The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-28
M ENUS FROM MANY LANDS
A Collection Soon to Be Placed on
Exhibition.

Bills of Fare That Have Attracted
| the Bon yivants in Various Sec
tions of the WorId-CoIlection of
Souvenirs of Farewell Banquets.
There will soon be placed on exhibition
| IN the entrance hall of the Astor library.
| in the swinging frames near the doorway.
several hundred specimens selected from q
| collection which is believed to be unique in
| either public or private possession. This
| collection, which already numbers over
5000 pieces. and is steadily Increasing. is
made up of bills of fare OF every variety.
including the menus of formal dinners and
other ceremonial functions. with those of
hotels, restaurants. dining cars. steamship
lines, etc. issued both for special occa-
| siOns and for daily service. In Its various
| features 1t Is interesting from historical
and artistic points of view, and also to the
! student Of gastronomy, OF the prices OF
| foods and of social manners and customs
| While the value of such collection In
creases directly with its extent It will be
greatly enhanced by the lapse OF time. so
that it is hard to fancy what 1t may be
century hence.
/ 1t was nd-of-the-century thought
that inspired Miss Frank E. Buttolph to
|
1900. She received ready encouragement
and assistance from the director of the
library. DIR. Billings, and soon added let
tiers and circulars to her personal apph-
cations for menus. The proprietors. man
ayers and chefs of hotels were visited.
| SO were keepers of all grades OF restau-
! rants in various parts of the city, and
| the officers of organizations which give
| annual dinners. Applications by letter or
| in person were then made to officers or
| agents of steamship and railroad COM
! paries. With rare exceptions. Miss But
| tOlph says, she has been treated In her
| collection work with the greatest cOur-
| tesy, and this has been experienced in
| cheap restaurants as often as in the most
| expensive hotels In collecting bills OF
| fare for daily service. a special effort has
| been made to secure priced bills. with
| dates, SO as to preserve a record OF the
| cost of various cooked foods in establish
ments OF different classes at such-and-
such times. Menus, printed and written,
were obtained from restaurants both east
and west of Broadway as well as along
| its line. from the Battery to Harlem. and
\ also from the resioa east of the Bowery-
! on .h.5 west side, Washington Street
| yielded the menu of a Syrian restaurant,
| while Hebrew, Greek, and Armenian bills
| of fare are curiosities from other quar-
| tiers of New York
Hotel journals IN this city have aided the
work OF collection by directing attention
| to it, ana some hotel men have actively
evinced much interest in the matter, not
only taking pains to contribute current
I bills of fare, but forwarding such menus
| for special occasions as had been pre-
served from previous years. By curl
Gus coincidence. there arrived on last st.
! I'atrick's day, the anniversary of the
burning of the Windsor Hotel, a package
| of old menus of that hosiery. the gift OF
| former employe. From officers and
! members of various organizations have
/ been obtained the menus of annual din
| nerS for a series of years. the number of
these from the Chamber of Commerce and
the Sons of the Revolution (those of the
latter coming from branches in all parts
l-of the country, being particularly large.
| The ephemeral nature of bills of fare, un-
less preserved in such a collection as this,
is shown, however by the facts that
| the oldest special bill yet obtained dates
only from 1879 while the date of the old
est daily bill, which came from hotel in
Saratoga, is 1872.
Both special and daily menus have been
secured, in answer to letters, from leading
hotels in various cities and summer re-
sorts. while specials for banquets repre-
sent societies scattered all over the union
OF hereditary and patriotic societies, there
are now in the collection over 800 menus
Many of these cards for ceremonial and
anniversary dinners comprise lists OF
toasts and speakers, with the names OF
guests of honor; programmes of instru-
mental and vocal music are also some
times included. About twenty OF the din
ner cards relate 10 General Grant, includ-
ing that provided by the Fifth Avenue Ho-
tel on the day of his funeral, when great
number of officials assembled there before
taking their places in the procession. Re-
lating to Admiral Dewey are about thirty
dinner menus from cities all over the
country and there are some twenty others
connected with the Spanish-American war.
A few are souvenirs of the South African
war, recalling farewell dinners given to
et..ce5= ABOUT to start from Canada or
Australia
Having obtained menus from all the
transAtlantie lines running from New
York. the indefatigable collector next Sc
cured samples of those on the Southern
Pacific Company's trains and steamers.
and then specimens from the steamers
of the Japanese lines, the Nippon Yusen
kaiSha. and the Togo kaise kaisha, and
also from the Yokohama-Shanghai line.
These Oriental companies have their bills
of fare printed in English, though with
Japanese designs, while the Imperial
French Anniversary dinner cards show
the celebration of Washington's Birthday
on the steamship Coptfc of the Oriental
AMI Occidental line, of Lincoln's birthday
on the neutrality-suspicious. line. and on
Thanksgiving Day on a Japanese steam
ship-in compliment. of course, to Ameri-
can passengers. In addition to daily bills
OF fare on American railroads, there are
special dining car menus for trips of
Presidents Harrison and Mckinley and
for one of Ii Hung Chang.
Chiefly a result of writing to Ameri-
can legations and consuls in foreign cities,
many places abroad are represented by
Oils OF rare, lncluulHS VI
emma, Budapest. Lucerne. Tokyo, st.
Petersburg, Australia, Egypt, and Brazil.
From St. Petersburg are menus of that
very exclusive organization, the Imperial
Yacht Club. The Lord Mayor of London,
Mr.. Newton, in response to a personal let
ter. sent not only the bill of fare of the
lord mayors banquet on November s,
1899 but that of a dinner of the Worship
full Company of Girdlers, OF which he is
master.
There Is an immense variety in the de-
sign and treatment Of the cards for spe-
cial occasions, some of them being beauti-
full and appropriate works of art, while
others show cost rather than taste. The
distinctive character of many dinnersiv-
ing organizations afford excellent oppor-
tunity for picturesque illustration. Spe
cial bills for hotels and restaurants. when
not furnished for organizations, relate
chiefly to such annual holidays as New
Years. Thanksgiving. and Christmas. Tho
strength of tradition is shown by the ap-
pearance of snow designs on the Christ
mas menus of hotels as far south as
Florida. Oddly or humor is an object in
some special bills. such one in the form
of Christmas stocking. another enclosed
in a facsimile of a giant frecracker Uor
a Fourth of July dinner, and third, for
a gathering of insurance men. made out
fire insurance policy. Other menus
are in original verse, or contain quota
lions from the poets as notices for the
different viands.-New York Evening
Post.
r.EaTNT arrn ONr TOWING srrnD