Recipes & Cookbooks:  A (Tasty?) Window Into Our Past

 

The contents of cookbooks – measurements, ingredients, preparation methods, captions, side notes, and diagrams – conjure up images of campfires, hearthside kettles, electric stoves, and ovens yielding fragrant aromas.  They reflect the influences of native peoples, immigration and migration, hard times, and advances in technology.  Through shared recipes, we glimpse another side of our history:  celebrations and ceremonies; hard times; and the resourcefulness and ingenuity of the human spirit.  Use the resources below to explore this theme on the Library of Congress Web site at http://www.loc.gov.

 

Uniquely American:  local ingredients

 

Pumpkin

  1. American Cookery:  Or the Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry and Vegetables and the Best Modes of Making Pastes, Puffs, Pies, Tarts, Puddings, Custards and Preserves, and All Kinds of Cakes, From the Imperial Plumb to Plain Cake, Adapted to This Country, and All Grades of Life.  Amelia Simmons, 1796.  Exhibitions:  American Treasures of the Library of Congress. - http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/tri054.html
    Page 4 – pumpkin; p. 6 – turkey; p. 7 – loaf cakes.
  2. Anniversary dinner of the Brooklyn New England Society at the Mansion House, Thursday, December 22d, 1853.  An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of  Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera.  American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/rbpebib:@field(NUMBER+@band(rbpe+12101500))

 

Corn: Indian Meal, Johnny-cakes and Corn Bread

  1. Corn pone in Chapter XI, p. 107.  A Frenchman in Virginia; being the memoirs of a Huguenot refugee in 1686, translated by a Virginian.  The Capital and the Bay: Narratives of Washington and the Chesapeake Bay Region ca. 1600-1925.  American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/lhbcb:@field(DOCID+@lit(lhbcb03888div15))
  2. America: a four years' residence in the United States and Canada; giving a full and fair description of the country, as it really is, with the manners, customs, & character of the inhabitants; anecdotes of persons and institutions, prices of land and produce, state of agriculture and manufactures.  William Brown, 1849.  American Notes: Travels In America, 1750-1920.  American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/lhbtn:@field(DOCID+@lit(lhbtn05309div8))
    Indian corn, Indian meal and corn bread recipe.  p. 31-32.
  3. The sweetest and most wholesome bread is made by using Samuel Kidder & Co's imperial yeast powder.  1861.  An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of  Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/rbpebib:@field(NUMBER+@band(rbpe+06703100)):
    Receipts for corn cake, jumbles, suet pudding, gingerbread, cottage pudding, and more.
  4. The National Cook Book.  Hannah Peterson, Philadelphia, 1866.  The Nineteenth Century in Print: The Making of America in Books and Periodicals, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/ncpm:@field(DOCID+@lit(ULA17059340))
  5. Letter from Woody Guthrie to Alan Lomax, January 22, 1941.  Woody Guthrie and the Archive of American Folk Song Correspondence, 1940-1950, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/afcwwgbib:@field(NUMBER+@band(afcwwg+006)):
    Woody Guthrie describes corn bread as his father’s sister made it.

 

Influences: traditions, adaptation and innovation

 

Native Americans

  1. How they cook their fish . Engraving by Theodor de Bry, (1590).  Wunderbarliche, doch warhafftige Erkl rung, von der Gelegenheit vnd Sitten der Wilden in Virginia ... / Erstlich in engell ndischer Sprach beschrieben durch Thomam Hariot, vnd newlich durch Christ. P. in Teutsch gebracht. Franckfort am Mayn : Gedruckt bey J. Wechel, in Verlegung D. Bry, 1590.  Prints & Photographs Online Catalog - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?pp/ils:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3b01310))+@field(COLLID+cph))
  2. The Granite Crags of California.  Constance Frederica Gordon-Cumming, 1886. Westward by Sea: A Maritime Perspective on American Expansion, 1820-1890, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mymhiwe:@field(DOCID+@lit(mymhiwef866g66div7))
    The Digger  Indians:  Acorn-meal porridge and bread. Page139.

 

European encounters

  1. Thomas Jefferson Papers.  American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/jefferson_papers/
    Search using the keyword “recipe” to find a list of Jefferson’s recipes.
  2. Instructions for making cream cheese, in Martha Jefferson’s household account and recipe book. 1772- 1782.  Thomas Jefferson Papers.  American Memory - http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/tri033.html
  3. First Yiddish Cookbook in America.  Exhibitions:  American Treasures of the Library of Congress - http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/tri114.html
  4. Recipe for Cornish Pasties. Between the Iron and the Pine: a Biography of a Pioneer Family and a Pioneer Town. Lewis Reimann, 1951.  Pioneering the Upper Midwest. Books from Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, ca. 1820-191, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/lhbum:@field(DOCID+@lit(lhbum08574div35))
  5. Cooking in Camp. Buckaroos in Paradise: Ranching Culture in Northern Nevada, 1945-1982, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/ncr:@field(DOCID+@lit(n025))
    (audio) Russian Pie

