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Coon Chicken Inn Records and Graham Family Papers

National Museum of American History

Object Details

Creator
Graham, Adelaide
Provenance
The collection was purchased by the Museum from Maxon and Adelaide Graham's grandson in 2009.
Creator
Graham, Adelaide
See more items in
Coon Chicken Inn Records and Graham Family Papers
Summary
The collection consists of materials relating to the creation and operation of the restaurant chain known as the Coon Chicken Inn.
Biographical / Historical
Coon Chicken Inn was founded in Salt Lake City, Utah, by Maxon Lester Graham and his wife Adelaide Burt Graham. At only sixteen years of age, Mr. Graham was already an established businessman, having secured the ownership of a Metz automobile dealership in 1913. Newly married and in possession of both an easily-prepared fried chicken recipe and two thousand dollars from a recent business deal, the couple went into the restaurant business and opened the first Coon Chicken Inn in 1925. Initially it was a simple lunch counter that served hamburgers, chili, sandwiches, cakes, pies and their signature "southern fried Coon Chicken sandwich." The chicken was a big hit. The restaurant expanded after a 1927 fire, completely rebuilding on a larger scale. In 1929, the Grahams opened another Coon Chicken Inn in Seattle, Washington. The couple moved to Seattle, retaining the Salt Lake City restaurant. Business boomed, and a cabaret, dance floor, and orchestra were added to both restaurants along with larger dining rooms and delivery trucks for catering. In 1930, a third restaurant opened in Portland, Oregon. The Grahams operated their small chain successfully into the 1950s, when they closed the restaurants and leased out the properties. This small restaurant chain is memorable, unfortunately, because of the image the Grahams choose as the logo, sign, and symbol to distinguish their establishments¬--a round, toothy, grinning face of an African American man wearing a porter's cap and a winking eye. The mouth of this huge head formed the entrance to the restaurants; customers literally walked in through the gaping mouth. According to an account written by Scott Farrar, the Graham's grandson, his grandfather decided "if a gimmick were added for the children it would help bring in the parents." The image appeared on every menu, napkin, utensil, and dish used in the restaurants; the Grahams may have seen the grinning face as representing persons skilled in the art of "southern" cooking, a highly-regarded cuisine until then virtually unavailable in Utah and the Pacific Northwest. Today, Coon Chicken Inn artifacts and other stereotypical images of African Americans are highly collectible items. See website: http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/links/chicken/ for more information about Coon Chicken Inn.
Extent
2 Cubic feet (6 boxes)
Date
1914-1973, undated
Archival Repository
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier
NMAH.AC.1153
Type
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Citation
Coon Chicken Inn Records and Graham Family Papers, 1913-1973, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into four series. Series 1, Coon Chicken Inn Business Records, 1926-1948, undated Series 2, Maxon L. Graham Personal Papers, 1933-1942, undated Series 3, Photographs, 1925-1930s, undated Series 4, Scrapbooks, 1917-1973, undated
Processing Information
Processed by Anne Jones, volunteer, 2010; supervised by Vanessa Broussard- Simmons, archivist.
Rights
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Scope and Contents
The collection consists of materials collected by Maxon L. Graham, the founder and operator of Coon Chicken Inn. The restaurants were located in Salt Lake City, Utah; Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon and operated from the 1920s into the 1950s. There were materials in a loose leaf notebook consisting of personal papers, business ephemera and photographs. These materials are arranged by type. For preservation purposes the scrapbooks were dismantled and the covers and pages were placed in folders while still maintaining the original order. Series 1, Coon Chicken Inn Business Records, 1926-1948, undated, consists of agreements, bills, checks, contracts, receipts, promotional materials and other business ephemera. There are also menus, matchbooks, postcards, placemats, table cards, sales checks, and recipes. The materials are arranged in chronological order. Series 2, Maxon L. Graham Personal Papers, 1933-1942, undated, relates primarily to his professional activities and gun collection. The materials are arranged in chronological order. Series 3, Photographs, 1925-1930s,; undated, primarily documents interior, exterior, and aerial views of Coon Chicken Inns in Salt Lake City, Utah; Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon. There is also a photograph of Mr. Graham's gun collection and an unidentified group. Series 4, Scrapbooks, 1917-1973, includes, two scrapbooks created to document the Coon Chicken Inn restaurants and the Graham family. Scrapbook One, 1917-1941, undated, includes a front cover, thirty eight loose sheets, seventy six pages and a back cover. The materials in this scrapbook are not arranged in any particular order and consist of menus, table cards, business cards, advertisements, brochures, photographs, newspaper clippings and publications. Some pages have small objects attached to them, including meal tokens, a belt buckle and a pointing hand. Materials relating to the Graham family include Maxon Graham's draft card, a wedding announcement and photographs of their homes. In addition there is an autographed photograph of entertainer Webb Holmes. The pages are numbered and divided into folders in the original order. Scrapbook Two 1914-1973, undated, includes a front cover, thirty six loose sheets seventy two pages and a back cover. Materials in this scrapbook are not arranged in any particular order and consist of menus, table cards, checks, a survey for a building lot, advertisements, annual reports, a liquor permit, photographs of restaurant staff, newspaper clippings and publications. Personal materials relating to the Graham family include an obituary for Adelaide Graham, articles about the purchase of a private residence, realtor's advertisement for new home, a telegram about a party, M. L. Graham's international driver's license, Christmas cards and M.L. Graham's high school report card. The pages are numbered and divided into folders in the original order.
Restrictions
Collection is open for research.
Collection is open for research.
Related link
Record ID
ebl-1562715046729-1562715046736-0
Metadata Usage
CC0
GUID
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8d332d04d-c29e-462f-95ef-e0affd29aa2b

