Les Dames d'Escoffier, New York (LDENY), is a society of professional women involved in the food, wine, and hospitality industries. It was founded in honor of Auguste Escoffier, whom Les Dames' mission statement credits with having "single-handedly brought the culinary art into the modern era." Escoffier "elevated the role of cooks from that of laborers to artists;" when he died, he "left the world a new art, that of dining." Les Dames d'Escoffier was founded in New York in 1976. With expansion to other cities, Les Dames d'Escoffier International (LDEI) was formed in 1985 to operate as an umbrella organization. Membership is by invitation only and exclusive to women who have distinguished themselves in the respective fields with which Les Dames is concerned. Les Dames organizes various food-related activities throughout the year, the majority of which are dinners; new members are inducted during the "annual gala dinners." Les Dames' major philanthropic activity consists of promoting the education and advancement of women in careers related to food industries. The society provides scholarships for women desiring to become professionals or to advance their skills in the fields of food, wine, other beverages, nutrition, the arts of the table and related disciplines.

The Les Dames d'Escoffier New York Archive spans the organization's activities from the years 1976-2008. Organizing and enjoying elaborate dinners constitutes the primary activity of Les Dames d'Escoffier, and Series I contains the dinner menus, flyers, invitation cards and more miscellaneous materials that these events generated. Also included in Series I are materials relating to "dinner events" with the emphasis on "event" rather than "dinner," in other words wine and/or food tastings, picnics, brunches and other food-related activities of the organization.

The collection includes dinner menus, invitation cards, and promotional materials, for example, press releases and newspaper clippings, from various dinner events organized by Les Dames d'Escoffier, New York. The collection also includes the correspondence of individual LDENY members, as well as correspondence from individuals and institutions connected with the organization. The collection also includes the Les Dames d'Escoffier newsletter "Journal," as well as several issues of "Reporter," the newsletter produced by LDENY's umbrella organization, Les Dames d'Escoffier International. Administrative material generated by the day-to-day activities of running an organization, such as meeting minutes and financial statements are also included in the collection. Visual documentation of events in the form of photographs and videorecordings are also included. Almost every series in the collection contains both Les Dames d'Escoffier New York and Les Dames d'Escoffier International material; the LDENY material has been grouped toward the beginning of each series and the LDEI material toward the end of each series. Oversize material from each of the series is described at the end of the finding ais.

Series Description

Series I: LDENY Dinner Events.

Series I contains the dinner menus, flyers, invitation cards and various other materials generated by the dinner events organized by LDENY. Also included in the series are "dinner events" with the emphasis on "event" rather than "dinner," in other words wine and/or food tastings, picnics, brunches and other food-related activities. Subseries A contains LDEI Dinner Events-material

Series II: Annual Gala Dinners.

Series II consists of the dinner menus, flyers, invitation cards and various other materials generated by the annual gala dinners organized by LDENY. During these events, new members were inducted into the organization.

Series III: Salute to Women in Gastronomy Week, 1994.

Series III contains the dinner menus, flyers, invitation cards, promotional and administrative material generated by the "Salute to Women in Gastronomy Week, 1994," a week-long series of culinary arts events organized by LDENY in 1994. The "Week" was designed to celebrate and promote the presence of women in gastronomy.

Series IV: Classes, Lectures and Conferences.

Series IV contains the class packets, conference folders, survey forms, findings and reports handed out during various such events organized by LDENY.

Series V: Correspondence.

Series V contains LDENY members' correspondence, as well as that of other people variously connected with the organization. Individual correspondents' letters have been arranged alphabetically, last names first. In cases where only one item of correspondence issued from a particular correspondent, the item in question was placed, along with other similar items, in one folder. In the case of multiple items issuing from the same correspondent, these were placed in a single folder bearing the name of the correspondent. Subseries A contains letters with collective addressees (Ex., "Dear Dame(s)..."). Subseries B contains memos. Subseries C contains letters written to and from Les Dames members on the topic of the Membership Roster of 1984, subseries D on the topic of the Les Dames' scholarships, and subseries E on the topic of the Les Dames' Dinner Events.

Series VI: Newsletters.

Series VI contains the LDENY newsletter, entitled "Journal," spanning the years from 1976-2000. Subseries A contains the LDEI newsletter, "Reporter," spanning the years 1989-2002. Newsletters from organizations linked with Les Dames, such as Les Amis d'Escoffier, have been filed within this series as well, and are located toward the end of Subseries A.

Series VII: Administrative Material.

Series VII contains general information about Les Dames d'Escoffier, such as mission statements, organizational history, and biographical material about Auguste Escoffier. It also contains material relevant to the everyday administration of the organization, such as by-laws. These have been filed chronologically and grouped under the heading Subseries A. Subseries B contains material specific to membership in the organization, including membership directories. Subseries C contains material specific to the Les Dames' scholarships. Subseries D contains miscellaneous administrative material, such as financial reports and letterheads, as well as informational material distributed by some of the culinary organizations and museums with which LDENY was involved. Subseries E contains material related to the LDENY Expansion Committee which administered the addition of new chapters to the organization.

Series VIII: Board Meetings.

Series VIII contains LDENY Board Meeting minutes and committee reports. Subseries A contains the same material, but from LDEI board meetings.

Series IX: Binders.

Series IX consists of material originally filed by LDENY members into binders. The material is primarily administrative (board meetings, etc.), but it also includes members' correspondence and material relating to Les Dames' dinner events.

Series X: Publicity

Series X consists of publicity materials, such as newspaper clippings, press releases, a visitor's book, as well as photographs, negatives, and slides. The latter largely portray Les Dames' scholarship winners and ceremonies, as well as Les Dames dinner events.

Series XI: Objects and Media

Series XI consists of LDENY commemorative objects and media consisting of three video recordings of LDENY events.

Files are grouped into ten series. With the exception of Series V, materials are arranged chronologically. Each series, with the exception of II, V, X and XI, contain material from both the New York-chapter of Les Dames d'Escoffier (LDENY), as well as its "umbrella organization", Les Dames d'Escoffier International (LDEI). Within each series heading, LDENY material has been filed toward the beginning, and LDEI material toward the end of the series, sometimes as a separate subseries.

There is no information about materials that are associated by provenance to the described materials that have been physically separated or removed.

The Archive was donated to the Fales Library by Lila Gault, on behalf of Les Dames d'Escoffier New York in October 2003. Additional donations were made in 2007 and 2008.

Published citations should take the following form:

Identification of item, date (if known); collection name; MSS number; box number; folder number; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University Libraries.