National School Lunch Week Scrapbooks

Collection

Identifier: MS0112

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From 1956, correspondence, clippings, report excerpts, press releases, television film and captioned photographs. These photographs picture President Eisenhower, Secretary of Agriculture Benson and Undersecretary of Agriculture Morse with school children.

From 1965, proclamations, correspondence, photographs, articles, newsletters, artwork, audio scripts, ephemera and clippings. USDA Consumer and Marketing Service and American School Food Service Association (ASFSA) information is represented.

From 1964, proclamations, clippings, newsletters, articles, ephemera, artwork, press releases, correspondence, photographs with captions and an audio type script. USDA Consumer and Marketing Service and American School Food Service Association (ASFSA) information is represented. From 1966, correspondence, guidelines, newsletters, proclamations, press releases, clippings, articles, ephemera, photographs, artwork, media spot announcements and a telegram. USDA Consumer and Marketing Service and American School Food Service Association (ASFSA) information is represented.

Dates

Creation: 1956-1966
Creation: Majority of material found within 1956-1966

Conditions Governing Access

Contact Special Collections for access.

Organizational History

President Harry S. Truman signed the National School Lunch Act into United States law in 1946. The law created the National School Lunch Program to provide low-cost or free school lunches to qualified students through federal subsidies to schools. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed a joint proclamation by Congress designating the second full week of October as National School Lunch Week. According to the American School Food Service Association (ASFSA), the annual observance helps “raise awareness of and garner support for the role that nutrition programs play in the lives of America's children."

The program itself began in 1946, the result of a call for the standardization of the appropriations given by Congress to states to administer local school lunch programs. Prior to 1946 such programs were run on a year-to-year basis, and expansion was limited. The federal legislation provided schools with standards of nutrition for school lunches, as well as federal financial aid to purchase food and equipment.

Total Size of Collection

3 boxes (3 flat folio boxes, 25 x 21 x 1.5)

6 Linear Feet (3 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Content Description

The National School Lunch Week Scrapbooks consists of four large scrapbooks commemorating National School Lunch Week. The scrapbooks cover the years 1956 (the tenth anniversary of the National School Lunch Program), 1964, 1965, and 1966 (the twentieth anniversary of the program). The materials in the scrapbooks include correspondence, news clippings, report excerpts, press releases, photographs, articles, newsletters, artwork, audio scripts, and ephemera. Information from the USDA Consumer and Marketing Service and the American School Food Service Association (ASFSA) is represented as well.