Virginia Mericle

Taken directly from Smithsonian National Museum of American History blog dated May 12, 2011:

The museum recently received an exciting addition to its archival collections: 4,500 menus from restaurants across the United States and abroad. The menus were collected by Virginia Mericle throughout the 1960s-1990s. Virginia passed away in 2009, and her daughter, Vanessa Henderson, donated the collection last year.

Virginia was a life-long collector. As a star-struck sixteen year old, she would write to movie studios and request photographs of actors. Bing Crosby, John Wayne, and Dean Martin were a few of her favorite stars. She received many replies; some of the pictures were even signed by the stars themselves.

Virginia Mericle (left) collected 4,500 menus

I was thinking of trying her approach by writing letters or simply asking permission from  the restaurant, but these days you can go online and download the menu. How is that an adventure? No! I'll continue with my usual shenanigans.

You can read the rest of the very fascinating article by clicking here: Smithsonian National Museum of American History Blog: 

Here's another great article about collecting restaurant menus from the Examiner.com dated January, 14, 2012: Collecting menus brings great memories, new dining ideas. 

So you see, I'm not the only klepto!