January 31, 2012
Not everything in our digital library collections is a letter, telegram or a picture. We have lots of different resource types from school homework to calling cards to, my personal favorite, menus. What can I say? I love to eat and from the looks of these menus, so did Theodore Roosevelt. French cuisine was the height of fine dining during the early 20th century and the menus of our collection often reflect that fact. Many are presented in French, no matter the occasion. Below are some of my favorite menus from our many collections in the Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library.
Autographed dinner menu, May 26, 1896. MS Am 1541 (293). Houghton Library. Harvard University. Electronic copy sponsored by the Theodore Roosevelt Center at Dickinson State University. For reproduction or publication permission, contact the Theodore Roosevelt Collection, Houghton Library.
One of our earliest menus is this New York Municipal Service Administration dinner menu which was held at the Hotel Claremont. Theodore Roosevelt was attending as a New York City Police Commissioner. The many illustrations and often aptly named dishes make this a fun item to look at in detail. I am, however, very happy that frog legs do not often end up on my table!
Frontier Dinner for Colonel Roosevelt, August 28, 1910. Sagamore Hill National Historic Site.
This menu was for a dinner held in Theodore Roosevelt’s honor at the Warren Live Stock Company’s Ranch near Cheyenne, Wyoming in late summer 1910. This menu’s array of wild fish and game truly earns it the name “frontier dinner.”
Menu for Dinner held in Theodore Roosevelt's honor upon return to The United States, June 10, 1910. Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site.
A few months before the frontier dinner in Wyoming, Theodore Roosevelt had just returned to the United States following his year long trip abroad which included an African Safari and tour of Europe. Roosevelt’s ship was met with great fanfare in New York City upon his return and this dinner, which included salmon, a rack of lamb, guinea hen and Virginia baked ham, was one of many held to celebrate his safe return. This is one of my favorite items in all of our collections because of the whimsical border of dancing teddy bears bringing dish after dish to a very hungry Roosevelt.
Palacio Guanabara Diner du 24 Octobre 1913, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site.
In 1913, Theodore Roosevelt embarked on a goodwill tour of South America before exploring the River of Doubt, a trip that would almost kill him. During his time in South America, many dinners were held in his honor. However, Frank Harper, Roosevelt’s secretary at the time who accompanied him on the trip, also saved many of the menus from lunches and dinners the group took at their hotel in Brazil. You note that even though this meal was eaten in a Portuguese speaking country, the menu is still in French.
These are just a sampling of the menus you can find among our collections. If you’d like to see more, go to the advanced search for the digital library and limit your search by Resource Type and then choose Menu from the drop-down list. Bon appetit!