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Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech
Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries (0434)Kira A. Dietz, Archivist
Permission to publish material from Culinary Ephemera Collection must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.
Collection is open for research.
Selected items from this collection have been digitized and are available online: http://digitalsc.lib.vt.edu/Ms2013-028 . Additional items will be added to the digital collection as they are scanned.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Culinary Ephemera Collection, Ms2013-028, Special Collections, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
Initial materials in the Culinary Ephemera Collection consisted of several purchases made and donations received in 2012 and 2013. Additional materials are expected in the future.
The processing, arrangement, and description of the Culinary Ephemera Collection was completed in July 2013. Further description is expected as new materials are added to the collection. Additional description and reorganization of the collection was completed in September 2015, February 2017 and July 2017.
The Culinary Ephemera Collection was established in 2013. The collection consists of materials in a variety of formats that relate to food and nutrition, dating from the early 19th century to the present (although many of the materials are undated). Materials include: advertising and promotional materials for food products, games and other children's activities, menus from restaurants and events, pamphlets on nutrition and health topics, notecards inspired by food products and food publications, and postcards.
The collection is arranged in series by material format. Additional series (and possibly subseries) are expected as the collection expands.
Series I: Advertising and Promotional Materials includes broadsides and other single sheet advertisements, product labels, and a variety of trade cards. Advertised items include food technology and production items like stoves and small appliances, agricultural products, and individual foods and companies like Carnation and Kellogg. This series contains a set of trade cards from Libby Meats featuring image of and quotes from Shakespeare, miniature trade cards with calendars, and a large Royal Baking Powder broadside, among other ephemera.
Series II: Games and Puzzles contains puzzles intended for play cocktail or theme parties, as well as items for children from restaurants and product boxes and trivia/informational tools.
Series III: Menus includes printed menus for locations and restaurants for adults and children.
Series IV: Nutrition and Health consists of informational pamphlets on diseases and specific illnesses, as well as their treatment, plus advertisements and information on patent and practical medicines, and a small group of items relating to nutrition. This series includes ephemera specific to children's health and nutrition.
Series V: Correspondence Artifacts consists of postcards and notecards featuring food products, food labels, and images from institutions with agriculture and food collection holdings. Some postcards contain messages on the back.
Series VI: Recipes includes ephemeral items that contain recipes or are individual recipes.
Series VII: Coupons and Stamp Books includes savers, booklets for collecting stamps (to be traded for items), and coupons.
Virginia Tech Special Collections also includes a number of similar and related collections of ephemera and culinary publications:
At the earliest, this item probably dates to around 1885, four years after the death of James A. Garfield. Produced by Stillman Remedies Co. Garfield Tea was a laxative that came in loose or bagged tea form, as well as a syrup. There's no clear indiciation as to why it was named after Garfield (there is no clear connected between the late president and the company), though it may have been an attempt to capitalize on his image somehow. Records suggest there was no "Dr. Stillman," but the company was in the patent medicine business well into the 1910s. For more on this item, see the post " A Tea, a Counter-top Ad, and a Dead President " on the Special Collections blog.
This folded pamphlet includes five full-color illustrations of the factory in Baltimore, depicting steps in the manufacture and packing process, along with a color image facsimile of the company's label. The inside pages include information on the company, the product, and prices.
This item is a broadside advertisement for the purchase of tea and coffee from the Great American Tea Company (1877), with notes about conditions for sale and variaties. The verso has an order form.
The J. F. Lawrence Printing Company operated at least from about 1890 until at least 1913. This prospectus includes samples and descriptions for patent medicine boxes, labels, and labels available for purchase.
This item is a French language board game from the Dutch Van Houten Cocao company, c. 1890. The board is a variation for "The Game of the Goose," a common boardgame from the 16th-19th centuries. The game has many regional variations, but despite being in French, "Jeu de Cacao Van Houten" follows the traditional rules (not the French ones).
The general rules are available online: https://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/game-of-goose.htm . We have created a handout for game play with this board, which is housed with the item.
Jeu de Cacao Van Houten has been digitized and is available online: https://digitalsc.lib.vt.edu/Ms2013-028/Ms2013-028_Van%20Houten .
This item is an illustrated advertising broadside titled "Jimmy and Jane in Far Off Java," from General Foods Corporation, 1932. Aimed at both children and families, this is a cartoon tour of the island of Java and its cassava processing plants from whence flowed the nourishing goodness of tapioca pudding with Jimmy, Jane, their father, and their uncle. It also features an ad for Minute Tapioca at the bottom.
Original pen and ink illustration of Percy Wilbur Witwer of Dallas, Texas, used as an advertisement for Mellin's Baby Food, c.1907.
This set includes four posters from the National Dairy Council, c.1930, about the benefits of dairy for children, featuring a young girl, Pasty, as she plays outside, buys vegetables, drinks milk, and gets plenty of sleep. Each poster has one large and two smaller illustrations, plus a rhyme about the theme.
This poster from the National Child Welfare Association Inc. of New York dates from 1923 and includes a rhyme about red fruits and vegetables. It was part of a larger series and features an illustration of children with beets, tomatoes, and apples by Fanny L. Warren.
This Kellogg's Toasted Corn Flakes shows little girls marching with cereal boxes mounted on wooden sticks to make signs. The top of the ad reads "Votes for Women". 1918. The girls appear to be little suffragettes though the boxes advertise cereal, not women's rights.
This group of materials is organized by product/type of product. The finding aid does not include a list of individual cards or companies.