Maya Foo is a curatorial assistant at Freer|Sackler, and curator of the exhibition Whistler’s Neighborhood: Impressions of a Changing London.
You can learn a lot about a person from their grocery bills.
Charles Lang Freer kept nearly every piece of paper that entered his house—including bills from the dairy and cheesemonger, the dry goods store, and other merchants—which shed fascinating light on his day-to-day living expenses, eating habits, and activities. For example, I came across a bill for 27 pounds of butter from August 1906. That’s a lot of butter for one man! What on earth was he eating?
This 1906 bill from George H. Giddey’s Headquarters for Oysters, Fish and Game, which is included in the Charles Lang Freer papers and is housed in the National Museum of Asian Art Archives, shows all of the seafood ordered by Freer’s in-house cook in December 1905. One can imagine what Freer ate for Christmas and New Year’s Eve dinners. Cioppino (Italian seafood stew), perhaps? Or maybe he combined his love for butter and fish and went with sole meuniere?
December 23:
3 ½ [pounds] Salmon
2 Lobsters
2 [pounds] White [fish]
December 26:
9 [pounds] Long Neck Clams
2 [pounds] White [fish]
Hopefully, he had company to help him eat so much seafood!
Best fishes for a happy holiday from National Museum of Asian Art.
