The Menu Collection

The New York Public Library's 25,000-piece historical menu collection is held by the Rare Books Division. Strongest for the period 1890-1920, the collection is for the present arranged chronologically only. Further details and information about access may be obtained at the Information Desk in the General Research Division's Reading Room. Some secondary sources on menu design will be found in the Art and Architecture Collection. Some other sources, in the General Research Division, are as follows:

Alejandro, Reynaldo. Classic menu design, from the collection of The New York Public Library. (Glen Cove, New York: PBC International, 1988). Pub. Cat. 92-15459. Based on the Buttolph Collection and organized as it was by categories such as "Organizations" and "VIPs and VIP Occasions," with menus dating from 1842 to 1901.

Menus historiques. (Den Haag: Osmar B.V., 1982). JFG 92-257. The menus range in date from 1853 to 1979. Most captions in Dutch, with a brief foreword in English/French/German/ Dutch.

Mordacq, Philippe. Le menu: une histoire illustrée de 1751 à nos jours. (Paris: R. Laffont, 1989). JFG 90-551. Organized by categories with a section on menus d'artiste, this selection is drawn from European and American sources, including private collections. Captions include locations.