People have to eat and a special display room at the Renton History Museum in Renton, Washington deals with many different aspects of food.
From the 1880s until the early 1960s, dairy farming was an important commercial activity.
From the 1870s through the 1910s, mining and logging were important. Working men used a lot of calories and so food was important. In the logging camps, the transient workers relied on cooks and mess tents for their daily meals.
Shown above is a wine press used by an Italian family.
If you are going to have food and wine, then you are going to need some music. The accordion was a popular musical instrument at many gatherings.
Shown above is a shopping cart—one of two available at the local market.
In the early 1900s, many Japanese took up farming in the area when racial discrimination barred them from holding industrial jobs. Within King County, they were producing 75% of the county’s vegetables by the 1920s. The Japanese farmers provided both food and jobs to the people of Renton. However, the Alien Land Law of 1921 made it illegal for Asian immigrants to own or lease property and by 1923 all people of Asian descent were prohibited from owning land. While some found ways around the laws, it became extremely difficult for the Japanese to continue to farm.