On The Table by Providence Public Library

A MEAL AT A TABLE

anchors us to our daily lives.

Rustic or grand, with family or with strangers — the routine, the traditions, the etiquette root us to the food and the people who share a meal with us. This exhibition, On the Table, examines changes in American foodways and dining culture through the lens of table settings. Where we eat, what we eat and the tools with which we eat form a picture of our daily lives. In our day to day experience, the table is a platform for quick breakfasts or post-work dinners, with simple table settings and familiar foods to nourish and sustain us. On holidays or special occasions, we set the table with our finest dishes and linens and festoon it with decorations. Covered in significant or traditional foods, elaborate dishes and delicious treats, the transformed table shows what we value and how we choose to share it. Just as we can look to our own tables for clues to our cultural priorities, we can examine historical dining habits to understand people of the past.

In studying how people ate, we see indications of how food was cooked, the influence of technology on food production, and the details of domestic economies. We see the impacts of immigration, social change and class on food traditions and the shifting definitions of American eating. Without recreating recipes with cooking techniques and ingredients of the past, it’s impossible to know exactly how meals tasted and smelled. Instead, we can look at the tableware people used: dishware, glassware, cutlery. Etiquette manuals, medical tracts and magazine articles taught people what they were “supposed to do”, while written accounts of eating such as cookbooks, recipes, memoirs and travel accounts reflected the reality of their experiences. In a recipe book, which recipes are marked and stained from use? In diaries or letters, does the description of the event match the anticipation of the invitation? These disparate elements can help us piece together a picture of what and how people of the past ate.

CASE 1

A Republic Rising THE FEDERAL PERIOD ( 1780 – 1840 ) gave rise to a refined

design style that was heavily influenced by neoclassicism and reflected a new American urban prosperity. Interior design focused on simplicity and symmetry, echoing Greek and Roman architectural elements. Beginning in the late 18 th century, domestic architecture included a separate dining room for meals and entertaining guests. As the United States grew, Americans became full participants in the global economy and quickly dominated trade routes to the East Indies as well as China. A growing A Republic Rising | 02

class of American artisans crafted luxury goods, and local specialty shops grew to cater to more sophisticated dining needs. These changes meant that upper and middle-class households were able to fill their dining rooms with elegant furniture, ceramics, glassware and silver made both locally and across the world. In particular, China trade porcelain, including blue and white Canton ware, was heavily favored by the merchant and upper classes.

Place settings and meal service were logical and orderly. Etiquette and domestic manuals emphasized that anyone could dignify oneself through good manners; America’s new democratic values focused on personal refinement as opposed to old European traditions of wealth and birth to establish social hierarchy. Table manners were rational and focused on respecting others sitting around oneself rather than on elaborate protocol. Recipes and menus reflected these same influences and incorporated both local and European cooking traditions. In 1796 , Amelia Simmons published American Cookery, or the Art of Dressing..., which was the first published cookbook to include native North American ingredients such as cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, pickled watermelon rind and johnnycakes. The concept of a unique American culinary

RECOMMENDED READING

Oliver, Sandra L. Food in colonial and federal America. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2005. Thurlow, Matthew. “American Federal Era Period Rooms.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/fede/hd_fede.htm (November 2009)

A Republic Rising | 05

experience was under formation.

CASE 2

Transplanted Tastes B E T W E E N 1 8 8 0 A N D 1 9 3 0 , nearly 26 million Europeans

and French-Canadians emigrated to the United States. These immigrants primarily settled in cities and cultural enclaves where familiar languages, foods, cultural norms and patterns of worship were readily available. In these new settings, food and cooking provided important opportunities to maintain bonds with communities and cultures of origin. European immigrants formed the bulk of the late 19 th century’s industrial labor force. Workers in mills and factories, both adults and children, often worked 10 - to 12 -hour days Transplanted Tastes | 06

with short or nonexistent meal breaks. Without enough time to return home to eat, they relied upon quick-to-eat foods carried in portable lunch pails or used tobacco tins. Home meals in typical cramped apartments or tenements were prepared on high-maintenance wood or coal stoves used for both heat and cooking. Without home refrigeration, food shopping was done daily, often in neighborhood ethnic markets that sold familiar foods and served as informal social spaces. Immigrants living alone often stayed in boarding

