Smithsonian Libraries

National Dog Biscuit Day . . .

. . . was yesterday - but it's never to late to read about man's best friend!

Robert Laurent, Sleeping Dog, 1920, crayon and pencil, 17 1/16 x 22 1/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase 

It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there and no one knows that better than man’s best friend. And when the day has gone to the dogs, they are in the dog house, sick as a dog and dog tired, nothing can make a top dog feel better than a good ol’ fashioned biscuit. So today we honor that treat of treats, that reward which, when given, leaves Rovers the world over as happy as a flea in a doghouse. (Of course, when it comes to the subject of fleas it is best to let sleeping dogs lie.)

According to the Milk-Bone web site, the brand was developed in 1908 by the F. H. Bennett Biscuit Company in New York City. The bakery created a hard, bone-shaped biscuit out of minerals, meat products, and cow’s milk that would eventually be called a “Milk-Bone.” The recipe remained relatively unchanged until 1979 when Milk-Bone introduced a beef flavored biscuit, paving the way for the variety of flavors found today. Nowadays dog biscuits can be as exotic as the breeds found at the annual Westminster Kennel Club dog show. Where a Xoloitzcuintli might enjoy a Pumpkin & Blueberry flavored treat, a Kooikerhondje may prefer a Green Beef Tripe with Atlantic Kelp biscuit. And while that may sound like a dog’s breakfast to you, to them it is proof that every dog has its day . . .—Carrie Carter 

Looking for a friend? Consider adopting.

Already have one? Consider a special treat.

International Friendship Month

February is International Friendship Month. What better way to illustrate friendship between nations than a depiction of Napoleon signing the Louisiana Purchase? the fact that this little slice of history comes from a World's Fair Louisiana Purchase Exposition Borden milk advertisement makes it all the more interesting!

—Elizabeth Periale

Borden Company, E pluribus unum: the story of an eagle, 1904

Happy Birthday George!

I wonder if our nation's first president ever witnessed as snowy a winter—in Washington, D.C., the capital city that bears his name—as we have this winter, the capital he helped select as "the metropolis of the United States."

We all have heard about his snowy times in Valley Forge . . .

—Elizabeth Periale

Isaac Weld
Travels through the states of North America : and the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, during the years 1795, 1796, and 1797, 1807

February is National Embroidery Month

This lithograph displays machine-made embroidery from the 1876 and 1878 World's Fairs. The Libraries has many wonderful items from World's fairs in its collections. Many other wonderful images can be viewed in our online bibliography, Revisiting the World's Fairs and International Expositions. Enjoy!

—Elizabeth Periale

Frank H. (Frank Henry) Norton
Illustrated Historical Register of the Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia 1876 and of the Exposition Universelle, Paris 1878, c. 1878