‘The bullet and the crust’: A World War I exhibition on nutrition and food conservation at the American Museum of Natural History

Abstract

ABSTRACT A pioneering food conservation exhibition (1917–1918) at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) was the result of collaboration between the Museum's Departments of Anthropology and Public Health. The AMNH was the only major natural history museum in the United States to mount an installation featuring guidelines for wartime food conservation. Its innovative displays included models demonstrating 100 calorie portions and nutritional values of commonly eaten foods, as well as examples of unutilised and underutilised food sources such as seaweed and seafood, and unfamiliar native food crops (e.g. maize). This exhibition foreshadowed modern day concerns with food sustainability and proved to be an important example of how a scientific museum could contribute to the war effort. It was also a significant departure from old-fashioned natural history displays and contemporary dioramas, as well as an experimental foray for the Museum into public policy issues of the day.