Monday, June 1, 2009

Kitchen Cabinet of Curiosities

The Shorthand Club of New York Dinner Menu:







I found this wonderful little menu for a dinner sponsored by the Shorthand Club of New York celebrating their third anniversary. According to the New York Times, the Shorthand Club was created for male stenographers "all thoroughly imbued with the one ambition -- to better themselves by becoming more efficient in their chosen field of endeavor and to help others similarly inclined." The dinner was held on February 10, 1912 at the West End Restaurant, just a few doors down from the Club's home base on 125th Street.

While the menu itself is rather unassuming, it's the wonderful shorthand on the back of the menu, presumably written by one of the Club's members (perhaps mocking the MC?), which makes this item colorful and unique -- that along with the wine glass stain on the front cover.

3 comments:

Knitting Out Loud said...

This reminds me of a little of the funny, and fun, WASP Cookbook by Alexandra Wentworth.
Thank you for the delicious sounding orzo recipes below.

Bri said...

That cover is so perfect, it looks like it was "designed" that way.

Jud-san said...

I too thought the glass stains were part of the design. Very nice.