 

African Americans

  1. Rice. (Recipe. p. 478).   Journey in the Seaboard Slave States, with Remarks on Their Economy.  Federick Law Olmstead, 1856.  American Notes: Travels in America 1750-1920, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/lhbtn:@field(DOCID+@lit(lhbtn35036div14))
  2. Interview with George Saunders.  American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project 1936-1940, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/wpa:@field(DOCID+@lit(wpa116022304))
  3. Patsy Randolph’s recipe for Watermelon Pickle. (pages 6,7).  Sweet potatoes and Yams. (pages 10,11.  Life in  the Harlem Markets. American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project 1936-1940., American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/wpa:@field(DOCID+@lit(wpa221011911))
  4. Worker holds tray with twenty cooked pies from the Sweet Potato Pie Company, 1994.  Working in Paterson: Occupational Heritage in an Urban Setting. American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/afcwip:@field(DOCID+@lit(mcc05015))

 

The Frontier

  1. Omelette Souffle Recipe in Letter from Mattie Oblinger  April 16, 1876.  Prairie Settlement: Nebraska Photographs and Family Letters, 1862-1912.  American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/psbib:@field(DOCID+@lit(l133))
  2. Diary, 1849-1852. Westward by Sea: a Maritime Perspective on American Expansion 1820-1890. American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mymhiwe:@field(DOCID+@lit(mymhiwemv659))
    Describes making puddings, bread, gingerbread, and cakes.

 

Industrialization: technology, standardization and domestic management

 

  1. The Art of Cooking: Birthday of Fanny Merritt Farmer, March 23, 1857. Today in History: March 23 - http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/mar23.html
  2. Common Sense in the Household.  Marion Harlan.  New York, C. Scribner, 1872.  The Nineteenth Century in Print: Books, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/ncpm:@field(DOCID+@lit(ULA17059345))
  3. Miss Beecher’s Housekeeper and Healthkeeper:  containing five hundred recipes for economical and healthful cooking; also many directions for securing health and happiness…  Catherine E. Beecher, 1873.  The Nineteenth Century in Print: Books.  American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/ncpm:@field(DOCID+@lit(ULA17059339))
  4. Mrs. Goodfellows Cookery as it Should Be: a New Manual of the Dining Room and Kitchen Containing Original Receipts on Every Branch of Cookery, Domestic Beverages, Food for Invalids, Brandying Fruits, Pickling and Preserving etc.  Mrs. Goodfellow, 1865.  The Nineteenth Century in Print: Books, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/ncpm:@field(DOCID+@lit(ULA17059344))
  5. The National Cookbook.  By a Lady of Philadelphia.  By Hannah Peterson, 1866.  The Nineteenth Century in Print: Books, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/ncpm:@field(DOCID+@lit(ULA17059340))
  6. Review of Cooking-School Textbook and Housekeeper’s Guide to Cookery and Kitchen Management. Manufacturer and Builder, v. 11: Jan. 1879. The Nineteenth Century in Print: Periodicals., American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/ncpsbib:@field(DOCID+@lit(ABS1821-0011-54_bib))

 

New Equipment and Appliances

 

Cookstoves and Ranges

Cupid in the Kitchen (Garland Stoves).  The Emergence of Advertising in America, 1850-1920., American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/eaa:@field(DOCID+@lit(CK0071))

 

Utensils and Small Appliances

  1. The Vienna Coffee Maker.  The Emergence of Advertising in America, 1850-1920., American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/eaa:@field(DOCID+@lit(A0485))
  2. Kook Kwick Pressure Cooker.  The Emergence of Advertising in America, 1850-1920., American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/eaa:@field(DOCID+@lit(CK0019))

 

Electric Appliances

  1. Book of Recipes: Recipes Instructions for Hotpoint Electric Ranges.  The Emergence of Advertising in America, 1850-1920, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/eaa:@field(DOCID+@lit(CK0040))
  2. Electric refrigerator recipes and Menus.  The Emergence of Advertising in America, 1850-1920, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/eaa:@field(DOCID+@lit(CK0038))
  3. Frigidaire Recipes.  The Emergence of Advertising in America, 1850-1920, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/eaa:@field(DOCID+@lit(CK0039))

 

Small Electric Appliances

Tabletop Cookery the Armstrong Way.  The Emergence of Advertising in America, 1850-1920, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/eaa:@field(DOCID+@lit(CK0018))

 

Convenience foods

From Soup to Dessert with Minute Tapioca.  The Emergence of Advertising in America, 1850-1920, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/eaa:@field(DOCID+@lit(CK0054))

 

