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Title: Library Company of Philadelphia Menus and Culinary History Collection
Description: Menus and ephemera related to Philadelphia restaurants, including announcements and invitations, mid-19th century. The collection was started with menus from the John A. McAllister collection and additional menus have accrued over the years. Most significantly, in 1984, Charles E. Rosenberg donated eleven menus from the anniversary dinners of the Shakespeare Society, dating from 1855 to 1874. The collection is open to new additions.
Date: 1837-1899

Title: Menu collection, 1837-1899
Description: The collection consists one hundred twenty-six menus primarily from the second half of the 19th century, from Philadelphia. Includes menus from celebrations and anniversaries as well as standard bills of fare. Among the restaurants included are Parkinson's, the Continental Hotel, Merchant's Hotel, and Ebbitt House. Some menus are from Civil War commemorations. Outside of the Philadelphia area, there are menus from New York, Chicago, Niagara Falls, and Syracuse, as well as several menus from the Holland-America liner S.S. Ryndam., The collection was started with menus from the John A. McAllister collection and additional menus have accrued over the years. Most significantly, in 1984, Charles E. Rosenberg donated eleven menus from the anniversary dinners of the Shakespeare Society, dating from 1855 to 1874. The collection is open to new additions.
Creator: Library Company of Philadelphia, collector
Date: 1837
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Coll LCP Menu Collection 5763.F

Title: Delavan House, Chas. E. Leland & Co., proprietors. Warren F. Leland Clarendon Hotel, Saratoga Springs. Rossmore Hotel, junction Broadway, Seventh Avenue and 42d St., three blocks from Grand Central Depot, N.Y. and 20 minutes from Wall street. Chas. E. Leland, proprietor
Description: Breakfast menu containing an exterior view of the hotel operated by Leland 1865-1882. Also shows street and pedestrian traffic, including strolling couples, a train, and and horse-drawn coaches, carriages, carts and an omnibus. Menu organized as beverages (coffee, chocolate, and green and black tea); "Bread"; "Broiled"; "Fried"; "Stewed"; "Fish"; "Eggs"; "Cold"; and "Potatoes." Menu also includes hours of service for meals; notice of "Milk from Charles E. Leland's Valley Farm"; and the disclaimer "Dishes Ordered not on the Bill of Fare charged extra. All Meals, Lunches, Dessert or Fruit sent to Rooms, will be charged extra. Full prices charged for children occupying seat at the Public Table.", Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Gift of Helen Beitler and Estate of Helen Beitler.
Date: [ca. 1875]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Helen Beitler Graphic Ephemera Collection - Miscellaneous [P.2011.10.184]

Title: Sesqui-centennial international exposition dinner to National Advisory Commission appointed by the President of the United States
Description: Text printed on cover: Benjamin Franklin Hotel, Philadelphia, Pa. January twentieth 1926., Gift of David Doret, 2019., Library copy in printed paper wrappers., Manuscript note written on back cover: Tableaux: 1. Declaration of Independence 2. Ringing of the Liberty Bell 3. Washington of Valley Forge 4. Presentation of Flag by Betsey Ross. Speakers: 1. Hon. Herbert Hoover. 2. Hon. James M. Beck. 3. Hon. William S. Vare. 4. Hon. George E. Darrow. 5. Hon. Philip Gadsden. 6. Dr. Herbert J. Tily.
Date: 1926
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Doret and Mitchell Collection - Ephemera [P.2019.64.22]