In the Collection

Pages

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  • Coon Chicken Inn Scrapbooks

  • Scrapbook One

  • Coon Chicken Inn : Advertisement for Coon Chicken Inn and John Maxson sic and his Club Cotton sic Merry-Makers

  • Coon Chicken Inn : Black-and-white photoprints on scrapbook page

  • Coon Chicken Inn map and list of locations with cartoon logo of grinning, winking blackface porter

  • Coon Chicken Inn: newspaper advertisement for Coon Chicken Club Cotton, etc., on scrapbook page

  • Page 21, Seattle restaurant and Club Cotton, circa 1934; receipt for order of matchbooks,

  • Page 6, advertising poster, undated; photograph of first Coon Chicken Inn, Salt Lake City

  • Pages 1 and 2, promotional folder, inside spread and outside spread; die-cut for shape of smiling face logo

  • Page 15, newspaper advertisements for Club Cotton in Seattle restaurant, 1934 February; promotional postcards with menus for Club Cotton

  • Invoice, Pacific Travel Bureau of British Columbia

  • Page 13, business license, Salt Lake City, 1928 January; newspaper clipping and proposed restaurant location in Portland, Oregon; contract with Peterson Sign Company, Salt Lake City

  • M. L. Graham's gun collection

  • Photographs

  • Page 57, Salt Lake City restaurant, circa 1930s; licenses and tax stamps, Salt Lake City, 1928, 1929, 1933; M. L. Graham's draft card

  • Page 30, blank

  • Rental agreement with Multi-Light Neon Company, Seattle

  • Page 63, Clucks, 1939 April; undated

  • Page 28, Coon Chicken and Cre-Maid logotypes, 1925, 1929, 1936

  • Page 66, M. L. Graham Company, Salt Lake City, Dort and Gray Motor Car distributor, 1923; photographs and advertisement; mileage ration card, 1941

  • Page 29, Playbill, "Hellzapoppin" at Forty Sixth Street Theater, circa 1939; autographed photographs of "Hellzapoppin"

