Ross, Donald

On the evening of Nov. 22, 1963, (at the Aku Aku restaurant/Stardust Hotel/Las Vegas, Nevada) after learning of the terrible news of JFK's assasination, Donald Ross started to collect menus from the restaurants where he dined during his frequent travels over the next ca. 35 years -- domestic and abroad -- for the Atomic Energy Commission (and its successor agencies, Energy Research & Development Administration and the Department of Energy) as well as when he hosted visitors to the Washington, D.C. area. The collection includes 2,472 menus.Mr. Ross indexed each menu (by hand, alphabetically by restaurant, in spiral notebooks) indicating the restaurant, location, month/year of his visit and the type of menu (regular dinner, banquet, bar, cafeteria, dessert, etc.).

Donald Ross received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Lehigh University and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. After teaching at the University of Pennsylvania for four years, he came to the University of Minnesota in 1971. His work is divided between the Composition Program and the English Department. In 1982, he received a major grant to study the ways computers can be used in improving student writing.*Biographical Note taken from the web site of the Department of English, University of Minnesota.