RARE.2024.0059: Purchased, 2024 June
[identification of item], Handwritten Cookbook Belonging to Lucy Clare Clifford of Clarksburg, West Virginia, SPEC.RARE.MMS.0390, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, Ohio State University
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Processed by: Allison McPherson, 2024 September; Finding Aid Written by: Allison McPherson, 2024 September
Cookbooks are collections of recipes and information about the preparation of ingredients for specific dishes. Recipes date back to the Yale Tablets written in 1700 BC from ancient Mesopotamia for a meat stew. The first English cookbooks were intended for use only by the nobility until literacy became more common among the public in the 17th century. Availability of access to printed materials with the invention of the printing press and increased mass printing allowed cookbooks to become available to the public. Eliza Acton created Modern Cookery for Private Families which was the first cookbook aimed at home cooks and was the first time a cookbook included instructions for the ingredients and quantities required for each recipe.
Lucy Clare Clifford was born in 1887 in Clarksburg, West Virginia, and continued to reside in the area until at least 1912. Clifford compiled at least some of this cookbook while residing in Clarksburg. The city of Clarksburg is located in the Appalachian region of the United States. Clifford's cookbook has recipes that include ingredients native to this region such as golden delicious apples, black walnuts, and molasses made from harvested sugarcane.
The Handwritten Cookbook Belonging to Lucy Clare Clifford of Clarksburg, West Virginia contains a collection of recipes categorized by candies, cakes, and breads. There are regional desserts and sweet recipes using Appalachian ingredients including “Walnut Creams” and “Soft Molasses Gingerbread." There is a singular savory recipe for “Mawmaw Bond Baked Beans” on the final notebook page. Some recipes within the collection are attributed to other individuals (such as Emma Maxwell, notated on page 50), and other established cookbooks (such as Century Cookbook, seen on page 22). Not all recipes have a name or other source of origin attributed to them. The majority of the notebook contains blank pages and includes two recipe clippings that had been adhered to the notebook pages, and six loose recipes inserted inside the notebook. This cookbook dates from 1908-1933.