Suggested outdoor menus printed in cookbooks and magazines are good markers for period preference but cannot possibly convey the full depth of true American picnic fare. People living in the same place and period may set very different picnic tables. To wit? Newly emigrated peoples historically dine on old world favorites while wealthy folks fuss over professionally prepared hampers. The fine line between traditional picnic (fully-prepared transported meals) and outdoor cooking (grill-ready foods) is often obscured. Many outdoor meals combine the best of both traditions.

Observations on "old fashioned picnics" circa 1912
"'It may be a sacrilege,' spoke up the youngish man with the fuzzy hat, 'to associate Decoration Day with anything outsied of the heroes who fought, bled, and died for their country's cause, but do you know what I always think of in connection with the approach of Decoration Day? Picnics! Yep, picnics come to my mind whith thoughts of Memorial Day just as I see stockings hanging by the fireplace at the mention of Christmas. When I was a youngster we went on a picnic every May 30, regardless of anything short of a cloudburst. It was the first holiday that came along after picnics got ripe enough to pick each Spring, and we invariably went forth on that day to eat things off a tablecloth spread on the ground. Say, do you think the American picnic is what it used to be? I have often thought that trolley cars would eventually make the modern picnic such a sorry variation of the old-fashioned style that yound people will get so they don't care wheterh they're going to a picnic or to a moving picture show. Who ever heard of going to a picnic in a trolley car when you and I were kids? In those days they have picnic wagons with seats running along the sides. There was some class to them. Mebby you knew them as carryalls, but we called them picnic wagons, and that's what they were. They were built to accomodate about twenty people besides the driver, and there was space on the driver's seat for the young man who lost out with his girl in the course of the day and desired to be away from the light-hearted crowd on the drive home while he planned out his future. It's been some fifteen years or so since I was to one of those old-fashioned picnics in a picnic wagon with a bunch of young men in duck trousers and young women in their jaunty little shirtwaist outfits...The first step after we had made up a crowd of congenial spirits was for two or three of us to adjourn to a livinery stable where we would endeavor to reach an agreement with the man who owned the picnic wagon as to how much his outfit meant to him for one day. My memory is a little hazy, but it seems to me that we usually got out for somewhere around one iron man apiece. There was no further expense because, according to tradition, all eatables were provided by the feminine portion of the party. We weren't hard to please. A few cold fried chickens, some peanut sandwiches, a big paper sack full of Saratoga chips, some potato salad in a fruit jar, tw or three kinds of jelly and bread and butter, a couple of chocolate cakes and a cocoanut cake and a freeze of strawberry ice cream and a few accessories were practically all we expected at a picnic dinner in those days...It was customary for people who went on picnics to go a certain spot where there was a small river the size of a creek,, with some right respectable-sized cliffs on both saides. The advantages of this place were that it was twelve miles away, which meeant a long drive home by moonlight or starlight as the case might be--it didn't matter much--and there were a lot of rocks in the creek where the girls could cross over to the other side to make anybody desire to be there...One of the great problems in making arrangements for a picnic was the selection of a chaperon. We usually succeeded in getting hold of somebody only about four or five years older than ourselves, and then one of the boys would fix it with an older brother to go along and look after her and keep her mind occupied...The day after the picnic the local paper would write it up, and close by saying that 'a delightful time was had'--and that was the truth."
---"What Usually Happened on the Old-Fashioned Picnic," New York Times, May 26, 1912 (p. SM11)

Recommended reading:

• "Picnics," Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford University Press:New York] 2004, Volume 2 (p. 268-71)
  
• "The Art of Picnicking," James Beard, The Armchair James Beard, edited by John Ferrone [Lyons Press:New York] 1999 (p. 86-8)

[1926] Picnic lunches "Use waxed paper for wrapping sandwiches and other foods, and paper plates and napkins for service. Paper cups, paper and tin picnic forks and spoons may also be secured. A thermos bottle is almost indispensible.

[1933] Picnic menus

[1936]

[1943] Picnic Suggestions
"If the purity of the picnic water supply is in doubt, carry a gallon jug of water from home. Prepare a basket with the necessary knives, forks and spoons, paper cups, plates and napkins, as well as pepper, salt and any desired condiments. To keep liquids hot or cold, use a thermos bottle of jug. To keep food hot, carry it in a portable electric roaster or casserole, or in a sealed jar, wrapped in many thic knesses of paper. Foods may be kept cold by wrapping first in cold, wet towels, then in many thicknesses of paper. Sandwiches should be made with fillings that will not soak into the bread or wilt, and whould not be ready for serving wrapped in waxed paper.

