Have you ever wondered what people ate decades or even centuries ago? The New York Public Library (NYPL) made history with its “What’s on the Menu?” website, a groundbreaking project and the first API built by NYPL. This innovative site allows you to explore a vast collection of digitized historical menus, uncovering fascinating insights into dining trends and price changes over time.
This remarkable project was a crowdsourced endeavor, inviting volunteers to transcribe dishes and prices from the Library’s extensive collection of digitized menus. The goal was to create a searchable index and visualization tools, making culinary history accessible to everyone. Initially, over 17,000 menus out of a total of 45,000 were digitized for this ambitious undertaking. To further enrich the data, a geocoding component was added, mapping restaurant locations across New York City, providing geographical context to the dining experiences.
Throughout the project’s duration, an impressive 1,335,570 dishes were meticulously transcribed from 17,562 menus. The wealth of data generated by “What’s on the Menu?” has been highly sought after. From the project’s inception, users have consistently requested API keys to delve deeper into the data and develop their own unique projects, showcasing the site’s value for researchers, historians, and culinary enthusiasts alike.
The Rich History Behind NYPL’s Menu Collection
The NYPL’s menu collection is a treasure trove, primarily housed in the Rare Book Division. Its origins trace back to the dedicated efforts of Miss Frank E. Buttolph (1850-1924). In 1900, Miss Buttolph began her passionate mission to collect menus on behalf of the Library. Her tireless dedication resulted in the addition of over 25,000 menus to the collection before her departure in 1924. The collection has continually expanded through generous donations, focusing on items of graphic, gastronomic, topical, and sociological significance, with a particular emphasis on New York-related menus. Today, it boasts approximately 45,000 items, with about a quarter already digitized and available through the Digital Collections.
Exploring the Rare Book Division
The Rare Books Division at The New York Public Library is home to an astounding 200,000 titles. This extensive collection spans five centuries of printing, from the 1450s to the present day, and represents a vast geographical scope, including Continental Europe, England, and the Americas. The “What’s on the Menu?” project is just one example of how NYPL leverages its rich resources to create innovative digital projects that make historical materials accessible to a global audience.
In conclusion, “What’s on the Menu?” stands as a testament to the power of crowdsourcing and digital innovation in bringing historical collections to life. It provides a unique window into the past, allowing us to explore the evolution of cuisine and dining habits through the lens of NYPL’s extraordinary menu collection. Explore “Whats” on the menu yourself and uncover the fascinating stories within these historical documents.
