3013 (NMAH Acc.)
- 2010.3007 (NMAH Acc.)
- 2012.3023 (NMAH Acc.)
- 2012.3021 (NMAH Acc.)
- 2012.3019 (NMAH Acc.)
- 2013.3007 (NMAH Acc.)
- 2013.3033 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Campbell Soup Advertising Oral History and Documentation Project, Archives Center, National Museum of American History 1904-1989
- Notes
- This collection is the result of a year-long study of advertising of Campbell's "Red and White" Soups, supported in part by a grant from the Campbell Soup Company. Thirty-one oral history interviews were conducted by Dr. Barbara Griffith for the project, and a variety of related materials were gathered by the Center for Advertising History staff. The objective of the project was to create a collection that provides documentation, in print and electronic media, of the history and development of advertising for Campbell's Red and White Soups in the decades following World War II
- Summary
- Includes oral history interviews; print, radio and television commercials; promotional items, company publications, market research
- Cite as
- Campbell Soup Advertising Oral History and Documentation Project, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1904
- 1904-1989
- 20th century
- 1980-1990
- creator
- Archives Center, NMAH, SI
- interviewee
- Haber, Bernie
- Mercer, Richard
- Murphy, W.B
- Bair, Dean
- Bergin, John F
- Shaub, Harold
- Meyers, Peter H
- Coulson, Zoe
- Jones, Caroline Robinson (advertising executive) 1941-2001
- Gearon, Dan
- Adams, Anthony
- Weir, Chris
- Rombach, Scott
- McGovern, R. Gordon
- Prior, Joseph
- Goerke, Donald E
- White, Richard
- Baum, Herbert M
- Rindlaub, Jean
- Cronin, Betty
- Mulcahy, Paul
- Welsh, Dick
- McNutt, James
- Jordan, James
- Conill, Rafael
- Conlon, Robert
- Conill, Alicia
- Meehan, Vincenta
- Norris, E. E
- Holmes, Martha
- Norris, Alice
- interviewer
- Griffith, Barbara S. Dr
- creator
- Campbell Soup Company
- Subject
- Backer Spiel Vogel Bates?
- Connill Advertising
- advertising agency
- Batten, Barton, Durstine, and Osborn
- Local number
- 1990.3037 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH