Lunchtime: The History of Science on the School Food Tray

Our new exhibition offers a novel historical perspective on efforts to feed children in U.S. schools.

On view through January 2026
Hach Gallery

Lunchtime: The History of Science on the School Food Tray explores the surprising story behind one of the most familiar rites of passage—eating a school lunch.

On view through January 2026, this exhibition offers a novel historical perspective on efforts to feed children in U.S. schools. Visitors will also learn about the unique and important Philadelphia connection in jumpstarting a national conversation around children’s access to food in the early 1900s.

Read about our opening celebration >>

School Lunch Bracket

We’re on to the next round in our School Lunch Bracket and we invite you to vote for your favorite school lunch foods! Help us narrow down the competition by filling out this form, and then follow us on FacebookInstagram, and X to see if your picks made the grade. The winning school lunch will be announced on Monday, October 21, 2024, following National School Lunch Week.

colorful graphic of the Lunchtime bracket
Round 2 of our School Lunch Bracket.

About Lunchtime

Drawing from nearly 250 years of rare scientific instruments, posters, pamphlets, photographs, and period editions of books popularizing new ideas about a “proper” diet, Lunchtime delves into the history of food science and the difficulty of feeding schoolchildren nationwide.

The exhibition also highlights innovations like dehydrated and frozen foods, preservatives, and cellophane, as well as the leading role the federal government played in the development of the school lunch.

Learn more about Lunchtime >>

Support

Pew Center for Arts & Heritage color logo

Major support for Lunchtime has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, with additional support from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Foodology by Univar Solutions, Quaker Houghton, and Fred and Elizabeth Weber.

About The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage is a multidisciplinary grantmaker and hub for knowledge-sharing, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, dedicated to fostering a vibrant cultural community in Greater Philadelphia. The Center invests in ambitious, imaginative, and catalytic work that showcases the region’s cultural vitality and enhances public life, and engages in an exchange of ideas concerning artistic and interpretive practice with a broad network of cultural practitioners and leaders.


Featured image: Students eating lunch at Mosby Woods Elementary School in Fairfax, Virginia, 1979. Courtesy National Archives and Records Administration

The Institute’s Hach Gallery is named in memory of Clifford C. Hach through the generosity of his wife, Kathryn C. “Kitty” Hach-Darrow (1922–2020). In the 1940s, the married chemists cofounded the Hach Chemical Company, which became a leading producer of water-testing reagents and instruments.

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