Mourning the Idol of Ohio

President William McKinley died on September 14, 1901 in Buffalo, New York, a week after he was shot by Leon Czolgolsz at the Temple of Music at the Buffalo Pan-American Exposition.

The Library has a wide variety of McKinley menu content, from his inauguration dinner to his funeral train procession. But this daily bill of fare, from the Gibson House in Cincinnati, Ohio, is one of the most striking in the collection. To my knowledge, this is the only memorial menu in the Library printed on black paper, graphically demonstrating how Ohioans mourned the loss of their beloved former congressman, governor and president.

(click to enlarge)

In M.F.K. Fisher's Kitchens

(Town of Tomorrow, New York World's Fair Collection)

This past May marked my thirteenth year living in New York City. In those thirteen years I've lived in five apartments, all in Brooklyn, each more beautiful than the previous (I guess that's progress...), but not without quirks, annoyances, frustrations.

One seemingly perfect apartment (Built-in bookshelves! My friend as upstairs--and only--neighbor!) was right above an unfinished basement where my landlord liked to spend his nights hanging out and raking the dirt floor, or so it seemed. There was no floor underlay beneath the old wood planks and I would often wake in the middle of the night to the sound of John Montone's 1010 WINS broadcast in my ear, while the dark apartment -- eerily lit from below with light escaping through gaps in the floorboards -- filled with the smell of his cigarette smoke. And the kitchen wasn't too hot, either.

On the Menu: Red Sox World Champions (1912)

"BOSTON NOW SUPREME IN BASEBALL WORLD" read the front page of the Boston Globe on Thursday, October 17, 1912 after the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Giants in an eight game (one was a tie) World Series:

 Words were never invented that could fully describe the outburst of insane enthusiasm that went thundering around Fenway Park yesterday afternoon as Steve Yerkes crossed the rubber with the winning run in the 10th inning. 

Men hugged each other, women became hysterical, youths threw their caps in the air, one man in the bleachers fell in a dead faint, strong hearts lost a beat and started off again in double time.

In honor of this momentous occasion, F.H. Putnam, a Worcester-based silversmith or possibly a Boston-based druggist, hosted a dinner for the Members of the Boston American Baseball Club. This is the menu.

 (click to enlarge)

Among the dishes served that evening: Blue Points Stahl Style, after Sox Manager Jake Stahl; Fried Native Smelts, Speaker Sauce after Tris Speaker — whose homer in the 10th inning of the second and (ultimately tied) game saved the day; Fresh Putnam Farm Chicken, à la Wagner after shortstop Charles "Heinie" Wagner; and Frozen Pudding, Cady Style, after catcher Forrest Leroy Hick Cady (whom the Globe called "a farmer's son with a strong heart and a mighty punch").

To read more about this fascinating, white-knuckle series, check out the Library's collection of digitized historical newspapers including the Boston Globe, whose illustrations, statistics, and detailed play-by-plays are a dream for any baseball historian or enthusiast.

Independence Day Menus

Happy Fourth of July! To read the dishes served, click on image and then image set.

(Brunswick Hotel -- Asbury Park, NJ. 1907)

(Hotel Magnolia -- Magnolia, MA. 1900)

(Grand Hotel Hungaria -- Budapest, Hungary. 1907)

(Hotel Colorado -- Glenwood Springs, CO. 1900)

(Catskill Mountain House -- Palenville, New York. 1900)

(Ebbitt House -- Washington, D.C. 1898)