History in Menus

The newly launched New York Public Library Digital Gallery contains over 275,000 images that have been digitized from the the library's collections. The wide spectrum of images range from New York cityscapes to 19th century portraits of inmates at Dublin's Mountjoy prison.

You could spend hours poring over this rich database of photographs, prints, and ephemera, but in the interest of gastronomy, I direct your attention the Miss Frank E. Buttolph American Menu Collection, which contains more than 5,000 menus dating from 1851 through 1908.

According to the New York Public Library Web site, Miss Frank E. Buttolph was "a somewhat mysterious and passionate figure" whose mission in life was collecting menus. She donated her massive personal collection to the library in 1899 and continued acquiring menus on behalf of the library until her death in 1924:

Her principal method of acquisition was to write to every restaurant she could think of, soliciting menus. When letters failed, she often marched into a restaurant and pleaded her case in person. She also placed advertisements in trade publications like The Caterer and The Hotel Gazette, but just as often, published news of her collection prompted outright contributions of specimens from around the world. Three times between 1904 and 1909, The New York Times wrote about her and the collection, noting once that "she frankly avers that she does not care two pins for the food lists on her menus, but their historic interest means everything."

Related:
» "Chop Suey Sundae, Anyone?" [The Food Section]

Image: Detail from "Dinner in Honor of Cornelius Fergueson [held by] Lobster Club [at] Fort Lowry Hotel, Bath Beach, NY" (1905), Miss Frank E. Buttolph American Menu Collection, New York Public Library.