I'm currently pulling together a short essay for a game history lexicon on the emergence of the menu in games. This topic is running me a bit in circles--menus seem to be one of those components that are so "obvious," or taken for granted in the game dev realm, that they aren't deeply, explicitly talked about.

I'm wondering what the respective literature around "menus" might be in the history of computing. Are there obvious touchstones or definitive transitions to be aware of (especially beyond the visible PARC/Apple/Windows GUI histories)?

And to be clear, I'm trying to keep this distinct from UI issues (insofar as that's possible!)

Any leads, food for thought, or general chatter would be much appreciated!

Best,