Naming the Unknowns, October 14, 2015

This week’s unknowns go back a way!  Pictured here at the back dock at Stahlman dining hall are the two Trivary drivers.  Trivaries aren’t used any more, but they were a system used to keep food warm during transportation.  Today, these men would simply drive “the food truck,” not “the Trivary truck.”

The man on the right is Bob Stewart.  However, we don’t know who the younger man on the left is.  Any clues?

Judging by the uniforms and the fact that the road isn’t paved, this is likely late 1960s or early 1970s.  Photographer unknown.

Trivary

The man on the right is Bob Stewart. Who is the man on the left?

2 thoughts on “Naming the Unknowns, October 14, 2015

  1. Something I’ve always wondered – what is a “trivary?” No one could ever tell me at camp, but with the wonders of online searching I just looked – and still couldn’t find anything. Amazingly, in the top ten links was this page! The other thing that came up a few times was “Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Trivary”. what? So, is that a real word, or just something that got made up and passed down?

  2. No, trivaries were real, though I can’t say I know the actual origin of the word itself. Trivaries were the pans that the food was carried in. The system was used primarily in the 1960s and had basically been phased out by the late 1970s. Essentially, it was a warming system. The food would be put in a trivary, which was a type of steam table pan, and covered. The length and width were standard, but could be any depth. These pans could then be plugged in to keep the food warm. Unfortunately, they were pretty expensive (about $300 a pan), so when they started rusting out, they were not replaced. Square heads became the dominant mode of food transportation.

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