Picnics

The family in this photograph was well prepared when they headed out for a travel outing around 1935.

This circa 1880 trade card, advertising Crown sewing machines and Florence oil stoves, suggests that a good time could be had by all if the picnic included food cooked on a Florence oil stove.

The people seated at the picnic table in this circa 1900 photograph are enjoying a clam steam, a particular favorite in New England. The meal often also included other shellfish and sweet corn.

Even the rich and famous could enjoy an outdoor picnic, especially if served at a large Lazy-Susan table under a shady canvas cover. This 1921 photograph, taken during a "Vagabonds" camping trip in Hagerstown, Maryland, includes: Henry Ford and his wife Clara, son Edsel, and Edsel’s wife Eleanor; Thomas Edison and his wife Mina; Harvey Firestone and his wife Elizabeth Parke; President Warren G. Harding; and several others.

Decades before pre-packaged moist towelettes came on the market, this circa 1925 Wash-Up Kit allowed picnickers to wash and dry their hands before eating--with a paper sheet that magically turned into soap when moistened and a set of paper towels.

The family in this circa 1930 photograph was undeterred by the lack of restaurants along the highway. Like other motorists, they stopped along the side of the road and ate a meal they had packed themselves.

Ford Motor Company’s charcoal briquettes, produced in the 1930s from the wood wastes of its lumber operations in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, claimed to be safe, smokeless, and convenient--ideal for picnickers wanting to grill outdoors.

The picnickers in this 1955 publicity photograph are enjoying campstove-cooked hot dogs in the remote Colorado Rockies.

Kids could enjoy their own "Teddy Bear picnic" with this 1975 Fisher-Price playset--complete with a plastic hinged-lid picnic basket, dishes, and a tablecloth.

This striking 1985 poster is one of a series of 20 that graphic designer Stephen Frykholm created for the annual company picnics of Herman Miller, Inc.--a company renowned for its "modern" furniture.