Virtual
Aug 14, 2023
12:00 EDT
Free
How did the rise of commercial dining deepen social fragmentation in 19th-century Boston? Join us on Monday, August 14 at 12:00PM EDT with Dr. Kelly Erby for a virtual talk on her book, Restaurant Republic: The Rise of Public Dining in Boston.
Before the 1820s, the vast majority of Americans ate only at home. As the nation began to urbanize and industrialize, home and work became increasingly divided, resulting in new forms of commercial dining. Restaurant Republic sheds light on how commercial dining both reflected and helped shape growing fragmentation along lines of race, class, and gender—from the elite Tremont House, which served fashionable French cuisine, to such plebeian and ethnic venues as oyster saloons and Chinese chop suey houses.
Dr. Kelly Erby is professor of history and interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Washburn University. She received a BA in history and English from the Ohio State University and Ph.D. in history from Emory University. She is the author of Restaurant Republic: The Rise of Public Dining in Boston (University of Minnesota Press, 2016). She lives with her two young boys in Lawrence, Kansas.
This talk presented in conjunction with our ongoing exhibition, Building Blocks: Boston Stories from Urban Atlases. The talk is free and open to the public. It will broadcast live to our Facebook page and YouTube channel. Registration is not required. If you would like to receive event reminders, please register below on Eventbrite.
