Historic Cookbooks
One of my talks, "Cooking by the Book," features a number of historical cookbooks, many of which are unknown to modern readers and cooks. I've decided to share a few select favorites here. All of the below links go directly to the full text of the original.
- American Cookery by Amelia Simmons (1798)
- A Treatise on the Adulteration of Food by Frederick Accum (1820)
- The Virginia House-Wife; or The Methodical Cook by Mary Randolph (1824)
- American Frugal Housewife by Lydia Maria Child (1829, 1832, 1838)
- The Kentucky Housewife by Lettice Bryan (1839)
- The Good Housekeeper by Sarah Josepha Hale (1839)
- Miss Beecher's Domestic Receipt Book by Catharine Beecher (1842)
- The New England Economical Housekeeper and Family Receipt Book by Esther Howland (1845)
- House and Home; Or, The Carolina Housewife by Sarah Rutledge (1847, 1855)
- The Great Western Table Book; or, Table Receipts, Adapted to Western Housewifery by Anna Maria Collins (1851)
- The Appledore Cookbook by Maria Parloa (1872, 1881)
- Camp Cookery: How to Live In Camp by Maria Parloa (1878)
- Miss Parloa's New Cook Book by Maria Parloa (1882)
- Mrs. Lincoln's Boston cook book : what to do and what not to do in cooking by Mary J. Lincoln (1884)
- New salads for dinners, luncheons, suppers and receptions by Sarah Tyson Rorer (1897)
- Mrs. Rorer's new cook book : a manual of housekeeping by Sarah Tyson Rorer (1902)
- The Boston Cooking School Cook-Book by Fannie Merritt Farmer (1896)
- more to come!
Cookbook Libraries, Archives, and Other Holding Institutions
The following digital archives and repositories are presented in no particular order:
Cookbook collection, Chapin Library, Williams College. Read the intro to the collection.
Manuscript Cookbooks Survey
Szathmary Culinary Manuscripts and Cookbooks, University of Iowa Library
Szathmary Recipe Pamphlet Digital Collection, University of Iowa Library.
Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920, Duke University Libraries
- - - Nicole Di Bona Peterson Collection of Advertising Cookbooks, Duke University Library
Doris S. Kirschner Cookbook Collection, University of Minnesota
Service Through Sponge Cake, a collaboration between University of Indiana Library and Indianapolis Public Library
Historical Cookbooks, Texas Tech University Library
HISTORY OF FOOD & DRINK COLLECTION RARE BOOKS & PUBLICATIONS, Virginia Tech
Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project, Michigan State University Library
What America Ate: Preserving America's Culinary History from the Great Depression
Cookbook collection, Chapin Library, Williams College. Read the intro to the collection.
Manuscript Cookbooks Survey
Szathmary Culinary Manuscripts and Cookbooks, University of Iowa Library
Szathmary Recipe Pamphlet Digital Collection, University of Iowa Library.
Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920, Duke University Libraries
- - - Nicole Di Bona Peterson Collection of Advertising Cookbooks, Duke University Library
Doris S. Kirschner Cookbook Collection, University of Minnesota
Service Through Sponge Cake, a collaboration between University of Indiana Library and Indianapolis Public Library
Historical Cookbooks, Texas Tech University Library
HISTORY OF FOOD & DRINK COLLECTION RARE BOOKS & PUBLICATIONS, Virginia Tech
Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project, Michigan State University Library
What America Ate: Preserving America's Culinary History from the Great Depression