  • Page 57, "Neptunus Rex" proclamations inscribed to Mr. and Mrs. Graham, Moore-McCormick Lines

  • Page 60, telegram from "Ole" Olsen

  • Page 21, liquor permit, King County, Washington, 1933 April; Pacific Gas advertisement featuring Coon Chicken Inn, 1933; newspaper clippings, undated

  • Page 56, restaurant and tobacco sales licenses, Salt Lake City, 1928; receipt, Salt Lake City Corporation

  • Letter from Treasury Department to M. L. Graham

  • Page 5, lease for land in Salt Lake City, 1925 June 26; agreement between Mr. and Mrs. Graham, 1925 May 24; 50 peso note; business cards and snapshot of Coon Chicken Inn

  • Pages 8-9, Coon Chicken Inn Bakery and Poultry Farm, Salt Lake City, undated

  • Page 28, Coon Chicken Inn interiors, locations uncertain; smiling face sign with Halloween decor

  • Coon Chicken Inn, 1488 Sandy Boulevard, Portland, Oregon

  • Application for ashtray design patent

  • Page 18, Washington State Restaurant Association Annual Report

  • Letter and franchise agreement, Robert Burbridge Enterprises, "CHICK-EN-HAND"

  • Page 48, photographs and plan for shopping center signage

  • Page 59, letter from Jack and Lillian Olsen, January 1942; high school report card for Lester Graham, 1914-15; autographed photograph of group onstage

  • Page 1, commemorative edition, Presidential Proclamation on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the United States Constitution, 1937

  • Football program, Washington Sideliner, Coon Chicken Inn advertisement, page 28

  • Page 19, cover and page, Washington State Restaurant-Tavern News, 1943 June; article, Western Restaurant about Coon Chicken Inn, 1933 May

  • Page 76, letter and business card from M. L. Graham Company, 1920s; newspaper clippings about Coon Chicken Inn, 1931; article about stamp collecting, undated

  • Maxon L. Graham Personal Papers

  • Page 70, full-page advertisement in the Salt Lake Telegram for the 4th Annual Auto Show,

  • Page 16, letterhead, Seattle Post-Intelligencer; newspaper clippings, 1933 and undated; corporation license

  • Page 8, statement of taxable property, 1929; Coon Chicken Inn "smiling face," embroidered cloth; Liberty Bond materials

  • Page 27, Coon Chicken Inn interiors, Portland; Nohlgren's 99 Cent Diner

  • Front cover

  • Page 66, United States Treasury Department document regarding receipt of pistol from M. L. Graham, 1938 January 20; student pilot certificates, M. L. Graham, 1938; draft card, M. L. Graham, undated; international drivers license, M. L. Graham, 1954; newspaper clippings featuring Betty Jean Graham

  • Coon Chicken Inn Business Records

  • Page 4, Coon Chicken Inn, Salt Lake City, 1925; photographs of automobile and Mr. Graham

  • Page 69, advertisements for M. L. Graham Company Motor Cars, 1923; newspaper clipping about Gray coupe, undated; M.L. Graham Company business card

  • Placemats

  • Agreement with Berntson Brothers, Salt Lake City, for addition to restaurant,

  • Letterhead stationery for Coon Chicken Inns, Salt Lake City and Seattle; and Associated Inns Incorporated, Salt Lake City

  • Page 31, Salt Lake City Coon Chicken Inn delivery vehicles and drive-in area, 1930s; Coon Chicken Inn die-cut advertising card, 1930s; newspaper clipping about M. L. Graham's shopping center, 1960s

  • Page 25, Seattle restaurant and picnic, undated; Washington State Restaurant Association meeting; unidentified group at restaurant

  • Envelope, Portland, Oregon

  • Page 49, color rendering of new sign for shopping center

  • Page 54, letter from Chic Johnson, 1934 July 19; letter from Walter Winchell, undated; contract for painting restaurant, undated

