Berea College’s Special Collections and Archives has more than 500 historical, regional cookbooks housed in the Hutchins Library on campus.
With recipes like Emergency Cake from the 1922 Chestnut Street Christian Church Cook Book or a Very Plain Venison Pie from Miss Leslie’s New Cookery Book published in 1857, the collection is full of culinary history.
“It is fascinating to flip through old cookbooks that have been donated to the library, including titles from the Appalachian regions of Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee, to find variations of familiar recipes and unusual recipes as well,” said Tim Binkley, an assistant professor of library science who heads the Special Collections and Archives. “Some of these publications originated from civic clubs, churches and families.”
Most of the cookbooks were collected by Margaret Dotson, a retired professor who taught historic foodways at the college for many years. She used the cookbooks in her classes and, when she retired, decided to donate them so she could continue to enhance the education of students by making them available.
Binkley explained that the oldest cookbook in the collection dates to around 1750. For the next 100 years, the cookbooks were similar in style.
“They had directions that say, ‘use butter about the size of an egg’ or ‘bake in warm oven,’ with no specifics in measurements or temperatures,” he said. “In the late 1800s, the recipes become more standardized because by then, cooks wanted the dish to come out the same way each time.”
Binkley said that by the 1950s, cooking had become a marketing tool.
“Recipes began calling for name-brand ingredients, like a specific cornmeal or flour,” he said. “There also was a rise in pre-fab ingredients, such as calling for one can of Campbell’s soup.”
More than just a book about food prep, some of these the cookbooks contain insights into living at that time. They include tips on house cleaning and how to care for ill family members.
“These were more like recipes for life,” Binkley said.
Like all books in the Special Collections and Archives, the cookbooks are not available for circulation because they are rare, valuable or fragile, but they are available to the public to view on site. Those wishing to see the books can reserve space in a reading room.
For more information, call 859.985.3262 or visit libraryguides.berea.edu/archives.