** Tins of Taste Museum ** within NationalBreadMuseum.org

GERMANY - Index of Companies w/Tins

In the 30-year Tins of Taste cataloging record, there are over 1,000 tins/chests that once held a food item from Germany.  Around 80% in this collection are German Lebkuchen tins & chests as Germany carved itself out to be the Lebkuchen industry capital of the world since the 1300s.  One of the most significant aspects of these tins is that on many of them, much of the exquisite & colorful art work portrayed history of the German people, country, & culture during past centuries.  Because of that, they document an incredible historical record. 

I would say the 800-or-so Lebkuchen tins in this collection (with most in storage & never photographed, yet, until I now have your financial, volunteer, &/or other help) are just a "sampling" because I know there are so many others.  I found out back in 1990 that there was no preservation of Lebkuchen tins by the companies I knew about & connected with & visited at that time.  There was no computer, no internet, no sources available to me in English, etc.  I had no idea, back then, about "bread museums" & this museum project.  Were there any Germans who had huge, private collections?  I didn't know, nor how to find out.  And as far as I knew, along with what the people I met with at the Nurnberg Lebkuchen companies knew, there wasn't any museum keeping this historical record.  And has that changed in Germany in the past 33 years?  If anyone knows something of this, it would be amazing for them to connect with me . . . just because I'm curious (being in the U.S. & wanting to have a museum for "German Lebkuchen tins" -- just so they serve some worthwhile, historical, & educational value, even if there's an ocean between us!).  

After I had a couple dozen "pretty & colorful" Otto Schmidt "Festive Chests," the "collecting" took a turn one morning at a flohmarkt when 2 vendors across from each other had a total of 5 "old" Festive Chests for under $10.  I thought, "This is nuts to pass them up just because they aren't very colorful.  Already having so many, why don't I try to collect ALL the years if possible?"  That put a new emphasis on feeling it was important to collect them for the sake of German history, even though I'd be going back to the United States.  I just figured that even though I'd be across the ocean, someplace there'd be a "home" for them because of the millions of Germans who emigrated to the U.S. in the 18- & first half of the 1900s.  And today German is still listed as the largest ancestry group of people in the U.S., as are my roots coming from Wisconsin, & now living in Nebraska, at one time in the 1800s, the 2 largest German populated states!  And if you have a/some German food tins, especially Lebkuchen, which you don't know what to do with & would consider donating them for this historical record, contact me at breadmuseum@aol.com.  Become part of the higher calling of historical preservation so in time our future generations have access to this information.  Blessings, Donna Kozak, Founder