“Repast” Speaking Event at Hampshire College Library
The Hampshire College Archives will be sponsoring a talk by Michael Lesy and his wife Lisa Stoffer. They’ve recently published an excellent book about food and dining in the early twentieth century called Repast: Dining Out at the Dawn of the New American Century, 1900-1910. The talk will be in the Hampshire College Library’s first floor on Thursday, November 21 at 4 PM. Staff from Amherst Books will be on hand with copies of the book for sale. This event is free and open to the public.
The Hampshire College Archives is excited to host this talk. Repast is a work draws heavily from primary sources including the Buttolph American Menu Collection at New York Public Library. Lesy and Stoffer will talk about their experiences using archival materials to create an insightful analysis of how Americans dined at the dawn of the “new century.”
“Lesy and Stoffer do a fantastic job finding entertaining and engaging stories and telling them beautifully. They make the people of 1900 seem simultaneously very similar to us and so very different. It’s amazing to see our familiar world slowly come into being through these lunch menus and food labels. I have no interest in this subject at all and found this book fascinating.” — Ira Glass, This American Life
An image from the Buttolph American Menu Collection
About the authors:
Michael Lesy’s books include Angel’s World and Long Time Coming. In 2006 he was named one of the first United States Artists Fellowship recipients, and in 2013 was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. A professor of literary journalism at Hampshire College.
Lisa Stoffer is Amherst College’s director of Foundation and Corporate Relations and comes from a family of chefs. Prior to being at Amherst College Lisa worked here at Hampshire between 1998 and 2007. We’re looking forward to welcoming Lisa back for the event! Lisa and Michael live in Amherst.
For more information please contact Jimi Jones at jljones@hampshire.edu or call the Archives at 413.559.5761.