Leisure time: Picnic recipes

  1. Picnic Time Cookbook.  The Emergence of Advertising in America, 1850-1920, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/eaa:@field(DOCID+@lit(CK0066))
  2. The Motorists Luncheon Book and One Hundred and one Picnic Suggestions. On the Road.  Exhibitions:  American Treasures of the Library of Congress - http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trr118.html

 

Cooking with Less:  War and Necessity

 

  1. Directions for Using Army Flour.  Bushwick  Mills. 1858, An American Time Capsule:  Three Centuries of Broadsides and Printed Ephemera, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/rbpebib:@field(NUMBER+@band(rbpe+2330250a)):
  2. The Patriotic Food Show. 1918.  Photographs from the Chicago Daily News, 1902-1933, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/cdn:@field(NUMBER+@band(ichicdn+n069614))
  3. Your Sugar Ration is Two Pounds Per Month.  Poster, 1917.  Prints & Photographs Division.
  4. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?pp/ils:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3g09564))+@field(COLLID+pos))
  5. Food is Ammunition: Don’t Waste It.  Poster.  US Food Administration, 1918.  Prints & Photographs Division - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?pp/ils:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3a22134))+@field(COLLID+pos))
  6. War-Time Cook and Health Book.  Lydia Pinkham.   Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/eaa:@field(DOCID+@lit(CK0075))
  7. Best Wartime Recipes. U.S. Food Administration/ Royal Baking Powder, 1917.  Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/eaa:@field(DOCID+@lit(CK0068))
  8. Woman’s Part in Winning the War!  Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/eaa:@field(DOCID+@lit(A0487))
  9. Food Will Win the War. U.S. Office of War Information, 1942.  America from the Great Depression to World War II.  Black-and-White Photographs from the FSA-OWI 1935-1945, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8e04814))+@field(COLLID+fsa))
  10. Wartime Food Demonstration, Alexandria, VA.  U.S. Office of  War Information, 1943.  America from the Great Depression to World War II.  Black-and-White Photographs from the FSA-OWI 1935-1945, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8b06233))+@field(COLLID+fsa))
  11. Women at War.  U.S. Office for Emergency Management, 1942.  America from the Great Depression to World War II.  Black-and-White Photographs from the FSA-OWI 1935-1945, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8b02445))
  12. Your Wartime Duty: Don’t Waste Water. N.Y. City Dept. of Water Supply,  ca. 1942.  By the People, For the People: Posters From the WPA, 1936-1943, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/wpapos:@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3f05374))

 

Festivals and Celebrations

 

  1. Ramp Suppers, Biodiversity and the Integrity of “The Mountains”.  Tending the Commons: Folklife and Landscape in Southern West Virginia, American Memory -  http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/tending/essay4a.html
  2. Cutting Cakes. Dinner of All Day Community Sing. 1940 Pie Town, New Mexico.  America from the Great Depression to WWII.  FSA-OWI 1935-1945, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8a28834))
  3. Jello: America’s Most Famous Dessert (ca. 1910). The Emergence of Advertising in America, 1850-1920, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/eaa:@field(DOCID+@lit(CK0029))
  4. Selected Recipes and Menus for Parties, Holidays and Special Occasions (ca. 1920s). The Emergence of Advertising in America, 1850-1920, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/eaa:@field(DOCID+@lit(CK0045))
  5. Tamalada (Making Tamales).  Carmen Lomas Garza, 1990.  Exhibitions:  American Treasures of the Library of Congress - http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/tri176.html
  6. A Preacher Tries Farming, Or Why I Don’t Like Sorghum or Onions. . (A Thanksgiving Story) By George (Dad) Strester.   American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project 1936-1940, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/wpa:@field(DOCID+@lit(wpa117120408))
  7. The Frontier Holiday: Being a Collection of Writings by Minnesota Pioneers Who Recorded Their Diverse Ways of Observing Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Year’s.  Pioneering the Upper Midwest.  1852, American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/lhbumbib:@field(NUMBER+@band(lhbum+48053))

 

Related Resources

 

America Eats, Exhibitions:  American Treasures of the Library of Congress - http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/tri098.html

Food History Tracer Bullet, Science & Technology Reference Services - http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/tracer-bullets/foodhistorytb.html

http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/immig/ckbk/index.html

The Great American Potluck, Learning Page:  Features:  Immigration, Library of Congress

The History of Household Technology with Constance Carter, Journeys and Crossings - http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/journey/household.html

Webcasts - http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/events/events.html#cybercasts

·        Joan Nathan , Nov. 6, 2006 – The New American Cooking

·        Barbara Haber, Aug. 11, 2006 - Women's History and Food History: New Ways of Seeing American Life.

·        Steven Raichlen, June 24, 2005  - Barbeque – a History of the World’s Oldest Culinary Art

·        Laura  Schenone, April 20, 2005 - A Thousand Years over a Hot Stove.