Title: Catha y Tea Garden, 1221-23-25 Chestnut St., Philadelphia
Description: Menu for the Cathay Tea Garden located at 1221-1225 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. The green and gold menu cover depicts a Chinese woman, attired in a dress and high-heeled shoes, raising her left hand to her chin as she faces the viewer. She stands on a balcony or bridge overlooking a landscape of trees and mountains under a moonlit sky. The menu is in English and organized by number in sections for “Wines and Liquors” (#1-167); “Chinese Menu” (#1-179); and “American Menu” (#181-383). The Chinese menu includes categories for chop suey, chow mein, Chinese omelettes, and a prix fixe “Table d’Hote” with three different options and prices from $1.25 to $2.50. The American menu includes categories for sea food, steaks, salads, and sandwiches. The restaurant advertises music, broadcasting, and dancing from 12 to 2:00 P.M., 6 to 8 P.M., and 10 to 1 A.M. with a note that “our patrons are requested to dance only with their escorts. This rule is for the protection of both you and us.” A one sheet insertion, decorated with a red border of bamboo, promotes three Table D’Hote dinners for Tuesday, August 17th for 85 cents, $1.10, and $1.35. The Cathay Tea Garden, also called the Cathay Restaurant, was a Chinese restaurant that had a large dance floor where musicians and bands played. They also broadcasted a live radio show. The restaurant closed in 1973., Title from item., Date inferred from content and active dates of business., Gift of Linda Kimiko August.
Date: [ca. 1930]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *ephemera - Menus - C [P.2023.43.7]

Title: “T he Far East” Chinese Restaurant, Yuen Doon Low, 907 Race St. Phila, Pa. A refined first class restaurant
Description: Menu depicting an exterior view of the Far East Chinese Restaurant at 907-909 Race Street, Philadelphia built after the designs of Thomas Ustick Walter in ca. 1827 and later altered with 907 raised one story and 909 raised two stories. There are Chinese architectural details on the balcony and awning which reads, 907 Far East Chinese Cafe. The balconies are decorated with lanterns and plants. Two American flags and a Chinese Republic National Flag are on flagpoles on the restaurant. The cover has a border of bamboo plants. The menu is in English and organized with numbered dishes from 1 to 106 and “to avoid mistakes patrons are requested to order by number.” Categories are: “Soups”; “Chicken Specialties”; “Chop Suey”; “Boiled Soft Noodles”; “Beef Specialties”; “Pork Specialties”; “Chow Main”; “Omelettes and Eggs”; “Fried Rice”; “Sandwiches”; “Miscellaneous”; “Preserves, Cakes and Candies”; “Teas”; “Special Dishes”; and a prix fixe “Table d’Hote” with five different options and prices from 85 cents to $3 dollars per person. Menu notes that dining on the third floor incurs “an additional charge of five cents.” The menu also includes the hours of service and telephone number. The Far East Chinese Restaurant operated from circa 1906 to 1952., Title from item., Date inferred from content and active dates of the publisher., Gift of Linda Kimiko August.
Date: [ca. 1920]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *ephemera - Menus - F [P.2023.27.4]

Title: Scrapbook of Greeting Cards, Programs, etc.
Description: Scrapbook compiled by Philadelphia socialite Minnie Campbell Wilson (neé Harris) primarily containing ephemera from luncheons, suppers, university class days, and other high society social events. Events attend by Harris include dances and recitals at Wissahickon Inn; receptions, club socials, and a gymnastics exhibition at Princeton University; class days at Harvard, Brown, Princeton, and University of Pennsylvania (1885-1891); a Cricket Ball (1888); Authors Dance for the benefit of the School of Industrial Art and Pennsylvania Museum (1890); U.S.S. New York launching at Cramp's Shipyard (1891); and "supper at the Stratford after seeing [Sarah] Bernhardt given by Charles Lea, Feb. 1891." Ephemera includes programs, invitations, menus, and place, dance, holiday, and tally cards. Majority of the cards are printed, with some designed by hand. Holiday cards often depict religious, sentimental, and genre imagery, including children, animals, flowers, landscapes, and costumed and historical figures.

Title: Scrapbook of Greeting Cards, Menus, Invitations, etc.
Description: Scrapbook compiled by Philadelphia socialite Minnie Campbell Wilson (neé Harris) containing primarily place, greeting, holiday and calling cards predominantly issued in the United Kingdom and the Northeast United States. Majority of the cards are printed and or chromolithographs, with a small number illustrated with drawings by hand. Many cards also contain ornate border details, embossing, and adornments, including ribbons, fringe, lace, a wishbone, and overlays.

