Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Abstract:
- Food has always held an important role in culture and society. More than just a necessity for survival, meals bring people together, and the specific dishes that are popular within a culture reflect its population and their history. In the modern day, one of the most common places to share a meal with friends and family is at a restaurant. Restaurants, and specifically their menus open a window into a particular region and time. By examining the meals a restaurant chose to serve, we can better understand the preferences, demographics, and values of its surrounding community. In the United States, where most of the menus are from, the diversity of food styles reflects the diversity of its ethnic communities and their history in a specific geographical region. As people migrated to the United States from all over the world, American cuisine shifted to reflect that cultural change. In this collection, you will see a variety of cultural dishes represented in the menus. Some meals maintain traditionality, while others have been ‘Americanized’ or even appropriated. These variations represent the diverse experience amongst immigrant communities and their assimilation into American culture, as well as American culture’s acceptance or rejection of their cuisine. Additionally, the artistic elements of a menu including its graphics, written narratives, and themes offer us a chance to understand more about that specific establishment and the population it served. Similarly, the prices of meals can reflect the economy of that time and region. Food and community dining shape the backbone of social relationships and community bonding. Because of this, menus offer us a snapshot into the intimate social and cultural world of a society and its community members.
- Extent:
- 2 boxes, 2 cu. ft.
- Language:
- Preferred citation:
-
Menu Collection. San Diego Public Library
Background
- Scope and content:
-
This collection features menus from restaurants and hotels around the world, with most of the collection being from establishments in Southern California. The menus date as far back as 1874 and as recent as 2024, with many menus having no known date. There are a few items in the collection that are not menus but are related to the collection. They are complied in their own group at the end of Box 1.
- Acquisition information:
- Miscellaneous Donations
- Processing information:
-
Kayla Beard, 2025
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection is open for research.
- Terms of access:
-
San Diego Public Library can only claim physical ownership of the collection. Users are responsible for satisfying any claims of the copyright holder. Permission to copy or publish any portion of San Diego Public Library's collection must be given by the San Diego Public Library.
- Preferred citation:
-
Menu Collection. San Diego Public Library
- Location of this collection:
-
330 Park Blvd.San Diego, CA 92101, US
- Contact:
- (619) 238-6668