Notice to Milkman!

Quarantine sign tacked to the front door during the Typhoid Fever epidemic of 1911, ordered that the milk bottles were not to be exchanged or the milkman would be fined $5 to $100 (currently $75 to $1500). 

On the internet this notice is said to be from the 1918-1919 influenza (and it may be) but all I could find was the exact wording in the 1911 report of the Pennsylvantia Commisioner of Health in a Typhoid Fever section of the book.

Quarentine notices were put on or near the front doors of houses containing infected individuals during the deadly influenza epidemic of 1918-1919 (when my great grandfather Frank Merwarth Sr. died of influenza on this day Oct 12, 1918).

"Notice to Milkman!"
This house is under quarantine. The Milkman must not enter.
The family will set vessels outside, into which the milk or cream is to be poured by the milkman, who must not handle the vessels.
Milk or cream must not be delivered in bottles, or tickets received from this house, until this card is removed.
Penalty for violation of this regulation - $5.00 to $100.00. [$75-1,500]
By Order of the
BOARD OF HEALTH

Sixth Annual Report of the Commisioner of Health… Penn… 1911. 1913 p1361
Image: "Delivering Milk to City Homes." c1925. Library of Congress
Notice was attributed to the Erie County Historical Society (not heard back yet from my email), Wisconsin or not sourced at all.


UPCOMING WEEK OF ONLINE TALKS, WEBINARS, DEMOS

Oct 12 Mon 1-2:30 Indigenous Foodways: Public Program in celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Food and the Book: 1300-1800. Newberry and Folger libraries. Full so use their Facebook livestream HERE or Youtube and TAPES HERE

Oct 12 Mon 2-3 Flour 101. Martin Philip of King Arthur Flour. Early history to present. Retail Bakers of America. $15 HERE

Oct 12 Mon 7 Barton Springs Mill. James Brown, miller. Barton Springs Mill is “bringing heritage grains back to Texas...Our mill is a Osttiroler from Austria, and it currently runs 10 hours a day, 7 days a week—4 days for culinary and baking, and 3 for distilling and brewing.” Austin Organic Gardeners HERE

Oct 12 Mon 8-9:30 The History of Chocolate. Sarah Lohman. Brooklyn Brainery. $6 HERE

Oct 12 Mon 9:30pm American Tea: A history of tea culture and practices through history in the Americas. Friday Afternoon Tea (shop in Seattle WA) $15 HERE

Oct 13 Tues 10 Virtual Farm Tour to Michigan Dairy. 45 min for 3rd-5th grades. Milk Means More. HERE Live stream and TAPE HERE

Oct 13 Tue 5 Lunch and Learn: Explore Vanilla. Prova. NextGenChef donation HERE

Oct 13 Tue 6-7pm Monticello Dining Room, curators conversation. Monticello. $25 HERE

Oct 13 Tue 7:00pm Every Thing Proved a Staple – Colonial Boston and the Commerce of Empire. Strother Roberts author of Colonial Ecology, Atlantic Economy: Transforming Nature in Early New England. Partnership of Historic Bostons, Inc. HERE

Oct 14 Wed 5:30 Documenting and Preserving Garden Legacies: Part I. Oral history, community gardens. NYC Parks GreenThumb. HERE

Oct 14 Wed 6:30 The History of Scotch Whisky. David McNicoll. history and how whisky (no e!) was and is made, and Scotland $7  HERE

Oct 14 Wed 8pm Parmigiano Reggiano, history and manufacture, option to taste through three different ages of Parmigiano. Formaggio Kitchen $5 HERE

Oct. 14 Wed 8pm Chicago's Sweet Candy History. (Chicago produced one-third of the nation's candy. -- Brach's caramels, Mars Snickers bars, Wrigley's gum, Cracker Jack…) Dr. Leslie Goddard. Cary Area Public Library IL HERE

Oct 14 Wed 8-9:30 Food History Horror Stories: Witches, Poisoners, and Puritans. Sarah Lohman. Brooklyn Brainery. $7 HERE

Oct 14-20 Digital Chocolate Festival. (History talk Oc 15 1pm), origins. Celebrate Cacao (promotes, teaches about ethically made craft chocolate, UK. HERE Facebook HERE

Oct 15 Thur 10 Virtual Farm Tour to Michigan Dairy. 45-60 min for 6-12th grades. Milk Means More. HERE Live stream and TAPE HERE

Oct 15 Thur 12-1:30 Food and Empire. Decolonising LSE Collective. Sara Salem, Anna Sulan Masing and Fozia Ismail HERE/

Oct 15 Thur 1pm Chocolate history. David Greenwood-Haigh. Digital Chocolate Festival. Celebrate Cacao UK. HERE Facebook HERE

Oct 15 Thur 4pm The Sourdough Club. Vanessa Kimbell. at Fermentology and tape HERE

Oct 15 Thur 5:30-6:30 Of Gin-Slings and Timber Doodles. “Victorian era bar ingredients… classic 19th century recipes…history about drinking culture.” Camron-Stanford House. CA $10 HERE

Oct 15 Thur 7pm Ribbons of Okra: The Black Cooks of the Federal Era. Dr. Leni Sorensen. Fire, Flour & Fork. Virginia Museum of History and Culture $10 HERE

Oct 15 Thur 7pm Breadwright – Baking Bread: A Baker’s Journey Home. Martin Philip of King Arthur Flour. tasting baskets. Enfield Shaker Museum $15 + HERE

Oct 15 Thur 7-8:30 The Ashkenazi Kitchen in America. Darra Goldstein. University of Pennsylvania Jewish Studies Program HERE

Oct 15-17 Th-Sa Food Futures: Striving for Justice. Smithsonian Food History Weekend HERE Register HERE

Oct 15-17 Th-Sa Let’s Talk Bourbon. 19 sessions The Kentucky Bourbon Festival HERE

Oct 16 Fri 5:30-7 From Dickens to Downton: The World of Victorian & Edwardian Food. Carl Raymond. New York Adventure Club. Access tape for 1 week $10 HERE

Oct 17 Sat 10-3 Hearth cooking livestream 18th century 3 course meal. Pottsgrove Manor. HERE

Oct 17 Sat 10:30-11am History in the Kitchen. 3 days. Colonial food & learn on modern stove. Enslaved people. Age 10- Gunston Hall HERE

Oct 17 Sat 2pm Fort from Home: Victorian Cooking by Fort Nisqually Living History Museum $10 HERE /

Oct. 17 Sat 1:30-3 The Story of Salvadoran Food. Alicia Maher. Culinary Historians of San Diego. HERE

Oct 18 Sun 10AM Historic Tea Tasting: Experience the Essence of England. Michael Harney on Harney's Historic Royal Palaces Collection. “each blend pays homage to the tea's imperial history and roots.” Starfish Junction Productions. Samples of 4 teas $29 HERE

Oct 18 Sun 1:30 Ferries and Taverns During the Revolution. social life. Washington Crossing Historic Park curator Kimberly McCarthy. HERE Tape will be available. FULL

Oct 18 Sun 4pm Manoomin: The Story of Wild Rice in Michigan. Barbara Barton. Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor HERE/

Oct 18 Sun 4pm Flower vase. Masterworks of Japanese Tea Culture in six 75 min. sessions. by Maiko Sōka Behr, of SaBi Tea Arts. Nikkei National Museum. BC, Canada. Se10, 20; Oc8, 18; Nv12, 22. Tapes available for 48 hours; ea $10 HERE

Calendar of virtual food history talks HERE

©2020 Patricia Bixler Reber
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