RECOMMENDED READING

Ziegelman, Jane. 97 Orchard: an edible history of five immigrant families in one New York tenement. New York: Harper Collins, 2010. Gabaccia, Donna R. We are what we eat: ethnic food and the making of Americans. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998.

houses, some of which provided one or more cooked meals, while those in deeper poverty could rent floor space in overcrowded rooms. The burgeoning domestic science movement during this era created an interest in cleanliness and nutrition, especially related to upper class anxiety about the immigrant poor. Wealthy women offered cooking and nutrition classes to immigrants through settlement houses or in their homes, hoping to “modernize” and “sanitize” (i.e. Americanize) immigrants’ approaches to cooking. Meanwhile, a new breed of cookbooks began to reflect the realities of immigrants’ kitchens, capturing the changing nature of cooking and eating in America.

Transplanted Tastes | 0 9

CASE 3

Conspicuous Consumption F O L LO W I N G T H E C I V I L WA R , the United States experi-

enced massive changes to transportation, infrastructure and agricultural technology. Conversion from wood-burning to coal and gas ovens enabled standardization of recipes and increasingly advanced cooking techniques. Refrigeration and food processing innovations along with an ever-expanding network of railroads meant that food produced in any part of the country could arrive fresh within days. This period was marked by rapid economic growth; however, that growth did not create broad prosperity. The top 2 % of try’s wealth, while the bottom 40 % of households had no wealth at all. Mark Twain coined the term “Gilded Age” to describe the thin layer of gilded gold and excess masking this era’s widespread corruption and social unrest. Wealthy Americans looked to the aristocracies of Europe as a model for taste and design where conspicuous consumption was as much a responsibility as a reward. The private formal dinner party became a centerpiece of high society. Dining

Conspicuous Consumption | 11

American households owned more than a third of the coun-

rooms were designed for very formal occasions; tables were long enough to sit one hundred guests and display elaborate silver and floral arrangements, and rooms were large enough to accommodate footmen behind each chair. Etiquette protocols for guests included formal evening wear and strict rules regarding meal service and socializing that mirrored elaborate menus with expensive and exotic ingredients. Highly influenced by French cuisine, recipes required sophisticated cooking techniques and highlighted the professionalization of cooking. While the disparities between rich and poor grew exceptionally wide, a professional middle class looked to emulate the complex protocols for etiquette and dining displayed by the wealthy. Highly publicized “society pages” in newspapers and magazines with detailed descriptions of party menus and decorations served as manuals for middle class Conspicuous Consumption | 12

aspirations. The bond between good manners, social status and personal virtue underlied the new American ideal of self-realization.

RECOMMENDED READING

Williams, Susan. Savory supper and fashionable feasts: dining in Victorian America. New York: Pantheon Books, 1985. Crain, Esther. The Gilded Age in New York, 1870–1910. Black Dog & Levanthal Publishers, 2016.

CASE 4

Making Do DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR, the government urged

Americans to cut back on food consumption due to huge demands for food for American soldiers and for starving Europeans whose farms and fields had become battlegrounds. The U.S. Food Administration relied heavily on extensive propaganda campaigns encouraging voluntary Meatless Mondays, Wheatless Wednesdays and other patriotic acts of eating to support the war effort. After a brief post-war economic respite, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression led average famihigh rates of unemployment caused homelessness and hunger to soar. Americans everywhere suffered from varying levels of malnutrition. While urban bread lines were a highlyvisible manifestation of the problem, true hunger was sharpest in extremely low-income rural areas. Most food relief came from private and religious charities, since food stamps as we know them today were not introduced until 1939 .

