The museum Ett Hem’s collection of menus is now available in the Finna search service.

The collection contains menus dated between 1877 and 1920. The menus originate from the family’s various festive dinners held at home as well as meals enjoyed outside the home. Some of the menus also include attached program leaflets describing speeches and musical performances. The menus tell what was eaten and drunk and when and where the dinners took place. At times, they also provide information about the events surrounding the dinners and about the guests who attended.

The menus are often decorative and colorful in appearance. They were sometimes ordered pre-printed, sometimes illustrated only with a vignette or emblem, with the names of the dishes and beverages written in by hand. Most of the menus were written in French or Swedish. A more formal dinner began with starters—hors d’oeuvres or entrées—served both cold and hot. Starters also included soups (potages or bouillon). These were followed by relevés de potages, a small starter, and the starter of the main course (entrées). The main course was often roast meat or roast poultry (rotis). Side dishes included, for example, salad, pickled vegetables, jellies, egg dishes, and various preserves. “Intermediate courses” (entremets) were also served in small portions between courses. The dinner concluded with a generous dessert, which included several different delicacies such as fruit, homemade ice cream, cheeses, pastries, and other treats.

Some menus also contain notes on who attended the dinner and information on the number of guests. Among the invitees were family acquaintances from the Doepel and Spoof families or relatives from the Dahlström and Kingelin families. Personal friends and business partners were also often included among the guests, as were Hélène’s unmarried sisters Olga and Charlotta (“Dotta”). From time to time, well-known artists and professors also spent their evenings at the family’s home.

Link to the menus: https://www.finna.fi/List/1861420?lng=en-gb