Hotel and Restaurant Menus of the 19th Century



menu-1859The University of Houston has made available in digital format and placed online their collection of hotel, restaurant and steamship menus from across the country dating from the mid-1800s. What an opportunity to view the type of foods prepared and served to any of our ancestors who had the opportunity to eat at a restaurant or while traveling on a steamship.

Beside the foods, meals prepared, the prices for those items is listed. Also the name of the restaurant, many times the owner’s name and date of the menu. Image finding an ancestor’s name connected with such an establishment. Menu-1860-Barnes

As you scroll down the page ‘Browse Collection’ to the first 20 menus are displayed and labeled. If one is of interest, click on it to view. To save you need to do a screen print of the image.

To see additional menus, advance to the next page using ‘See More’. There are approximately 80 menus scanned. If you wish to look for a specific name, person or better yet a hometown / city, use the search box for the Menu Collection in the upper right corner.

Photos: Burnet House of Cincinnati, Ohio, [1850-1869], owner Silas F. Miller; Barnum’s City Hotel, (Gentlemen’s Ordinary menu) for January 18, 1860 in Baltimore, MD; and American Hotel, June 23, 1862 in Buffalo, NY, owner Edward L. Hodges.menu-1862

Related FamilyTree.com genealogical blogs:

Cruise Ship Menus

Our Ancestors’ Menu

 

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