The Washington Banana Museum
.... an on-line museum (see below for public viewing location) ....
Take a virtual tour and feel free to email with any questions or if you'd like a picture of a certain item. Be sure to sign the guestbook at the end.
BANANA FACTOIDS:
An average American eats 26 pounds of bananas every year - that's about 150 bananas. Seems low to me; I average 365 a year.
Immigrants arriving at Ellis Island in the early years (1892-1920s) were given bananas to eat. Many had never seen them and didn't know how to eat them - some ate the whole thing, peel and all.
Bananas were introduced to the American public at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, the same expo that introduced Alexander Graham Bell's telephone.
The Washington Banana Museum curator is Ann Mitchell Lovell. Ann has assembled close to 4,000 items, a melange of artifacts, folk art and other cultural oddities devoted to the world's perfect fruit. Assembled by a longtime scholar of banana consciousness, it features a compendium of whimsical and serious representations of the #1-selling fruit in the United States.
Some of the items you see here are now being displayed at
Bananas Antiques
in beautiful downtown Auburn, Washington at 120 E. Main St. (98002) 253-804-8041 - open Tuesday-Thursday 10:00am-1:00pm, Friday 10:00am-3:00pm, Saturday 10:00am-4:00pm, and other times by chance. View rotating selections from the Washington Banana Museum, a premiere collection of memorabilia depicting our favorite fruit.
This rare Leigh Banana Case Company holiday greeting card was sent out in December 1913, wishing all their customers a happy 1914.
Recent visitors to the Washington Banana Museum. We encourage entourage invasions!
A father patiently attends his daughter's banana tea party.
Possible scenario: A father visits his two young sons at a boarding or military school and they have a banana picnic. Note the horse and carriage in the background.
Victorian trade card for East India Banana Syrup.
Another trade card from the same era.
Two examples of banana marketing from the United Kingdom during the late 1920s. The first showcases a centerpiece for a window display while the second spotlights a permanent display in a British fruit shop. Elders & Fyffes (now called Fyffes) was their principle importer.
Fyffes lapel pins and a paper mache banana bunch much like the ones used in the photograph above (right).
An elaborate grocery marketing display from an American IGA store c1940s.
Red banana syrup advertising tin from Beach & Clarridge Company, Boston, c. 1890s. 7" with wood frame, glass front and chain hanger. Beach & Clarridge were manufacturers and dealers in soda water flavors for the popular soda fountains of the day. Sign made by Kaufmann & Strauss Co., New York.
This sign commemorates the first full cargo of bananas to arrive in Boston at the Long Wharf in 1871. The sign reads, "The first full cargo of bananas to reach the United States was landed at this wharf in 1871 by The Schooner Telegraph - Capt. Lorenzo D. Baker. THEN bananas were taboo for children NOW infants are fed bananas on doctors' orders Green tipped or yellow-ripe bananas cooked as a vegetable have a useful place on every menu. Brown-flecked bananas are a nutritious delicious fruit for young and old." Can anyone in Boston tell me whether the sign is still there?
The banana cello being played by Brian Wharton, cellist for The Auburn Symphony. Thanks for restringing it, Brian!
A 1924 Moore System Ventilation Banana Room Thermometer, measuring about 5x11 inches, and two later Chiquita thermometers. "In rooms properly built and equipped, bananas are ripened most successfully at temperatures ranging from 62 to 66 degrees, provided the relative humidity of the surrounding air is maintained at approximately 85 per cent until the fruit is well on the 'turn.' ----from "The Banana; It's History, Cultivation and Place Among Staple Foods," by Philip Keep Reynolds. Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company, 1927.
A banana ripening room, circa 1941. photo copyright Washington Banana Museum
Meloripe Bananas wood shipping crate from Boston.
Meloripe Bananas box and lighter. The company was based in New Toronto, Ontario.
A fine example of the marketing and display of bananas in a Rochester, New Hampshire general store, c1899. photo courtesy of Gail Varney
Josephine Baker art deco bakelite, wood and aluminum card holder from the 1920s, and a photo of her wearing the famous banana skirt in the Folies Bergere, Paris 1926.
Good King Banana - a cloth children's game obtained free by mail from The Fruit Dispatch Company in the 1930s. "Lots of fun for home, school or parties."
French banana cart, early 1900s. photo copyright Washington Banana Museum
Eat Bananas Token, 1923. Issued by Elders and Fyffes in England for a promotional campaign.
The Leigh Banana Case Company was founded in 1905 by Charles Q. C. Leigh near Ellenton, South Carolina. He patented a wood-veneer slatted crate which was built specifically to fit one banana bunch. Sales of these banana cases started to decline in the 1930s and the company started producing containers for other kinds of fruits and vegetables. The company had 52 assembly plants in the U.S. and annually produced about 5 million containers. The town of Leigh was born when the company built housing for its employees. The Company was closed in 1952 when the Savannah River Plant of the Atomic Energy Commission took over the land. Below is an envelope from the company postmarked 1916 with an illustration of the case and a photo of two crates much like the Leigh Banana Case. photo copyright Washington Banana Museum. The company made tokens for its employees to use in the commissary.
Leigh Banana Crate watch fob, ca 1930s.
Carved bone banana, origin unknown
Milo Winter illustrated this 1927 calendar (left). On the right, a 1912 double-sided 42-inch heavy cardboard sign from United Fruit.
Seattle artist and all-around great person Cindy Small created this mixed-media piece especially for the museum. It takes a special place in the collection. The fortune says "You constantly struggle for self-improvement."
"Eat Bananas" - a 24"x36" porecelain enamel sign from Fruit Dispatch Company, probably from the 1920s, and a grocery store price marker of the same era
Banana consumption by Winona College students and others in front of the Beyer home at beautiful Winona Lake, Indiana, c1909. Just out of sight is a large outdoor amphitheater. A huge water carnival was held here in August 1909 and was probably part of the Chatauqua programs or a Bible conference. Grace College would later be founded here. Photograph by Starr of Valparaiso, Indiana. [Many thanks to Mr. Charles Moffett.]
A Chicago theater troupe featuring Bertha West (2nd from right), a relative by marriage, of Betsy Ross, c1900 (photo courtesy of Randall Wells).
Elvepe Bananas chalk display piece (Belgium). A reproduction from the 1980s, originally from the 1930s.
Chiquita Banana ride-on toy, c. 1969 and a 1971 photo with a happy girl
Fiberglass banana cello instrument, 4-feet tall, bought in Brimfield, MA. Also, a small banana band.
Ban the Banana, poster made in 1967, Bedford Fruit & Produce Co. wood sign
Carmen Miranda from "The Gang's All Here" (1943)....
A vintage 1920s-1940s banana shipping box.
From the library...
See the complete bibliography here.
Want to see the museum where these things are on display? Click on one of the thumbnails, sit back with a tasty banana, and wait for them to appear before your eyes.
Entrance
Closer Look 
Mostly Chiquita
"Ban the Banana" 
More Stuff
Kitchen I'm always on the lookout for cool banana items.
If you have any tips or comments please e-mail me: bananamuseum1@hotmail.com Thanks!
Bananas.org International Banana Society - Bananas.org contains many ongoing discussions about bananas, banana care, banana identification, recipies, members from around the world. Photo Gallery, Map, Resources for the banana enthusiast.
This RingSurfNet Ring
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c 1996 bananamuseum1@hotmail.com
Thanks for visiting.
