Exhibition About Early American Cookbooks

Exhibition About Early American Cookbooks

2010 Recipes for Life – Early American Cookbooks and the Women who wrote them Marie Johansen Info 669 Special Collections, Professor Reed 6/12/2010 CONTENTS Preface .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Label 1: ‘American Cookery’ ............................................................................................................................................... 6 Label 2: ‘The American Frugal Housewife’ ................................................................................................................... 8 Label 3: ‘The good housekeeper’ ..................................................................................................................................... 10 Label 4: ‘The ladies’ new book of cookery’ ................................................................................................................. 12 Label 5: ‘The American woman’s home’ ...................................................................................................................... 14 Label 6: ‘Common Sense in the Household’ ................................................................................................................ 17 Label 7: ‘The Practical Housekeeper’ ............................................................................................................................ 19 Label 8: ‘The Boston Cooking-School Cookbook’ ..................................................................................................... 22 Label 9: ‘The Cook’s Own Book’ ....................................................................................................................................... 25 Label 10: ‘The Virginia Housewife’ ................................................................................................................................. 27 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................................................ 30 American Cookbooks ...................................................................................................................................................... 30 Other Sources ..................................................................................................................................................................... 31 PREFACE The following paper contains an introductory essay, exhibition labels, and images of exhibition ob- jects – all for the exhibition ‘Recipes for life: Early American cookbooks and the Women who wrote them.’ An exhibition is, however, more than the objects displayed and the texts accompanying them, so I’d like to preface the paper with a brief outline of the exhibition I envision. - The cookbooks will be displayed in display cases along with the exhibition labels. They are not displayed chronologically, because I want the audience to make up their own mind as to what and how these books are related, so I do not want to forefront their temporal relation- ship. Moreover, there shouldn’t be a ‘right’ way of walking through the exhibition as would be suggested by the timeline of temporal ordering. - In addition to the original cookbooks, which will be in display cases, a facsimile will be made available for each of the exhibited books. By providing a facsimile of the book, the patrons will be able to turn pages, browse, and look at the text more closely and freely than if the books were only in display cases. - The exhibition includes a brochure, which is a pamphlet containing sample recipes and quotes of advice on how to be a good housewife from the exhibited books. - A three minute video narrating and illustrating how the industrialization of the printing business made the explosion in published women’s literature and magazines possible will be available on a screen with accompanying headsets. Overall, it is my hope that the audience will engage in three sorts of reflections from this exhibi- tion: first, an understanding of how the genre of the cookbook is a window into the way of life of the time and place for which it was written; second, a sense of the universe and way of life of the Early American household; and, third, that the audience will reflect on how the ideals and roles of that time is the background for the ideals and roles of the present. INTRODUCTION To study the cookbooks of a given geographical or historical location uncovers a wealth of detailed information about the way of life and the ideals of the way of life of the society in which the cook- books were published. Most obviously, the study of cookbooks can serve as a source of information about available foods and ways of preparing it, diet, the social setting of the meals, gender-roles, and women’s literacy. But cookbooks can also serve as sources for identifying trends and changes in society, and they can give insights into the values and ideals of a society – of what is proper and fit for the various social stations that the audiences of the cookbooks occupy. Cookbooks are almost never mere lists of recipes. Through the content chosen and presented by the author as well as the instructions provided by the authors they prescribe ideals for their audiences; ideals of social roles and duties and how these are best fulfilled. A cookbook is, in short, a view on the society it ad- dresses. And if we compare several cookbooks from the same time and place, we get many perspec- tives on a society. In this manner, cookbooks can provide a holographic image of a way of life. This exhibition is about printed 19th century American cookbooks, and how they promoted ideals for women and set standards for domestic life. Ten examples of women authors and their works are on display. These remarkable women span the century. Their books went through hun- dreds of editions and the authors reached millions of households through their books, articles, and cooking classes. Not only were they in their time recognized as authorities in all matters domestic, but they were also reformers and active in all the major social and cultural events of their day: ab- olition, women's rights, education, suffrage, social welfare, temperance, prison reform, poverty al- leviation, immigration, child welfare, health and nutrition, medical reforms, and contemporary reli- gious and moral questions. They shared a major concern for the role of women, for their duties and responsibilities, as well as their rights, and for ways their workload could be "improved" and eased. They were writers, poets, philosophers, educators, editors, and business women. Cookbooks were, of course, also published in America prior to the Independence. But these were always written by British authors and reflected the British experience and way of life more so than the emerging American identity. This exhibition will focus on cookbooks that are written by Americans, for an American audience, and published by American printers. Prior to independence there were a strong tradition of manuscript cookbooks, that is, cookbooks written in hand and shared in families and local communities, in the U.S., but there were no cookbooks produced for the wider, American audience till after the Declaration of Independence. It is the goal of this exhibition to zoom in on what the authors of cookbooks were seeking to communicate to their audience and how these cookbooks contributed to and engaged with 19th century Early American life. These ten books provide ten different and sometimes even conflicting views on what the life of the family and the role of women in society should be. In this manner, they provide us with an image of the Early American way of life. And, by providing a view of our recent past, also provide a resource for reflecting on the present. LABEL 1: ‘AMERICAN COOKERY’ 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 im- perial plum to plain cake: Adapted to this country, and all grades of life. By Amelia Simmons Hartford: Printed for Simeon Butler, Northampton, (1798) The importance of this work cannot be overestimated. Its publication (Hartford, 1796) was, in its own way, a second Declaration of American Independence. It was not the first cookbook printed in America, but it was the first written by an American for Americans. All earlier American cookery imprints were reprints from the Brit- ish repertoire. Not much is known of the author Amelia Simmons. She calls herself an ‘American orphan’ as a metaphor for the young American Republic that needs care and guidance. From a sociological standpoint this book is interesting, because it is the first attempt in the genre at defining an American identity. From a culinary standpoint the book is interesting, because it is the first to include recipes that use the foods that were available in America: corn, cranberries, turkey, squash and pota- FigureI. American 1: American Cookery. Cookery.Title page. Title page. toes, all uniquely indigenous to the New World. Simmons’ cookbook was quite popular and was printed, reprinted, and pirated for 30 years

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