Scope and arrangement
The Fifth Avenue Hotel Collection consists of volumes of ledgers and journals, 1859-1891, kept by the chef and/or kitchen staff of the hotel. These volumes give detailed accounts of all daily kitchen expenses. The ledgers which are in chronological order are very dirty and have bindings that are deteriorating. There are many miscellaneous volumes having to do with kitchen related services in the hotel. Among these books are liquor expense ledgers, lists and addresses of vendors, payments of items broken or damaged by employees and bank deposits and payments.
The Fifth Avenue Hotel records are arranged in two series:
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Store ledgers, for the period August 1859-December 1861, February 1863-March 1864, recording daily purchases of provisions for the kitchen, pastry room, vegetable room, servant's room, dining room, and bar room (W/ daily guest totals from February 1860) [3 vols.]; cash books recording purchases of provisions for the period August 1867-March 1872, August 1884-June 1885, October 1887-July 1888, April 1889-January 1890 [7 vols.]