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 14 items.
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- 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
Virginia Mericle Menu Collection, ca. 1960s-1990s
- Notes
- A collector of restaurant menus, Mericle compiled the collection by writing to restaurateurs asking for copies of menus
- Summary
- A collection of menus from restaurants all over America, and a few in Europe
- Cite as
- Virginia Mericle Menu Collection, ca. 1960s-1990s, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1960
- 1960-1999
- ca 1960s-1990s
- collector
- Mericle, Virginia
- donor
- Henderson, Vanessa
- Local number
- 2010.3081 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Food For Tomorrow Symposium Documentation, 2010
- Notes
- This two-day program, presented at the Museum in November, 2010, examined the role of invention and innovation in our daily diet, in what we eat and how we eat it, both historically and in the present. The event featured presentations by scholars, inventors, writers, scientists, and others
- Summary
- The collection documents, through audio and video, images and transcripts, a symposium held November 5-6, 2010, in the National Museum of American History. The theme of the symposium was the role invention and innovation play in what we eat and how we eat. Panelists discussed the history and future of food and related technologies
- Cite as
- Food for Tomorrow Symposium Documentation, 2010, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 2010
- 2000-2010
- creator
- Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation
- presenter
- Belasco, Warren James
- Bentley, Amy 1962-
- Boyce, Ed
- Cheney, Ian
- Craig, Steven
- Ellis, Curt
- Halweil, Brian
- Kloeris, Vickie
- Koff, Ashley
- MacIntyre, Daril
- Martin, Rachel
- McKenna, Jim
- McTaggart, Adam
- Molella, Arthur P. 1944-
- Peña, Carolyn Thomas de la
- Poppendieck, Janet 1945-
- Shinn, Barbara
- Silverthorne, Jane
- Vega, Cesar
- White, Jeff
- Williamson, Bess
- Local number
- 2011.3023 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Famous Amos Collection, 1975-1996
- Notes
- After serving in the Army, Wally Amos went into entertainment management, then created his own business and lost it, then became a motivational speaker
- Summary
- The Famous Amos Collection consists primarily of business records, photographs, and newspaper clippings documenting the career of Wally Famous Amos and the Famous Amos chocolate chip cookie. The bulk of the collection consists of newspaper clippings
- Cite as
- Famous Amos Collection, 1975-1996, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1975
- 1975-1996
- 1970-1990
- 1980-2000
- collector
- Amos, Wally
- donor
- Amos, Christine
- creator
- Famous Amos Cookie Company
- Subject
- Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookie Company
- Local number
- 2000.8005b (NMAH Acc.)
- 1980.0886 (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
Pillsbury Company Bake-Off Collection, 1949-1999
- Summary
- Material documenting Pillsbury's Bake-Off from its inception in 1949 through its 50th anniversary in 1999. Papers include primarily cookbooks issued after Bake-Offs, biographies of contestants and VHS videos of five Bake-Offs
- Cite as
- Pillsbury Bake-Off Collection, 1949-1999, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1949
- 1999
- 1949-1999
- 1940-2000
- collector
- Pillsbury Company
- collection specialist
- Strange, Susan
- Local number
- Not accessioned
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
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