Making Do | 15

lies cut back, sometimes drastically, on food costs, while

World War II helped ease Depression unemployment but brought its own set of culinary challenges. Canned and processed foods were being shipped to soldiers overseas; gasoline rationing meant that fresh foods could no longer be transported great distances. As a result, Americans were encouraged to eat foods foraged or grown close to home, with vegetables sourced from their own backyard Victory Gardens. The government produced recipe books with ideas for how to creatively feed families within the new limitations. Similar themes emerged in cookbooks and women’s magazines. Official World War II food rationing began in May of 1942 . To receive a ration book, a person had to appear before a local War Price and Rationing Board. Each member of a family received a separate ration book (including babies, who got special allotments for canned milk). Ration stamps were then presented at the time of purchase to show that the holder Making Do | 16

had not yet used his or her allocation of controlled foods. Sugar was rationed, along with coffee, meat, lard, cooking oil, cheese, butter, canned food and milk, jam and dried fruit.

RECOMMENDED READING

Ziegelman, Jane, and Andy Coe. A square meal: a culinary history of the Great Depression. New York: Harper, 2016. Collingham, Lizzie. Taste of war: World War II and the battle for food. New York: Penguin Press, 2012.

CASE 5

Convenience Cuisine G.I.S R E T U R N I N G FRO M WO R L D WA R I I brought home

expanded tastes for the wide range of foods they had encountered abroad. These dishes and their component ingredients began to appear in American cookbooks, grocery stores and home magazines such as Ladies’ Home Journal, the latter of which shows the diversity of foods that began appearing on American tables: variations on the ubiquitous casserole, canned and frozen fruits alongside elaborate cooked dishes, and once-foreign fare like paella at the center of an all-American meal. produce military rations and began to use their machinery to produce processed convenience foods for home use. Quick-freezing techniques were also refined during this period, paving the way for frozen TV dinners, introduced by Swanson in 1954 . In the 1950 s, Americans flocked to the suburbs, where the G.I. Bill helped (mostly white) Americans buy single-family

Convenience Cuisine | 1 9

Meanwhile, manufacturing companies no longer had to

homes with yards. In order to showcase these newly-won backyards, suburbanites wholeheartedly adopted outdoor dining, al fresco cocktail parties and barbecuing. The rise in suburban living as well as the sudden disappearance of military demand for steel and tires led to a spike in the rate of American car ownership. Casual picnic scenes, like Convenience Cuisine | 20

those in this case’s photographs, became common as more Americans owned cars to drive to the park, the forest or the seashore with their hampers of food.

RECOMMENDED READING

Shapiro, Laura. Something from the oven: reinventing dinner in 1950s America. New York: Viking, 2004. Wyman, Carolyn. Better than homemade: amazing foods that changed the way we eat. Philadelphia: Quirk Books, [2004]

CASE 6

Namitch, commetesímmin M A N Y N AT I V E N O R T H A M E R I C A N foods and indig-

enous recipes have been integrated so fully into our contemporary diet that it is difficult to imagine an American cuisine that does not include them. When Europeans first arrived in the Americas, indigenous people had a robust and varied diet including a vast number of ingredients unknown to Colonial-era Europeans but now common on American tables, including white potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, maize, artichokes, sunflower seeds, wild onions, fiddleheads, nasturtium, dandelion, blueberries, squash, pumpkin, hariNamitch, commetesímmin | 2 2

cot beans, maple syrup and nuts including hickory, pecan, peanut, black walnut and acorn. Traditional native cooking methods included the use of stone mortar and pestle as well as iron kettles, frying pans and Dutch ovens used over an open fire. Servingware for meals was fashioned from pewter, carved wood, earthenware or stoneware. Indigenous food production and dining habits adapted to the same larger cultural and technological influences felt

by all Americans and integrated emerging cooking tools, techniques and tableware into existing traditions. In his 1643 A Key into the Language of Americaâ&#x20AC;Ś, Roger Williams noted the dining customs of the Narragansett tribe: Sometimes God gives them fish or flesh, Yet theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re content without. And what comes in, they part to friends And strangers round about.

