19th century American
In the 18th century and first decades of the 19th century,
American cookbooks were either British reprints or heavily-
fashioned to English tastes. The works of Mrs. Rundell, Hannah
Glasse, Frederick Nutt and Dr. William Kitchner, for example, are
well-represented in the collection. By the mid-19th century a
new cookery based on American tastes and food was promoted by
Lydia Child, Sarah Hale, Eliza Leslie, and Catherine Beecher.
Their books were enormously popular reaching literally millions
of American households with food recipes and admonitions to lead
clean, healthy, and well-ordered lives. In the late 19th century
American cookery continued to be popular with the work of the
Boston cooking school and its most famous pupil, Fannie Farmer.
The Cookery Collection's greatest strength is probably its 19th
century American holdings. All the major cookbook authors are
well-represented with their works in a number of different
editions.
Special Collections Division
Michigan State University Libraries
.