He Who Does Not Love Wine...

Curator of Furnishings Pamela Keech has been working hard to develop plans for our new exhibit on 97 Orchard's businesses, opening next year. Our team has done extensive research about the businesses, and the families who ran them, and Pamela is sourcing artifacts and furniture that will re-create the basement storefronts and apartments back to a specific place in time. You've already seen her handiwork in each of the Museum's restored apartments. Here she reports on one of the new artifacts she's found for Schneider's Saloon, circa 1870s:

I recently purchased a stoneware pitcher for the exhibit on Ebay. It has an inscription on the collar that says (in German): "Wer nicht liebt Wein Weib und Gesang Bleibt Ein Narr sein Lebenlang". This translates to, "He who does not love wine, women, and song will be a fool his whole life long.” The saying is variously attributed to Johann Heinrich Voss (1751-1826) and to Martin Luther (1483-1546).

The print below was published in 1873 and demonstrates the popularity of the saying at the time the Schneider family was operating the saloon. This is why history is so much fun.