Menu collection.
The Menu Collection includes approximately 50 menus gathered during the travels of an unknown collector over a period of forty years or more, from the late 1950s to the late 1990s. About half of the items are from international airlines such as Air India and international cruise lines such as Hollan...
Saved in:
| Language: | English Spanish Hindi Chinese |
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| Language and/or Writing System: |
Primarily in English with items in Spanish, Hindi, and Chinese. |
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| Online Access: | |
| Local Note: |
MSU: The material is stored offsite in Remote Storage. Please contact Special Collections 3 working days in advance if you wish to use it. |
| Physical Description: | 1 box (1 linear ft.) |
| Format: | Manuscript |
| Summary: |
The Menu Collection includes approximately 50 menus gathered during the travels of an unknown collector over a period of forty years or more, from the late 1950s to the late 1990s. About half of the items are from international airlines such as Air India and international cruise lines such as Holland America. The remaining menus, primarily from establishments in the United States and Mexico, range from elegant New York City restaurants, to modest diners near tourist attractions, to eating houses with a close connection to local history, such as the Buffalo Bill Tavern in Denver, Colorado. A large proportion of the menus offer examples of how businesses catering to travelers attempted to represent their home cultures to visitors. These depictions range from slightly saccharine depictions of Dutch children wearing national costumes, to dignified watercolors of Olmec and Toltec monuments in Mexico. The cultural and historical scenes are not always accurate: for example, a scene with a Pilgrim and a Native American (suggesting early colonial days on North America's eastern seaboard) is decorated with a totem pole in the style of the Haida people of the Pacific Northwest. |
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| Note: | Processing Information: Lydia Tang processed this collection in 2017. |
| Call Number: | MSS 601 large |
| Cite As: |
Item, Folder number and/or title, Box number, Menu collection, MSS 601, Special Collections, MSU Libraries, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI |
| Source of Acquisition: |
Acquisition information for this collection is unknown. The majority of the menus appear to have been purchased from vendors. |
| Cumulative Indexes: |
Finding aid online: http://as.lib.msu.edu/repositories/2/resources/2298 |