Williams’ Narragansett-English dictionary included an entire section of phrases related to eating, many related to hosting a guest for a meal; for example, namitch, commetesímmin, which translated to “stay, you must eat first”. Sharing a meal evokes community, tradition and culture and remains an important part of celebrations for tribal nations across North America. Dishware and a menu from the Narragansett Hotel in Providence provide an interesting example of the complex interplay between indigenous and white culture in the United States. The Narragansett Hotel, owned by whites and serving primarily white customers, opened in 1879 and used generic American Indian designs on its supplies and advertising. When the hotel closed in 1960 , Narragansett tribe members Ferris and Eleanor Dove purchased its dishware for use in their restaurant in Exeter, RI. The nationally-recogand served traditional Narragansett recipes at communal tables, with its repurposed plates telling a story of cultural appropriation and reclamation.

RECOMMENDED READING

Root, Waverly & de Rochemont, Richard. Eating in America: A History. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1976. Park, Sunmin, et al. “Native American foods: history, culture and influence on modern diets” Journal of Ethnic Foods. Vol.3 (3): 171 – 177.

Namitch, commetesímmin | 25

nized Dovecrest Restaurant, in operation from 1963 – 1991

WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION Place setting Green glazed redware jug, New England, ca. 1800 . From the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 1973.236 .

Case 1 : A Republic Rising Advertising card for H. Sabin Jr. & Brothers [1843 ]. From the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society, G 1173 Box 1 Tableware. 02 03

Green glazed redware cann or mug, Connecticut or Rhode Island, ca. 1800 . From the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 1953.1.43 .

Benjamin, Asher. The American Builder’s Companion or, a System of Architecture Particularly Adapted to the Present Style of Building. Boston, R.P. & C . Williams, 1816 . Providence Public Library. Inventory of furniture from probate record of Joseph Nightingale (1747 – 1797 ). On loan from Providence City Archives.

Dinner plate, Chien-Lung blue and white glazed porcelain, Canton, China, ca. 1800 . Belonged to Ann Carter Danforth. From the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 1961.2.12 .

Invitation to Miss Arnold, 1773 . From the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society, Ephemera G1173 , Invitations.

Platter in blue Nanking pattern on porcelain, Canton, China, ca. 1800 . From the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 2017.3.1 .

Receipt from J. Childs & Co, 1834 . Rhode Island Ephemera Collection, Providence Public Library.

Three-tined fork and knife with dyed handle. Steel and bone ca. 1800 . Belonged to John Brown. From the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 1990.36.48A&B .

Recipe book, Congdon Family papers. From the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society, MSS 363 , S4 SS7 , Box 3 , F37 . Simmons, Amelia. American Cookery, or the Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry, and Vegetables, and the Best Modes of Making Pastes, Puffs, Pies, Tarts, Puddings, Custards and Preserves, and All Kinds of Cakes, From the Imperial Plumb to Plain Cake, Adapted to This Country and All Grades of Life. Troy, NY: Wright, Goodenow, and Stockwell, 1808 . On loan from Lownes Science Collection, Brown University Library.

Case 2 : Transplanted Tastes Catanzaro, Angela. The Home Book of Italian Cooking. Greenwich, Conn.: Fawcett Publications, [1957 ?]. On loan from Tonia Mason. 06

Di Luglio-Lubrano Co. grocer’s receipts, 1904 – 1905 . Rhode Island Ephemera Collection, Providence Public Library. Domestic Echoes from Jesus-Marie: Favorite Recipes From the Alumnae Association and Friends of Jesus-Marie Convent. Woonsocket, R.I.: Committee on Cook Book, 1935 . On loan from Kathleen DiVeglia. La Cuisiniere Five Roses: Comprenant 1001 Recettes Eprouvées et Autorisées

par l’Emploi Qu’en Ont Fait au Delà de 2,000 Ménagères Canadiennes. Montreal: Lake of the Woods Milling Company, [1915 ?] On loan from Kathleen DiVeglia.