Title: Scrapbook
Description: Scrapbook compiled by Philadelphia socialite Minnie Campbell Wilson (neé Harris) primarily containing ephemera from luncheons, suppers, university class days, and other high society social events. Events attend by Harris include dances and recitals at Wissahickon Inn; receptions, club socials, and a gymnastics exhibition at Princeton University; class days at Harvard, Brown, Princeton, and University of Pennsylvania (1885-1891); a Cricket Ball (1888); Authors Dance for the benefit of the School of Industrial Art and Pennsylvania Museum (1890); U.S.S. New York launching at Cramp's Shipyard (1891); and "supper at the Stratford after seeing [Sarah] Bernhardt given by Charles Lea, Feb. 1891." Ephemera includes programs, invitations, menus, and place, dance, holiday, and tally cards. Majority of the cards are printed, with some designed by hand. Holiday cards often depict religious, sentimental, and genre imagery, including children, animals, flowers, landscapes, and costumed and historical figures., Scrapbook also contains ribbons; die-cut tokens, including girl-shaped calendars and the story "Rosy Cheeks"; newspaper clippings, including Semple-Watson, Philler-Winsor, and Frothingham-Harris wedding announcements; correspondence to Harris from her father while abroad in San Francisco, New Zealand, and Hawaii (1870-1872) and from her brother while visiting their grandmother in New York (1870?); Harris's 1878 "American School Diary" of her grades; a striped tissue paper coverlet; a needle work sampler stitched "Susy"; a watercolor marine view "by Arthur Hoff '89"; a telegraph message envelope; a family group portrait photograph; and trade cards and advertising circulars and booklets. Trade cards and advertisements promote "The Philadelphia Weekly Press" (designed as a miniature edition); "The History of Jumbo"; Enoch Morgan’s Sons Co . Sapolio soap (authored by Bret Harte); the Church Book Store (Philadelphia), Ballard House Exchange Hotel (Richmond, Va.), and Higgins German Laundry soap., Inscribed on verso of front cover: M. C. Harris. January 1892. Scrap book., Provenance and date of some contents identified by brief inscriptions., Printers include New York firms Donaldson Brothers, E. P. Dutton & Co., and Frederick A. Stokes Company; Boston firm L. Prang & Co.; and Berlin firm W. Hagelberg., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Housed in phase box., Gift of Elizabeth McLean., Inventory available at repository., Mary Campbell Harris (known as Minnie), daughter of U.S. Naval Commander Thomas Cadwalder Harris (1826-1875) and Mary Louisa Bainbridge Jaudon (1835-1914), was born in New York on December 27, 1862. Descended from Commodore William Bainbridge and Thomas Harris, the first surgeon-general of the United States Navy, Harris and her family resided in Philadelphia by 1866. In 1893, she married John L. Wilson (b. 1850), later treasurer of Coal Land Corporation and the couple resided in the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood. Harris was active in the Sedgely Club and often attended and held card parties, teas, and luncheons noted in the local press. Harris spent her later years residing in Bryn Mawr where she died circa 1948.
Creator: Wilson, Mary Campbell Harris, 1862-ca. 1948
Date: ca. 1876-ca. 1892
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums - Harris [P.9682.2]

