Purchased, 2010 Februrary
[identification of item], Handwritten Cookbook Likely from the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Area, SPEC.RARE.0047, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, Ohio State University
Materials in this collection are available for use, but may be used in the Thompson Library Special Collections reading room only.
Materials in this collection may be protected by copyright, and are made available for research and educational purposes. In general, the OSU Libraries do not own the copyright for materials from our collections and cannot grant copyright permissions for these materials. The user is responsible for making a final determination of copyright status. If copyright protection applies, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exceptions to the law. Works in the public domain are not protected by copyright and do not require permission to use.
Processed by: Beth Crowner, 2019 June; Finding aid written by: Beth Crowner, 2019 June
Recipes are a set of instructions for preparing a particular dish, including a list of the ingredients required. They have been written for many centuries for food dishes as well as cosmetics and medicinal cures, but the compilation of recipes into cookbooks and recipe books became popular in 17th century English homes when England’s literacy rate among women improved. Recipe books could be inherited from ancestors (and passed on to descendants) and individual recipes could be traded and borrowed to be copied down into one’s own personal notebook for use. Since books and paper were often expensive, a book or journal might be reused for multiple purposes, as long as blank pages remained. The modern recipe book format was established in 1845 by Elizabeth Acton and her book for domestic cooks called
The Handwritten Cookbook Likely from the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Area includes primarily handwritten recipes in a single hand by an unknown creator, as well as several printed recipes pasted in. Recipes are included for soups, eggs, sorbets and ices, cakes, puddings, desserts, salads, beef, fish, and vegetables. Terminology used by the cookbook's creator, as well as the inclusion of recipes utilizing ingredients accessible primarily in the Philadelphia area suggests this cookbook was written and used in that region of the country. Recipes included in this cookbook date circa 1890s-1930s.
This cookbook was created by reusing a volume previously used as a record of a Kansas City’s church minutes during June 1890-September 1891. The church minutes were recorded on the first 12 pages by H. E. Marshall, the secretary. When repurposed to a recipe book, printed recipes were partially pasted over the church minutes, though in some places portions of the minutes can still be read.