Inventor Name
Steinberg, Sally L.
Repository
National Museum of American History
Smithsonian Institution
Archives Center
P.O. Box 37012
MRC 601/Room 1100
Washington, DC 20013-7012
202-633-3270
http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives
Physical Description
2 cubic ft.
Summary
Steinberg describes herself as a "doughnut princess," since her grandfather, Adolph Levitt, was America's original "doughnut king." He was the developer of the automatic doughnut making machine and founder of the modern American doughnut industry. In 1920 he founded the Doughnut Machine Company to make and sell the machine across the country and to sell doughnuts under the name "Mayflower". Soon the company began preparing and selling standardized mixes for the machine, and began to acquire bakeries. In 1931, the company opened the first Mayflower doughnut shop in New York City; ultimately, 18 shops were opened across the country---the first retail doughnut chain. The company changed its name to the Doughnut Corporation of America, dominating the industry through a large-scale approach with a full range of product and equipment systems unique in the food industry. As consumers demanded a wider variety of doughnuts, the company developed and manufactured the necessary machinery, prepared the ingredients, and marketed the products. The company diversified in the 1940s to produce pancake and waffle mixes and machinery, including Downyflake Food products. The company is still in operation as DCA Food Industries, Inc. Ephemeral materials gathered by Sally L. Steinberg while researching "The Donut Book" (publ. 1987), and a copy of the book. Photographs comprise the bulk of the collection. These depict doughnut-making machines, early doughnut packaging, shops, promotional activities (many of them sponsored by D.C.A.), celebrities and entertainment figures with doughnuts, and the role of doughnuts in World War Two. Also advertisements, posters, news clippings, sheet music, examples of doughnut packaging, and artwork; and several publications that feature doughnuts, notably such children's classics as "Curious George Learns the Alphabet", "Who Needs Donuts?", and "Homer Price". Materials relating to the history of D.C.A. include a 1947 memo, "History of Mayflower Operations, 1933-1944;" pages and clippings from the company's in-house magazines, "The Doughnut Magazine", 1931-1936, and "DCA News", 1945-1947; a 1961 DCA "Study of the Donut Market"; and a 1973 prospectus for DCA Food Industries, Inc.; a store display figure of "Danny Donut," the symbol of Mayflower Doughnuts; a 1980 "Annual Report" from Dunkin' Donuts, Inc., and a sample degree from their "Dunkin' Donuts University."
Finding Aid
http://amhistory.si.edu/archives/AC0439.pdf
