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 2145 items.
Page 70 of 215
Stoneware jug
- Description
- This jug was probably made by William Lundy and Nathan Church, Jr. at Israel Seymour’s Troy, New York pottery. The potters achieved the distinctive decoration on this piece by using both cobalt and manganese oxides to fill in the incised floral motif.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1819-1824
- maker
- Lundy, William
- Church, Jr., Nathan
- ID Number
- 1979.0577.08
- accession number
- 1979.0577
- catalog number
- 1979.577.8
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Stoneware jar
- Description
- The Remmey and Crolius families dominated the New York stoneware industry from the early 1700s through the early 1800s. Both families emigrated from Germany, bringing with them the stoneware traditions of their homeland. Sometimes business associates, the two families also inter-married. Remmey family members went on to establish stoneware factories in Philadelphia and Baltimore, as well.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1795-1830
- maker
- Remmey III, John
- ID Number
- 1980.0614.363
- accession number
- 1980.0614
- catalog number
- 1980.0614.363
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Infant Food, Nestle's Lactogen
- Description
- This example of Nestle's Lactogen, a pediatric food product claiming to be "highly suitable for nursing mothers, convalescents and others in delicate health," was collected from the shelves of Tupper's Pharmacy, a neighborhood drugstore that existed in Summerville, S.C., from 1902 to 1977.
- Lactogen is manufactured by the Nestle Company, the Swiss firm founded by pharmacist Henri Nestle, inventor of the first fully artificial infant milk formula, "Farine Lactee." Farine Lactee, a malt- and cow milk-based product, was first introduced in the 1860s. It and other commercial pediatric formulas of the time attempted to reproduce the nutritional formula found in breast milk.
- Companies continued to try to create synthetics that more closely replicated human milk. Gerstenberger and Ruh introduced SMA (Synthetic Milk Adapted) in 1919; Nestle introduced Lactogen, and Franklin Foods, Similac, soon after. These new products gained the trust of the medical establishment, and the 1950s saw a sharp increase in infant formula use within the United States. Use of infant formula peaked within the 1970s, when approximately 75 percent of American newborns received formula instead of being breastfed. The reasons for this increase include successful marketing campaigns, including the provision of free products; mid-century consumer confidence in "scientific products"; the acceptance of infant formula's nutritional value by nurses and pediatricians; and the increase of women in the workforce.
- The use of infant formulas has decreased greatly in recent years; today only three out of ten newborns in the United States are given formula. This change is primarily due to more recent medical studies determining that while babies can thrive on formula, breast milk is superior, especially in that it strengthens the immune system. Nestle and other commercial infant food manufacturers have come under worldwide censure for the aggressive marketing of formulas within third-world countries.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- founder of the company
- Nestle, Henri
- retailer
- Tupper's Pharmacy
- maker
- Nestle Company
- ID Number
- 1980.0698.135
- accession number
- 1980.0698
- catalog number
- 1980.0698.135
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Spray Can
- Description (Brief)
- This spray can was used by scientists from Advanced Genetic Systems to spray bacteria onto strawberry plants in the first release of genetically modified microorganisms approved by the federal government.
- For more information, see object 1987.0770.01.
- ID Number
- 1987.0770.02
- accession number
- 1987.0770
- catalog number
- 1987.0770.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Stoneware stein
- Description
- The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 contributed to the establishment of numerous stoneware factories in towns such as Utica, New York. The White family first began making utilitarian pottery in Utica in 1834, and started using molds and steam-powered pottery wheels in the 1870s, expanding the types of wares they could produce. By the late 1800s, they were known for their relief molded wares, such as this stein.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1890-1907
- maker
- White's Pottery
- ID Number
- 1992.0278.03
- catalog number
- 1992.0278.03
- accession number
- 1992.0278
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Wedding Cake Figure
- Description
- Wedding cake toppers were first produced in the 1880s. However, it was not until they were massed produced in the 1950s that the figures began to reflect different races. Before this time, individual bakers, brides, or family members sometimes painted standard figures to resemble a specific couple. This wedding cake figure from 1956 is one of the earliest to reflect the appearance of the bride and groom. In later years, manufacturers have produced cake figures to appeal to different racial and ethnic buyers. They offer a variety of characteristics such as hair and eye color, mustaches, and even moles to personalize the figures.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1956
- maker
- Pfeil and Holding, Inc.
- ID Number
- 1992.0301.01
- catalog number
- 1992.0301.01
- accession number
- 1992.0301
- catalog number
- 1992.301.1
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Bridesmaid Wedding Cake Figure
- Description
- During World War II, wedding cakes were a luxury due to sugar rationing and other restrictions. After the war, the wedding cake became a central part of wedding parties and receptions, and cake figure production boomed. In the 1950s, mass production widened the variety of figures available. This figure, made in 1957, is of a bridesmaid. The wedding cake she sat atop apparently included not only the bride and groom but the wedding party as well.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1957
- maker
- Pfeil and Holding, Inc.
- ID Number
- 1992.0301.04
- catalog number
- 1992.0301.04
- accession number
- 1992.0301
- catalog number
- 1992.301.4
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Hershey's Milk Chocolate Box
- Description
- Physical Description
- Printed on cardboard.
- General History
- Hershey's Milk Chocolate box that held candy bars.
- date made
- 1943
- associated dates
- 1941-1945
- maker
- Hershey Chocolate Corporation
- ID Number
- 1992.3112.01
- catalog number
- 1992.3112.01
- nonaccession number
- 1992.3112
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Stoneware jug
- Description
- The salt-glazed stoneware tradition in America was brought to this country by immigrants from Central Europe. Potters in the New World used decorating techniques developed in Germany and other European countries, such as pictorial incising and cobalt painting, as seen the incised bird on this jug made by John Remmey III.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1791-1820
- maker
- Remmey III, John
- ID Number
- 1994.0310.01
- catalog number
- 1994.0310.01
- accession number
- 1994.0310
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Wheat Sample
- Description (Brief)
- This sample of wheat came from the first field test designed to chart the movement of genetically modified microorganisms after their release into the environment. In November of 1987, genetically modified soil bacteria of the genus Pseudomonas were planted along with winter wheat in a field in Blackville, S.C. The project was a joint effort of Monsanto, which had modified the organisms in the lab, and Clemson University, which carried out the field test.
- The microorganisms were modified to contain harmless “marker genes” allowing scientists to distinguish them from naturally occurring Pseudomonas bacteria. After their release, scientists kept track of the movement of the modified bacteria in order to create a model for how genetically modified microbes migrate upon their release. Several months earlier, the release of genetically modified “ice-minus” bacteria (see object number 1987.0770.01) in California was the center of public concern.
- Sources:
- Accession File
- “After Release, Altered Bacteria Stayed Close to Their Roots.” Renseberger, Boyce. The Washington Post. February 22, 1988. p. A3.
- “Release of Altered Microbes Is Approved in Tracking Test.” Schneider, Keith. The New York Times. October 21, 1987. p. A19.
- “Clemson Scientists Begin Field Testing of Microbe.” The Item. November 3, 1987. p.4B.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1987
- ID Number
- 1995.0055.01
- accession number
- 1995.0055
- catalog number
- 1995.0055.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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