Bonfire Picnic Dinners
When planning a picnic at which a fire is to be built, and some of the food cooked and served hot, add the following grill implements: Camp grate and broiler or folding grill or bars, frying pan, popcorn popper for broiling several wieners, long-handed fork, asbestos mittens, kettle, and coffee pot, auto vacuum freezer for ice cream, newspapers, bag of charcoal or coke, matches.

[1943] Picnic Lunches
"Cold ham and tongue, Potato salad, Pickles, Buttered rolls, Coffee in a thermos bottle, Fruit Cake
"Cold fried chicken, Watercress sandwiches, Vegetable salad, Egg and olive sandwiches, Coffee or Tea, Orange layer cake

Campfire Picnics
Broiled bacon sandwiches, Scrambled eggs, Roasted corn, Coffee, Fruit, Cake
Broiled steak, Baked potatoes, Rolls, Doughnuts, Coffee."
---Lily Wallace New American Cook Book, Lily Haxworth Wallace [Books:New York] 1943 (p. 847-8)

[1944] Picnics
"When it's a picnic in the wide open places that your family craves, a simple box lunch of sandwiches, a refreshing salad in covered watertight cartons, a tasty hot creamed dish, baked beans, or soup in a vacuum jug, plenty of fruit, cake or cookies, and coffee and milk in vacuum bottles may be your choice...Or easier still you may carry along several sandwich spreads, pelnty of bread, crackers, sliced tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, a pickle relish, etc., and let each one make his or her own sandwiches. However, if men were given a choice, most of them would probably vote for the picnic where they can cook at least one dish over the open fire. Folding portable grills which burn charcoal of briquets can be purchased for a reasonable sum. These work easily and efficently not only on picnics and motor trips where you camp out, but in the living room fireplace as well. More and more too, we find brick and stone fireplaces being built in backyards of homes, with the result that grill suppers in which the host presides over the cooking of the meat, while the hostess takes charge of the rest of the meal indoors, are much in vogue. The complete meal is served either buffet or sit-down stype from a table set up on the lawn.

[1954] "Picnics, Clambakes & Big-party dishes
I was brought up in a household famous for its fabulous cooking, and the memories of my childhood are full of one fine meal after another. But the most exciting of all were the magnificent family picnics. Huge hampers and baskets were filled with an endless array of delectable tidbits to be consumed in the great outdoors--on a wide sandy beach by the Pacific, or high in the mountains where blue and red huckleberries grew in abundance, or along some winding road deep in a canyon beside a rishing stream. For the cold food and drink, we stopped at an ice-house and picked up a large cake of ice which sat on the floor in the back of the car with the perishables on top. If we wanted anything hot, and we usually planned on coffee at least, we'd build up a fire in the open or if we were near woods that might catch from fire, we'd manage with a little alcohol stove...Today's picnicker has no such problems. He can take along a small portable cooking grill that is easy to set up and use. The Skotch Grill...serves as a container to carry its own charcoal...or some of your picnic supplies....Then there is the old reliable portable gasoline stove, the Coleman, which has served campers and outdoor enthusiasts for years. For heating coffee or soup, a little folding Sterno stove can be used wherever you stop. And if you're heading for one of the wayside picnic groves that are found along many of our great highways, you can usually find an outdoors fireplace...Carrying hot or cold food and drink is a simple matter today. There are small portable ice boxes which will hold about 12 pounds of ice, and large Thermos jugs for hot or cold food or drink. Or you can use one of the handy Skotch Koolers packed with ice cubes and your food and it will keep cold for hours...If you use paper plates and cups for serving, be sure they're the kind that don't get soggy. Plastic dishes are much more serviceable, though of course not so easily disposable. If you do any amount of picnicking, it will be worth your while to invest in one of those wonderful picnic baskets that are equipped with a Thermos bottle or two, plastic dishes, stainless steel cutlery, and salt and pepper shakers, all held in place and with room left for sandwiches and other supplies. You might also look into the many sets of portable cooking equipment designed for campers and for the use of the armed forces, available respectively at sporting-good stores and war-surplus dealers...In planning your picnic meals, you'll do well to plan a simple menu of hearty grub that will satisfy appetites sharpened by fresh air and the tang of woodsmoke. Stick to three or four items, have them of the best quality, and serve plenty of em...One classic dish for a picnic is fried chicken, cooked beforehand and reheated or eaten cold. It has a superb flavor and goes wonderfully well with the other traditional picnic foods: stuffed eggs, potato salad, baked beans and chocolate cake."
---Complete Book of Barbecue & Rotisserie Cooking, James Beard [Bobbs-Merrill:Indianapolis] 1954 (p. 80-1)

