Posts by Rebecca Federman

The backstories of some basic foods with histories that are anything but.

A fantastic resource for students and lifelong learners, especially those looking for more in-depth content than a Wikipedia article.

Writer Sarah Krasnostein on how she's using the Library to research her next two books, staying on track and following the advice to "write dirty" (it's not what you think)..

Meet this 2017 NYPL Short-Term Research Fellow: how she uses the Library for research, her favorite places at NYPL, and valuable advice to budding researchers.

This profile is part of a series of interviews chronicling the experiences of researchers who use The New York Public Library's collections for the development of their work.

American National Biography is a record of the men and women whose lives helped shape the United States—from Christopher Columbus to Addie Wyatt. The online version of ANB was released in 2000 and is updated every April and October with new entries and revisions to existing profiles.

Gil Marks, the author of several cookbooks and of the indispensable Encyclopedia of Jewish Food, died last Friday morning at the age of 62.

To honor Derek Jeter's tenure in the Bronx, I thought it would be nice to pull quotes from journalists who have covered Jeter's career, from Jeter's teammates, and from Jeter himself.

The entire run of the Nation, from its first issue in 1865 to the present (save for the most recent month) is online through The Nation Archive, which is available only at the four research centers of the New York Public Library.

While the Library's collections related to HIV and AIDS in both the Manuscripts Division and the General Research Division are especially rich, the Library also provides access to electronic resources that supplement the print holdings.

Whether you're vacationing in Greece, dating a Peruvian, or helping your Vietnamese aunt with her English skills, Mango Languages is an easy and free language-learning resource available to all NYPL cardholders from home.

Mango is divided into two types of language courses: one for English speakers interested in learning a new language, and one for non-English speakers who have come to Mango to improve their English.

English speakers have many 

The New York Public Library subscribes to hundreds of online research databases and electronic resources. While these resources are accessible at NYPL's research centers and branch libraries, many of them are also available to Library cardholders remotely. Over the next several weeks I'll be highlighting some e-titles that patrons can log onto from home, from work, or from 

Marcella Hazan, the great Italian cook and cookbook author, died Sunday at her home in Longboat Key, Florida. She was 89.

When it comes to romantic ways to travel across the United States, the train gets short shrift. Cars, even Greyhound buses, are the usual setting for burgeoning love affairs, quiet introspection, and hunger for new beginnings. This September, however, train travel gets its due when video artist Doug Aitken celebrates the modest Amtrak with his latest project, Station to Station. Aitken will take an Amtrak train and transform it into a moving kinetic light sculpture (this is not your mother's Northeast Corridor), with stops in major cities along 

A confession: I've never cooked a turkey. Sides, yes. Desserts, of course. But a turkey? Nope. I leave that to the experts. For me, turkey is the least exciting part of Thanksgiving. Sure, it may be the perfect vehicle for cranberry sauce. And turkey leftovers do make for a tasty soup, but if I had my druthers, I'd just as soon stick to chicken.

All this turkey bashing is just my way of explaining why you won't find any turkey basting in my Thanksgiving picks below. Everyone has their own method of preparing the bird, and I certainly wouldn't want anyone taking advice from a 

This post was written by former Lunch Hour NYC intern Caitlin Dover. Caitlin is a writer and editor based in New York City; she recently received her master's in material culture from the Bard Graduate Center in New York.

How do you pack your lunch? Chances are, you and your kids rely on an assortment of reusable plastic containers that you tote daily to work or school. That practice of packing one's midday meal goes back at least as far as the first half of the nineteenth century, when industrialization prompted workers to find ways to eat their "dinner" in or near 

As you might have noticed, the transcription queue has been fairly text-heavy lately. The Hotels Commodore, Astor, Mc Alpin, and Pierre are well-represented, and the sheer number of dishes on each of their menus can quickly fatigue one's fingers.

But every so often, amidst the towering hotels, something different pops up. Recently, the lovely menus of the S.S. 

It's hard to believe, but a year ago this week the New York Public Library launched What's on the Menu?!

Two days in from our very first Tweet, we had 1,000 dishes transcribed. As of this writing, we have 866,636 dishes dishes transcribed and we're not done yet.

We still have many more menus to digitize and we're working hard on new ways to make the site even easier to navigate and use.

But before the next year begins, Michael Inman, Ben Vershbow, and I wanted to take 

Perhaps you’ve noticed a few more people joining the menu party lately. The Buncombe County Medical Association is here. As are our friends from the National Life Insurance Company. We’ve even extended an invite to our canine crew (and their owners) from the Philadelphia Dog Show Association.

Clubs, organizations, companies, and associations often hosted an