Title: Scrapbook
Description: Scrapbook compiled by Philadelphia socialite Minnie Campbell Wilson (neé Harris) containing primarily place, greeting, holiday and calling cards predominantly issued in the United Kingdom and the Northeast United States. Majority of the cards are printed and or chromolithographs, with a small number illustrated with drawings by hand. Many cards also contain ornate border details, embossing, and adornments, including ribbons, fringe, lace, a wishbone, and overlays. Contents also include die-cuts of fans, horse shoes, a spoon, a flamingo, one-quarter moon, a woman’s leg, and a bird as a cover for a H. O. Neill & Co. illustrated hat catalog. Cards often depict sentimental and genre imagery including cupids, butterflies, flowers, vases and baskets; religious, historical and Asian-themed scenes, figures and/or decor; seasonal landscape views; women, children, and costumed figures; animals, including birds, chicks, dogs, and cats; and fruit. Other imagery includes two witches flying on brooms holding a "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year" banner; London printer William Dickes series of women in native costume from Switzerland, Russia, and Norway; a holiday card that opens to a sledding scene of children holding letters spelling "Merry Christmas"; and a Valentine Day card showing a letter slot filled with valentines. Scrapbook also contains watercolors and drawings, trade cards, programs, menus, invitations, ribbons, photographs, etchings, newspaper clippings, including an announcement of the wedding of Adelaide Watson, and a post card from "cousin Will." Trade cards advertise businesses, including J. E. Caldwell & Co., Stephen F. Whitman & Son, P. Fleischner & Co., Sharpless & Sons, F. T. Howell & Co., A. Ripka & Bro., J. H. Way & Bro., and Automatic Signal Telegraph Co. containing four scenes showing a robbery and fire and police and fire department., Scrapbook contains a number of items depicting Asian people or decorative themes, including a greeting card that reads, "A Happy New Year to You," and showing a Japanese woman, attired in a kimono, sitting and watering a potted plant [p. 9]; a card that reads, "Miss Harris," and depicting a Japanese woman, attired in a kimono made of fabric, standing and facing left [p. 18]; a card titled, "Bric a brac," and showing a blue and white porcelain bowl, vase, and pitcher bordered by hand fans and three flying cranes [p. 29]; and Asian men attired in kimonos having their noses pulled or pulling noses [p. 47]., Watercolors and drawings depict a woman attired in early 19th-century garb in a pumpkin patch, marinescapes, and an anthropomorphic frog. Photographs include a half stereograph showing a croquet match in front of a resort hotel and a photograph of Fifth and Walnut streets (Philadelphia) “taken by Chris in "88." Etchings include a portrait of an elderly man and one signed F. A. Stokes showing a man at a table. Other ephemera includes a hand-made tablet with a cover containing a watercolor depicting birds; a cloth padded bird figurine; a metamorphic playbill for the play "French Flats" at Union Square Theatre; a typewritten engagement announcement composed as a poem; a Christmas Hymnal booklet; handwritten word games, including 'Progressive Conversation"; a Pennsylvania Railroad "Old Point Comfort" tour schedule; and a train schedule scrap annotated with a doodle and inscribed text., Black binding, stamped on cover: Scrapbook., Label pasted on verso of cover: Patent Back Scrap Book. Pat. March 28, 1876., Inscribed on front free end paper: Minnie Campbell Harris Philadelphia. January 12, 1887., Provenance and date of majority of contents identified by brief inscriptions. Provenances include Nannie (i.e., Mary Jaudon) Harris, Lucy and Susan Jaudon, Mai Philler, Carrie (i.e., Caroline) Biddle, and Helen Morton., Printers include Philadelphia firms Craig, Finley & Co., Dreka, Rowley & Chew, and Sunshine Pub. Co.; Boston firm L. Prang & Co.; and British and Irish firms William Dickes, Marcus Ward & Co., and Eyre & Spottiswoode., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Housed in phase box., Gift of Elizabeth McLean., Inventory available at repository., Mary Campbell Harris (known as Minnie), daughter of U.S. Naval Commander Thomas Cadwalder Harris (1826-1875) and Mary Louisa Bainbridge Jaudon (1835-1914), was born in New York on December 27, 1862. Descended from Commodore William Bainbridge and Thomas Harris, the first surgeon-general of the United States Navy, Harris and her family resided in Philadelphia by 1866. In 1893, she married John L. Wilson (b. 1850), later treasurer of Coal Land Corporation and the couple resided in the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood. Harris was active in the Sedgely Club and often attended and held card parties, teas, and luncheons noted in the local press. Harris spent her later years residing in Bryn Mawr where she died circa 1948.
Creator: Wilson, Mary Campbell Harris, 1862-approximately 1948
Date: [ca. 1877-ca. 1890]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums - Harris [P.9682.1]

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