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Program

Digital Humanities: Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants

Period of Performance

4/1/2011 - 12/31/2012

Funding Totals

$50,000.00 (approved)
$50,000.00 (awarded)

Crowdsourcing Culinary History at The New York Public Library

FAIN: HD-51301-11

New York Public Library (New York, NY 10016-0109)
Benjamin Vershbow (Project Director: October 2010 to August 2013)

The development of a prototype interface for a tool that would allow scholars and interested members of the general public to contribute to transcription materials related to culinary history, using the menu collection of the New York Public Library as a testbed.

The New York Public Library (NYPL) seeks funding from NEH to build an online platform called "What's on the Menu" that will build capacity for crowdsource transcription of its unique collection of historic restaurant menus. With approximately 40,000 menus dating from the 1840s to the present, NYPL’s collection is one of the largest of its kind in the world, used by historians, novelists, food writers, and general food enthusiasts. These menus are cultural artifacts and ephemera beyond simple descriptions of food; they provide insights on matters as diverse as politics, neighborhood development, and the evolution of graphic design. The planned menus database, which will store keyword-searchable structured information like restaurant location, dish-level descriptions, and food prices, will enable researchers, authors, culinary and other historians to track ingredients, dishes, prices, fads, and food vernacular through history, opening up new possibilities for discovering who we were through what we ate.



Media Coverage

Library keeps menu 'order' (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Jeremy Olshan
Publication: New York Post Online
Date: 4/14/2011
Abstract: New York Post article about The New York Public Library's Menus Project.
URL: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/library_keeps_menu_order_33O2ryUkFQdzkPhwnfpYFM?CMP=OTC-rss&FEEDNAME=

The Library Hands Out Menus to Thousands of Volunteers (Media Coverage)
Publication: The New York Times Online, Diner's Journal Blog
Date: 4/26/2011
Abstract: Blog discussing the The New York Public Library's National Endowment for the Humanities supported project, "What's on the Menu?"
URL: http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/the-library-hands-out-menus-to-thousands-of-volunteers/

What Big Media Can Learn From the New York Public Library (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Alexis Madrigal
Publication: The Atlantic, Online
Date: 6/20/2011
Abstract: Article on theatlantic.com discussing the achievements of The New York Public Library web and digital projects. The National Endowment for the Humanities supported "What's on the Menu?" project is featured on page three.
URL: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/06/what-big-media-can-learn-from-the-new-york-public-library/240565/1/

Dining Commons: The New York Public Library's Ambitious Menu Database Project (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Peter Weltman, Ganda Suthivarakom
Publication: Saveur.com
Date: 4/25/2011
Abstract: Blog from Saveur Magazine online featuring The New York Public Library's "What's on the Menu?" project.
URL: http://www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen/Dining-Commons-The-New-York-Public-Librarys-Ambitious-Menu-Database-Project



Associated Products

What's on the Menu? - Website for the New York Public Library's Menus Project (Web Resource)
Title: What's on the Menu? - Website for the New York Public Library's Menus Project
Author: The New York Public Library
Abstract: With approximately 40,000 menus dating from the 1840s to the present, The New York Public Library’s restaurant menu collection is one of the largest in the world, used by historians, chefs, novelists and everyday food enthusiasts. Unfortunately, the menus are very difficult to search for the greatest treasures they contain: specific information about dishes, prices, the organization of meals, and all the stories these things tell us about the history of food and culture. To solve this, the Library is working to improve the collection by transcribing the menus, dish by dish. The website of the NEH funded project, Crowdsourcing Culinary History at The New York Public Library, is called “What’s on the Menu” and invites the public to help the Library transcribe the menus. The project will allow the Library to dramatically expand the ways in which the collection can be researched and accessed, opening the door to new kinds of discoveries.
Year: 2011
Primary URL: http://menus.nypl.org/