July 17, 1907 · Hotel Majestic, Philadelphia · Banquet honouring the Visiting Press of the United States, tendered by the Executive Committee of Philadelphia Lodge No. 2, B.P.O.E.
The visiting press of the United States — newspaper editors and reporters covering the convention — were guests of Philadelphia Lodge No. 2 at this formal banquet. The Elks’ ritual “Eleven o’clock toast” — honouring departed members — is referenced by the clock dial reading 11:00 P.M. The hour is sacred to the Order, observed at every meeting since the nineteenth century.
The cover features a white stag’s head (the Elks’ principal symbol) emerging from a navy-blue clock face whose hands read eleven o’clock. The composition is rendered in gold embossing, white ink, and deep navy blue — the Order’s official colours. The cover is an unusually pure example of fraternal-organisation commercial design from the Edwardian period.
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (B.P.O.E.) is an American fraternal organisation founded in New York City in 1868. By 1907 the Order had grown to several hundred local lodges across the United States. The annual Grand Lodge Reunion brought delegates from across the country to a host city — in 1907, Philadelphia.
Visual style: Embossed cover with white stag head and clock dial reading “Eleven P.M.” in navy blue and gold.
What you receive
- Three print sizes: 8×10, 11×14, 16×20 inches (300 DPI, ready for any home printer or framing shop).
- Two versions of each size: a pure print (no added text) and a museum print (with a small caption: restaurant or ship, year, and source).
- A 1–2 page PDF with the menu’s historical context.
- One ZIP file, instantly downloadable after checkout.
About the source
This menu is preserved in the Buttolph Collection of Menus at The New York Public Library and is in the public domain in the United States. The Menu Press has curated, digitally restored, and reformatted the work for modern printing.
