The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Website With Extensive Collection Of Accessible Early American Cookbooks

baltochef's picture
baltochef

Website With Extensive Collection Of Accessible Early American Cookbooks

In an ongoing effort to try and track down the origin of my grandmother's Devil's Food cake recipe I stumbled across the following website..It is a partnership between Michigan State University and the MSU Museum titled, Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project..The cookbooks are available to be viewed several ways, including pdf's..The cookbooks encompass the late 18th Century through the early 20th Century..I found the cookbooks, and the recipes in them to be fascinating..

I like old cookbooks, especially regional ones..My earliest cookbooks are listed below..All but the last one pre-date my graduating high school, and are:

a 1931 copy of The Boston Cooking School Cookbook by Fannie Merritt Farmer

a 1946 copy of The Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer

a 1947 copy of Bon Appetit- The St. Louis Cookbook by Isabel B. Martin

a 1949 copy of Out of Kentucky Kitchens by Marion Flexner

a 1953 copy of Oh, for a French Wife! by Ted Moloney and Deke Coleman

a 1954 copy of Peter Hunt's Cape Cod Cookbook by Peter Hunt

a 1955 copy of Old-Time Meatless Recipes, Menus, and Kitchen Antiques by Katharine Morris McClinton

a 1956 copy of The Step-by-Step Cookbook for Girls and Boys by Julia Kiene

a 1961 copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume One by Julia Child

a 1961 copy of The Art of Dutch Cooking, or How the Dutch Treat by C. Countess van Limburg Stirum

a 1962 copy of The Country Flavor Cookbook by Hayden S. Pearson

a 1963 paperback copy of The Woman's Day Book of Salads by Joseph Piazza (Editor) and Hyla O'Connor (Food Editor)

a 1966 paperback copy of The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook by Gloria Bley Miller

a 1970 paperback copy of The Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown

a 1971 copy of Bull Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes and Practices by George Leonard Herter and Berthe E. Herter

a 1971 copy of Playboy's Host & Bar Book by Thomas Mario

a 1977 paperback edition of The Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis..

In addition I have at least 75 paperback pamphlet-style cookbooks from the 1950's, the 1960's, and 1970's..

I thought others here at TFL might find these cookbooks as interesting as I did..I definitely want to own several of the cookbooks contained in the MSU collection if finances ever allow such acquisitions..

http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/cookbooks/index.html

Bruce

Paddyscake's picture
Paddyscake

Thanks for sharing. I have bookmarked for lots of hours or reading. Cookbooks are great resource of regional history and customs. I have one cookbook that I got over 30 years ago with recipes for bison, bear, dove pie (ewww) and chukar which were quite exotic for a small town girl in New England. Of course, I'm sure some of you grew up with those types of meat being commonplace. And hey, bison is now the other red meat.

Betty

niagaragirl's picture
niagaragirl (not verified)

I DL'd the Jewish cookbook as I need some education there. Thanks a bunch! I had run across this site before, but failed to mark it.

xaipete's picture
xaipete (not verified)

This site will be a great electronic resource. Thanks for posting it.

--Pamela

Judon's picture
Judon

thanks for sharing this site with us...Judy