  • Page 53, group of restaurant menus and cards; advertisement and menu for Fagan's Chicken Inn using smiling face resembling Coon Chicken Inn

  • Page 51, newspaper clippings, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, about Mrs. Graham

  • Page 50, newspaper clipping, Salt Lake Tribune

  • Page 43, Coon Chicken Inn die-cut advertising fliers; table card regarding alcoholic beverages

  • Page 18, newspaper clippings, 1930s, undated; holiday menu and table card

  • Page 67, M. L. Graham Company Motor Cars, photographs and cards, 1917; newspaper clipping of M. L. Graham, 1917; cancelled check, 1915

  • Page 3, blank

  • Page 62, Clucks, 1939 November, December

  • Inside front cover, M. L. Graham, undated; clippings, This Week in Seattle and Washington State Restaurant and Tavern News

  • Promotional materials

  • Contract for signage, Salt Lake City

  • Page 64, Clucks, undated; stock certificate for Associated Poultry, 1936; newspaper clipping about apartment units built by M. L. Graham, undated

  • Page 74, article about M. L. Graham's Wild West Exhibit, 1961 August; brochures about M. L. Graham's gun collection

  • Page 24, Seattle restaurant with Shriner face, undated; newspaper clipping about Adelaide Burt Mrs. Graham, undated; unidentified group on boat, undated; unidentified group with Mrs. Graham, undated

  • Page 63, blank

  • Washington state appointment of L.R. Ence as notary public

  • Page 15-16, Coon Chicken Inn menus, undated

  • Bills from M.A. Strand for electrical work, Salt Lake City

  • Page 33, Trolley Times, 1972 December, article "De Coon Chicken Inn," includes photograph of Coon Chicken Inn waitresses

  • Page 65, businesses on Bothell Way, Seattle

  • Die-cut for circulars

  • Page 23, full-page advertisement in Oregon Daily Journal 1931 September 11 for opening of Portland Coon Chicken Inn

  • Dairy Machinery Company, order for bottle caps

  • Page 62, blank

  • Page 14, interiors of Seattle Coon Chicken Inn, 1930s; Club Cotton menus

  • Page 67, photographs of marina, of M. L. Graham as Shriner, and of unidentified group of men

  • Page 22, apartment complex built by M. L. Graham, undated; newspaper clipping, undated

  • Page 58, newspaper clipping about Kingston Marina, 1965 November 16; business card, M. L. Graham

  • Page 31, blank

  • Page 52, business cards, Coon Chicken Inn and others; letter from Charles E. Hires Company, 1930 August 28; sales receipt for piano

  • Envelopes

  • Page 57, picketers, Salt Lake City restaurant, 1937; tax notices

  • Cancelled and blank checks, Salt Lake City

  • Page 10, Article, Western Restaurant, 1933 May; newspaper clipping, Seattle Daily Times, 1938 May 2; surveyor's drawing of building lot for Coon Chicken Inn, undated

  • Table cards for reserved seating

  • Page 11, postcard showing three restaurants, 1930s; "Keys to S. L. C. Coon Chicken demolished June 1, 1969;" Thanksgiving menu

  • Promissory note for purchase of cash register

  • Page 24, Coon Chicken Inn, Portland, Oregon

  • Loose newspaper page, Seattle Sunday Times, 1930 August 31 about opening of Coon Chicken Inn

  • Page 46, photographs of M. L. Graham alone and with unidentified groups; photographs of M. L. Graham alone and with unidentified groups; copy of cancelled check, 1963 April 4

  • Page 49, Coon Chicken Inn letterheads and envelopes

  • Page 43, photograph of Metz automobile being driven up a flight of stairs by M. L. Graham, with others

  • Page 71, "Greatest Aviator of Them All" from Saga, 1965 September; photographs of race between Barney Oldfield and aviator Lincoln Beachy

Pages

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Pages 1 and 2, promotional folder, inside spread and outside spread; die-cut for shape of smiling face logo
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