Newport, RI dinner party menu with guest list including President, 26 September 1883 . From the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society, G1173 Box 4 Menus.

Novák, Antonin. Česko-Americká Kuchařka. Milwaukee, Wis.: Ant. Novák, 1892 . Special Collections, Providence Public Library.

Riis, Jacob. “How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements.” Scribner’s Magazine, December 1889 . pp. 64 – 652 .

Murrey, Thomas J. Good Things from a Chafing Dish. New York: Gorham Manufacturing Co., [1890 ?]. Rhode Island Collection, Providence Public Library.

Spruce Street in Italian Colony 1903. Reproduction from the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society, RHi X3 4662 . Wells, Eleanor F. Nationality Recipes. Providence, RI: Y.W.C.A ., 1935 . Rhode Island Collection, Providence Public Library. Place setting Mill worker’s tin lunch pail, 20 th century. From the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 1991.15.1.

Case 3 : Conspicuous Consumption Boston Ice Cream & Lunch Co. advertising card, [1880 ]. Rhode Island Ephemera Collection, Providence Public Library. 08

Catalogue of Sterling Silver and Silver Plated Wares of the Gorham Manufacturing Company: Including Examples of Their Productions in Other Metals. New York: Gorham Manufacturing Company, 1888 . Rhode Island Collection, Providence Public Library.

Providence Furniture Co. National Cook Book Comprising Practical Receipts, Providence: J.A. & R.A. Reid, 1880 . Rhode Island Collection, Providence Public Library. Providence Press Club 9 th Annual Supper Menu, 1892 . From the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society, G 1173 Box 4 Menus. Rhode Island Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. W.C.T.U. Cookbook. Providence: E.L. Freeman, 1889 . Rhode Island Collection, Providence Public Library. Place setting Beaded edge napkin ring, silver. From the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 1982.14.24 .

Cake basket with handle. Silver, 20 th century. From the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 2017.2.1 . Dessert plate. Porcelain, England, ca. 1850 . From the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 1952.2.111B . Dinner plate. Limoges porcelain, ca. 1870 . From the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 1952.2.51P .

Finger bowl. Cranberry glass, Sandwich Mass., ca. 1850 . From the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 1952.2.105B . Goblet, stained red glass with etched decoration. United States, ca. 1850 . From the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 1952.2.44A.

Elizabeth, Mary. Mary Elizabeth’s War Time Recipes. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1918 . Rhode Island Collection, Providence Public Library. 09

Medici pattern salad fork, dinner fork, dessert fork, knife, table spoon, tea spoon. Silver, Gorham Manufacturing Company, ca. 1880 . From the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 2006.439.1 .

Marsh, Dorothy. “Making the Meat Go Farther”. Good Housekeeping, May 1944 , pp. 81 – 83 , 94 . Providence Public Library.

Seated boxer dog salt and pepper shakers, pair. Silver, ca. 1880 – 1900 . From the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 2017.1.1-2.

Rumford Chemical Works. Delicious War Time Recipes That Meet the Requirements of the U.S. Food Administration. Providence, R.I.: Rumford Chemical Works, [194 -?] From the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society, TX 715 .R8 .

Wine glass. Cranberry glass, Bristol, England, ca. 1850 . From the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 1952.2.106G .

Rumford Chemical Works. Good Bread the Rumford Way. Rumford, R.I. : Rumford Chemical Works, [19 --?] From the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 1976.139.3 .

