A great source for tea images: New York Public Library Digital Collections

Recently, tea friend Margie in Canada alerted me that the New York Public Library has made their collection of digitized public domain images available for free downloading. What a gift! This image, for instance, is a 1908 Lipton tea postcard showing a tea factory in Ceylon. I'm interested in tea images from anywhere, but since I am researching tea in America this year, I am thrilled to learn that there are even more vintage images I can legally download and post on my blog!

When I was researching my book "Dainty Dining" a few years ago, I found a number of menus on the New York Public Library website, but I didn't have access to them. Now I do. So now anyone can click on this old menu and learn that in 1933, a pot of tea at the Empire State Observatory's Fountain and Tea Room sold for 20 cents!

Frankly, I like to go to sites like this and simply type in "tea" and see what pops up. I've never heard of the song "The Old Maids' Tea Party," but since the sheet music for this "musical pleasantry" is available for download, I can sightread enough to hum the tune. If you're someone who is interested in tea research, or who can think of other uses for old tea images, this is a site you'll definitely want to check out! (When you type a word into the search bar, just be sure to check the box to "search only public domain materials.")