Since steamboat travel to Detroit began 200 years ago, passengers and sailors have enjoyed shipboard food that is renowned the world over. This new exhibition explores the particular culinary elegance experienced by those who travelled the inland seas.
Highlighting this exhibition are hundreds of exquisite artifacts from maritime dining rooms. A majority of the china and ceramic pieces were collected by noted collector and acclaimed author the late Daniel C. Krummes over many years and recently donated to the Detroit Historical Society. Krummes authored the go-to reference book for freshwater dinnerware, Dining on Inland Seas: Nautical China from the Great Lakes Region of North America, in 1997. This is first time that Mr. Krummes’ important collection has been exhibited in any museum. Objects from the Society’s maritime collection, including models of significant ships and striking furnishings from the steamers, complement the artifacts and steamship companies represented throughout the exhibition.
The Dining on the Inland Seas exhibition will be open through Spring 2019, sponsored by the Richard and Jane Manoogian Foundation.
