When you think about cookbooks, you might picture well-loved family recipes or dog-eared pages passed down through generations. The recipes may spark a sense of nostalgia and comfort, connecting us to our memories and the history they represent. But have you ever considered how cookbooks play a part in the culture and world we live in?
With the amount of history in one cookbook, imagine what you’d discover in a collection. The Rare Books & Manuscripts Library (RBML) recently received a donation of nearly 100 rare, unique and commonly known cookbooks, significantly expanding available materials and providing new opportunities for research. The generous donation was gifted to RBML by Hannibal Hamlin, Professor of English at The Ohio State University, in honor of his late wife, Cori Martin.
“I wanted to do something meaningful in Cori's memory, and around the time I was thinking about what to do with all her cookbooks I heard about The Ohio State University Library's developing cookbook collection, as well as the exhibition...The synergy seemed perfect,” Hannibal said.
The donation from Hannibal increased University Libraries’ range in material including early 20th "Economical Cooking" (1912) to recent works like "Modernist Cuisine at Home" (2012) and titles that may be more familiar like "Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book" (1956). Among the most remarkable items in the donation are two first-edition copies of "New American Cookery" an extraordinarily rare work that followed what’s considered to be the first American cookbook ever published, "American Cookery."
"New American Cookery" holds a great deal of importance to the history of American cooking and food, as well as clues to past culture, traditions and social history. Because of its rarity, "New American Cookery" has received limited scholarly exploration. Having two physical copies at RMBL presents a valuable opportunity for new research and information sharing.
The copies of "New American Cookery" came from Hannibal’s family, though he credits Cori as the one who noticed their importance and preserved them. One copy is marked as belonging to Ellen Vesta (Emery) Hamlin, the second wife of Hannibal’s great-great-great grandfather, Hannibal Hamlin, Abraham Lincoln's first Vice President.
The history of the second copy is uncertain, but Hannibal believes it came from his mother’s side of the family. His grandmother was an herbalist, and his great-grandmother was the president of the Herb Society of America. “The cookbook may have come from an even earlier kitchen. Neither Cori nor I knew how rare these books were, and I’m sure no one else in the family did,” Hannibal said.
Gifts like Hamlin’s play a transformative role in the way our students and researchers learn. By preserving and caring for these materials over the years, Hamlin and Cori have empowered discovery, nurtured creativity and promoted knowledge sharing for generations to come.
Jolie Braun, Associate Professor and Curator of Modern Literature and Manuscripts at Ohio State says, “I think donors want to know not just that their collections will be well cared for, but that they’ll be used.” And that’s exactly what we’re doing at Ohio State. RBML actively teaches with materials, and the cookbooks are frequently used in instructional sessions.
In the classroom and in the field of research, Cori’s passion and legacy will continue to live on and make an impact. “She always felt that food history was an essential and important part of history as a whole, and if her cookbook collection can help scholars and students confirm and establish that view, I know she would have been pleased,” says Hannibal.
Cookbooks were part of Cori’s life very early on. Growing up in a Mennonite family on a farm near Listowel, Ontario, she was surrounded by distinctive and unusual food experiences which included the regular use of "The Mennonite Community Cookbook." Now in its 65th edition, it was first published in 1950 by Mary Emma Showalter who founded the Home Economics Department at Eastern Mennonite University. The cookbook is widely used and cherished amongst Mennonite families, serving as a practical guide to traditional cooking and as a reflection of Mennonite cultural heritage.
As an avid reader of cookbooks, Cori was passionate about food history and spent a lot of time at home and abroad exploring and enjoying foods of all kinds. When cooking at home, Cori prided herself on being a practical cook. Hannibal recalls, “She valued what famed chef Jacques Pépin called, ‘Cuisine d'opportunité.’ In other words, what you can whip up with what’s in the fridge and cupboard. I suspect, actually, that’s a sign she was a real cook.”
Hannibal shared, “For me, the collection is special because it reflects some of the passion of the woman I loved for almost 40 years. That it has found a permanent home in the library of the university at which I've taught for 25 years is especially meaningful.”
Explore some of RBML’s cookbooks in person by viewing their recent exhibit, Essential Ingredients: Cookbooks as History, while on display at the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio from September 27, 2025 - January 4, 2026. The digital exhibit is available online.
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