Jan Whitaker

I am a consumer historian who is fascinated by the intersection of commerce with our everyday lives. I am particularly interested in department stores and restaurants.

At the moment I am taking a break from preparing a talk I will give next week on the topic of department store tea rooms. As you might expect, I'll be talking about well-known stores such as Marshall Field's, Wanamaker's, and Altman's -- along with too many others to list. Tea rooms actually are the bridge between my first book about the history of tea rooms, Tea at the Blue Lantern Inn, and my second book on the history of American department stores, Service and Style.

I have also written about department stores around the world, discovering as I researched the book that they all have much in common, partly because they tend to copy from each other. As do restaurants.

About eleven (!) years ago I started a blog called Restaurant-ing through history which is about the history of American restaurants, including tea rooms of course. With over 400 posts so far, I have examined many, many aspects of American restaurants. When I started the blog, someone asked me whether I was afraid I would exhaust the subject rather quickly. No! Today, my ideas list is longer than ever.

Look up my website on the history of department stores (www.departmentstorehistory.net), on which I have a Q&A page. Believe me, the questions posted there keep me on my toes!