What is food without drink!? Located here are business records and guides pertaining to drinks and drinking. Manuals and guides can help us understand trends of the time as well as availability of certain ingredients. Cheers!
The Bar-Tenders' Guide
Jerry Thomas's 1862 manual for all sorts of libations. Also available on the Internet Archive.
The Compleat planter & Cyderist
The Compleat planter & Cyderist is one of several manuals on the creation of cider, or cyder. Note that often there are spelling variants from pre-1800 materials. This is from 1685 and can be researched as part of the making of alcohol.
Liebmann collection of American historical documents relating to spiritous liquors
Swiss emigrant, Dr. Alfred J. Liebmann, was a chemist in New York City studying the by-products of distillation. Leibmann collected these documents out of curiosity about the historical relationship of his scientific work to historical liquor culture. They were donated to NYPL in 1953.
DuVivier & Co. records
DuVivier & Co. was a New York City-based importer and distributor of wine and spirits. The records, which date from 1851 to 1935, consist of account ledgers, operations journals, salesman journals, and administrative files that document the processes related to the storage, distribution, and sale of goods; the effect of laws on the import and distribution of alcohol; and the market for wine, spirits, and specialty goods.
Manhattan and Bronx Code Agency records
The New York Public Library holds office records of the code authority for the Alcoholic Beverage Wholesale Industry, Beer Division, Third Regional Board. Its records, 1934-1935, consist of a group of office files; transcripts, summaries, and calendars of hearings; industry member files; and a group of files that remain unsorted.
[Dr.] Samuel Adams papers
Samuel Adams was an American physician who served during the U.S. Revolutionary War. Diary describes his early life in Connecticut, colonial army service, job as a teacher, study of medicine, practice in Massachusetts and Maine, role as a surgeon in the Continental Army, and tavern keeping, 1792-1796.
Notebook as a Virginia Colonel, Manuscripts and Archives Division. The New York Public Library. Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations. Digital ID: 5207812
Liebmann collection of American historical documents relating to spiritous liquors. Manuscripts and Archives Division. The New York Public Library. Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations.
1955-0018. The Buttolph menu collection. Rare Book Division. The New York Public Library. Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations. Digital ID: 3968832
Thomas Jefferson account book, Manuscripts and Archives Division. The New York Public Library. Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations. Digital ID: 5206762