COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY STATEMENT

Subject: COOKERY COLLECTION in SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Written by: Peter Berg

Date: April 4, 2002

I. PURPOSE OR SCOPE OF COLLECTION

A. Curricular/Research/Programmatic Needs

The Cookery Collection supports the information, instruction, and research

needs of the MSU faculty, staff, students, as well as visitors. The

collection serves numerous University departments, colleges, and programs

whose students and faculty pursue interests in food, foodways, nutrition,

hospitality, history, agriculture, and literacy.

B. History of the Collection

The collection holds over 7,000 cookbooks spanning seven centuries from

throughout the world. The earliest printed cookbook is a 1541 Apicius. The

strength of the collection is 18th and 19th century British cookery and

American cookery thanks to two outstanding donations over 25 years ago from

Mary Ross Reynolds and Beatrice Grant, both former Home Economic professors

at MSU. In the past quarter century collecting had focused on acquiring

cookbooks to bolster these strenghts, but within the past several years

collecting interests have expanded thanks to the Beatrice Grant Cookery

Endowment and a desire to highlight diverse and/or under represented

cuisines from the United States and the world. Special attention will be

given to African American cookery, Jewish cookery, African cookery, and

regions in the Americas influenced and involved in the African slave trade.

In addition, many community/charitable cookbooks representative of the vast

ethnic influences on American cuisine have been acquired from throughout the

country with special emphasis on the Great Lakes region. Cookery ephemera

from the late 19th century to the present, important scholarly serials,

along with menus will also be collected.

II. FACTORS INFLUENCING COLLECTING POLICY

A. Anticipated Future Trends

Cookbooks reflect a growing interest in cuisine and food that is sweeping

the entire world today. Thousands of cookbooks are being published every

year and it would be impossible to acquire and make available all of them.

Collecting boundaries must be set and obeyed, yet flexible enough to

include new developments as they may arise. Established collecting areas

today in the Cookery Collection would have been almost unimaginable 25 years

ago, and in some cases even five years ago. Traditional areas of strength in

the collection remain vibrant thanks to donations and key acquisitions, but

new, diverse areas of cookbook collecting have recently been emphasized as

they relate to areas of interest at MSU. This will continue, especially as

areas of "undercollected" cookery is identified.

B. Relationship with Other Resources

Cookbooks and related material exist in the Main Library and the Gast

Business Library. It is important that these collections exist primarily to

support Hospitality students. Occasionally cookery books have been

transferred to SPC from the Main if they are judged to be important, rare,

or in fields of interest. In the winter of 2002, for example, 15 Africana

cookbooks were transferred to Special Collections as a result of new

collecting guidelines.

The region has a number of fine culinary/cookbook/gastronomy collections.

Most notably the Clements Library, the Lilly Library, and the University of

Iowa all have distinguished, named collections. Generally these collections

collect pre 1945 cookbooks and appear to focus on traditional cookery in the

United States and Europe. Currently no formal cooperative collecting

policies exist with these collections. It is important, however, to keep

informed about the other important regional cookery collections to reduce

the possibility of frequent collection duplication. This has occurred

between the Clements and MSU with positive results.

C. Relationships to resources treated in other MSU policy statements

Human ecology

Agriculture

Food science/nutrition

Business/School of Hospitality

Africana

Mexico, Latin, and South America

III. ANALYSIS OF SUBJECT FIELD

A. Chronology with Emphasis/Restrictions

Collection spans seven centuries with cookbooks from throughout the world

representing practically every cuisine.

B. Languages

All languages, but primarily English.

C. Geography

Primarily United States, Caribbean, Latin and South America, and Africa.

D. Format of Resources

Up to this point primarily printed material, but in the future will also

collect audio-visual materials (videos/photographs/DVDs dealing with food

and drink and their social and cultural implications) if relevant.

E. Date of Publication of Resources Collected

Since 1541, but henceforth collecting emphasis will be primarily 1945-, with

some exception depending on importance of individual cookbook to the

collection.

IV. LEVELS OF COLLECTING INTENSITY

A. Active, individual collections

1.American cookery

Collecting will continue in American cookery fields from the 19th century to

the present. Retrospective American cookbooks and cookery related material

will be added primarily through donation with the exception of the following

areas of collecting intensity:

African American cookery: collect through donation and/or acquisition all

available African American cookbooks past and present. This will include

purchases from antiquarian vendors, Internet vendors, and bookstores. High

intensity.

Jewish and Kosher cookery: collect through donation and/or acquisition all

available Jewish and Kosher cookbooks. Emphasis on English language

cookbooks. High intensity.

Community/charity cookbooks: collect through donation/acquisition community

cookbooks with emphasis on Great Lakes regional cookbooks. Continue Michigan

Cookbook Project to collect all Michigan related community cookbooks. High

intensity.

Award winning/celebrity chefs cookbooks: collect through

donation/acquisition with emphasis on current publications. Medium

intensity.

American ethnic cookbooks: collect through donation/acquisition important

American ethnic cookbooks past and current. Medium intensity.

Unusual/celebrity cookbooks: collect through donation/acquisition unusual

cookbooks (e.g. White Trash Cookbook) and celebrity cookbooks (e.g. Pee Wee

Herman) that represent the merging of food and American popular culture.

Medium intensity.

2. African cookbooks: collect through donation/acquisition cookbooks and

cookery related material primarily from African regions linked to the

diasporas of the Americas (countries in West and Central Africa involved in

the Atlantic slave trade) as well as areas such as the Horn, Southern

Africa, etc. and other African diasporas. High intensity

3. Caribbean cookbooks: collect through donation and acquisition cookbooks

and cookery related material influenced by African diaspora. High intensity

4. Latin and South American cookbooks: collect through donation/acquisition

cookbooks and cookery related material from countries influenced by African

diaspora (Brazil, Venezuela, etc.) High intensity.

5. English and international cookbooks: collect through donation cookbooks

from throughout the world and acquire important international cookbooks.

Collecting of 18th and 19th century English cookbooks will be minimal unless

donated. Low intensity.

6. Menus: collect through donation restaurant menus. Low intensity.

7. Cookery ephmera: collect through donation cooking ephemera. Low

intensity.

8. Serials: collect scholarly serials devoted to food, food history, and

food culture (e.g. Petits Propos Culinaires, Food History, Gastronomica). High intensity.

V. Collection Management Issues

Specific policies, if any, on replacement, deselection, out of print

acquisitions, preservation, etc.

Although there are exceptions, most cookbooks were and continued to be

inexpensively produced, intended to be widely dispersed, easily acquired,

and used for generations in the kitchens. This raises serious presrvation

issues, including highly acidic paper, poor bindings, and food stains.

Attention for protection and preservation must be given to many cookbooks in

the collection on a case by case basis. Action includes the use of mylar

covers, acid free envelopes, boxes, and complete, expert conservation if the

item is deemed important.

Some duplicates are in the collection, but after review to keep the better

copy, most should be withdrawn and made available for sale or donation on a

continuing basis.