[1955]
"Outdoor Meals
If you like outdoor meals, you begin the picnic season as soon as weather permits and carry on through the cool, crisp days of fall. The simplest type of picnic meal calls for the making of a varity of hearty sandwiches and hard-cooked or devlied eggs which, accompanied by a thermos bottle of coffee and bottles of milk, needs only fruit or cookies for dessert. The children will be satisfied with a meal of this type just so they can eat it outdoors. For a more elaborate picnic, cold fried chicken may be served. There are many picnic kits obtainable on the market, containing silver, cups and plates, salt and pepper shakers, and vacuum jugs. The latter will keep food hot or cold for some time. The men of the household, generally prefer a cooked meal and will gladly do their part in making the fire and superintending the cooking of hamburgers, hot dogs, ham, or steak. A charcoal stove which can be purchased for a small amount of money is a good investment as in this case you are independent as far as fuel is concerned and anyone can get a bed of glowing coals in a short time. A folding stove with a bag of charcoal or briquets can be kept in the luggage compartment of the car ready for use...

Broiled Steak, Smothered Onions, Roasted Corn-on-the-Cob, Toasted Rusks, Mixed Green Salad, Watermelon, Coffee.
Broiled Ham, Hashed Browned Potatoes, Sliced Tomatoes, Hot Rolls, Rich Devil's Food Cake, Coffee.
Kabobs, Grilled Sweet Potatoes, Mixed Green Sald, Buttered Toast, Ginger Cake, Coffee.
Carolina Corn, Country Fried Potatoes, Hot Rolls, Cucumber Salad, Apple Pie, Coffee.
Barbecured Spareribs, Fried Apples, Baked Potatoes, Toasted Rolls, Cole Slaw, Mixed Fruit, Coffee.
Grilled Frankfurters with Bacon, Rolls, Stewed Potatoes, Mixed Vegetable Salad, Cookies, Fruit, Coffee."
---Silver Jubilee Super Market Cook Book, Edith Barker [Super Market Publishing Co.:New York] 1955 (p. 43-45)

[1956] "Hamper picnic for a roadside lunch.
Jug of coffee or lemonade, baked ham sandwiches, cheese-rye sandwiches, deviled eggs, whole tomatoes, cupcakes or brownies, fresh fruit."
---Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook, second edition, revised and enlarged [McGraw Hill:New York] 1956 (p. 259)

Additional sources:

1. Journals of famous road trips. Thomas Edison was known to take elaborate road trips with his friends Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone, and John Burroughs. "Meeting it Pittsburgh, they departed like a caravan of sheikhs in three large touring cars followed by three trucks and a retinue of servants. ..A Japanese chef headed the kitchen staff. Even lunches under the trees were sumptous repasts served on white linen with solid silverware. The tents were equipped with electric lights....Burroughs...chronicled in his journals..."10 a.m. Edison not up yet--the man of little sleep. He inveighs against cane sugar, yet puts two heaping teaspoonfuls into each cup of coffee, and he takes three or four cups a day. He eats more than I do yet calls me a gourmand. He eats pie by the yard and bolts his food.""
---A Streak of Luck: The Life and Legend of Thomas Alva Edison, Robert Conot [Seaview Books:New York] 1979 (p. 419-20)

2. Period camping techniques:
Extended road trips often called for car camping'. Horace Kephar's Camp Cookery: Outdoor Cooking Secrets from 1910 is an excellent guide for early 20th century camping techniques and recipes. This book was recently reprinted by Applewood books (paperback), $12.95. Your librarian can help you find a copy.