Case 4 : Making Do 10

Berolzheimer, Ruth, Ed. Victory Binding of the American Woman’s Cook Book: Wartime Edition, with Victory Substitutes and Economical Recipes for Delicious Wartime Meals. Chicago: Consolidated Book Publishers, 1943 . On loan from Kathleen DiVeglia.

Thomas. E. K. [“Family with Canned Goods.”] ca. 1920 . Reproduction from the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society, E.K . Thomas Collection 33289 . Thomas, E.K . [“Girls with Produce.”] ca. 1920 . Reproduction from the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society, E.K . Thomas Collection 33289 .

Crown Home Canning Book. Baltimore, Md.: Crown Cork & Seal Company, 1943 . On loan from Kathleen DiVeglia. Eddy, Charles W. Garlic and Roses: The Story of Eddy’s Salad Garden. East Providence, R.I.: Charles W. Eddy, 1955 . Rhode Island Collection, Providence Public Library.

League of Improvement Societies in Rhode Island. “Model School Garden in Providence”, Year Book 1920 – 1921. [Providence, R.I.]: [League of Improvement Societies in Rhode Island], [1921 ]. Providence Public Library.

United States of America Office of Price Administration. War Ration Book. Rhode Island Ephemera Collection, Providence Public Library.

Place setting Ceramic dishware. Glazed ceramic, circa 1920 . On loan from Aaron Peterman.

Utensils. Silverplate, Wm Rogers Mfg. Co., 1938 . On loan from Angela DiVeglia.

Case 6 : Namitch, commetesímmin 16

Case 5 : Convenience Cuisine 14

Delicious Saltesea Clam Chowder. Providence, R.I.: Saltesea Packing Co., circa 1945 . Rhode Island Collection, Providence Public Library. [Denhoff, Sylvia.] Favorite Old Rhode Island Recipes from the Girl in White. Providence: Providence Gas Company, circa 1964 . Rhode Island Collection, Providence Public Library. Hot Dogs. New York: Birk & Company, Inc., 1956 . Providence Public Library. How to Barbecue: A Tested Recipe Institute Cook Book. Long Island City: Tested Recipe Institute, 1957 . Providence Public Library. Meats for Men: A Tested Recipe Institute Cook Book. Long Island City: Tested Recipe Institute, 1954 . Providence Public Library. “U.S.S . Arcadia Picnic, Newport, RI , 1961 .” Rhode Island Photograph Collection, Providence Public Library, VM013_2016_A001 .

“Annual Convention.” Rhode Island General Photograph Collection, Providence Public Library, VM013_GC2758 . Carson, Dale. Native New England Cooking : Indian Recipes for the Modern Kitchen. Old Saybrook, Conn.: Peregrin Press, 1980 . On loan from the Exeter Public Library.

“Alves Family Picnic, 1954 .” Lou Costa Collection, Providence Public Library. Batchelder, Anne. “The More, the Merrier.” Ladies’ Home Journal, August 1954 , pp. 48 – 49 . Providence Public Library.

Place setting Gothamware picnic set. Melamine, 9 ", circa 1950 – 1960 . Providence Public Library.

Narragansett Hotel menu. Rhode Island Ephemera Collection, Providence Public Library. Photograph of Dovecrest Restaurant. Tomaquag Museum, Courtesy of Mrs. Eleanor Dove (Narragansett). Postcard, interior of Dovecrest Indian Restaurant. Courtesy of Tomaquag Museum. Williams, Roger. A Key Into the Language of America, or an Help to the Language of the Natives in That Part of America Called New-England. Providence: John Miller, 1827 . Special Collections, Providence Public Library. Wine menu, Dovecrest Indian Restaurant. Courtesy of Tomaquag Museum. Place setting Dovecrest Restaurant plate. Courtesy of Tomaquag Museum.

Stone mortar and pestle. Courtesy of Tomaquag Museum.

MARCH 1 – JUNE 30 – 2017

Providence Public Library 150 Empire Street, Providence RI 02903 401 455 8000 provlib.org