Kenneth Spencer Research Library

This is the first in a short series of posts highlighting students’ projects from Laura Mielke’s Spring 2025 class, “Archives in Scholarship” (ENGL 776). This week’s post was written by Joohye Oh, who graduated from KU in 2025 with a B.A. in English and Spanish. Her research interests include foodways and literacy.

Cookbooks – especially historic ones – are fascinating texts. Unlike 21st-century cookbooks that feature pictures of recipes, touching or interesting narrative asides, and use of less commonly found ingredients, older American cookbooks prioritize presenting readers and users with a no-frills approach to cooking. These cookbooks tend to be text-heavy and use ingredients more likely found in a pantry than a gourmet grocer. A wonderful example of an intriguing historical cookbook is the Fin-de-Siècle Cook Book, published in 1894, which showcases a slice of late 19th-century American foodways and the culinary literacy of the organized and ambitious women of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Parsons, Kansas. (“Fin de siècle” is a French term meaning “end of century.”)

         

Left: The protective red board cover for the Fin-de-Siècle Cook Book, which is a library-created pamphlet binding. Right: The cookbook’s original cover, slightly deteriorating, with the full title. Call Number: RH B2788. Click images to enlarge.

The Fin-de-Siècle Cook Book consists of two sections. First, there are 58 printed pages that include tipped-in clippings from magazines. Second, in the back, there are 11 pages of faintly lined paper that Whitney Baker, Head of Conservation Services at KU Libraries, believes were bound with the original publication and printed section. Someone, presumably a woman, filled with the blank lined pages with handwritten recipes that she selected and compiled. Instead of being completely different from the printed section, I see the handwritten section as extending the themes of women’s authorship and community while offering contemporary researchers a closer look at earlier American foodways in relation to the genre of the cookbook and literacy practices.

Women’s authorship is especially central to this object. Writing this cookbook arguably opened up new avenues for authorship and empowerment for the Parsons women, like the way literary clubs did for middle-class Black women in the 1890s, as African American literature and literary studies scholar Elizabeth McHenry shows (120). Additionally, the place of authorship for both groups reflects the importance of a shared community space: a church for the Parsons women and a literary club member’s home for the Black women. One can imagine how these women – positioned as authors – selected, arranged, edited, and published these recipes (texts). This model of authorship furthers the legacy of women as authors in the cookbook genre. In fact, several of the earliest known American cookbooks – like The Virginia Housewife by Mary Randolph (1824), a text that showcases the elaborate culinary repertoire of the Southern elite (Fisher 19) – are powerful texts by knowledgeable women, two characteristics also found in the handwritten portion of the Fin-de-Siècle cookbook.

Community as an essential part of learning to read and write can also be inferred from the processes related to producing this text; in other words, these “[community] cookbooks function as literate practices of a community, sponsored by the community members who were themselves cooks, contributors, readers, organizers and editors” (Mastrangelo 73). Indeed, physical traces of this can be seen via each recipe’s attribution to a specific woman as well as the broader fact that the women in Parsons were using their social and technical skills to engage in readerly and writerly practices tied to their growing culinary literacy. To write a cohesive cookbook, they would have had to learn the characteristics of the cookbook genre as well as its subgenres like recipes and instructions. The clear grasp of these characteristics and deft culinary knowledge is present in the neat organization of the cookbook and mirrored in the handwritten recipes which give specific unit measurements for ingredients and reflect a strong awareness of effective kitchen habits. The writer of the handwritten portion continues the practice of attributing specific recipes to specific women: for example, the “Tomatoes Pickles” recipe is attributed to Mrs. Dean while the “Coffee Cake” recipe, found a few pages later, is attributed to “Annie.”

The diversity of recipes in the second (handwritten) section hints at the importance of homemade food in the 19th century. Specifically, as someone whose culinary practices are greatly influenced by 21st-century food systems (easy availability of ingredients, prepared foods, and new food media) it is a little surprising at times to see recipes like “Good Tomato Catsup” and the instructions for mayonnaise/aioli in a “Salad” because these are two products I associate more closely with Heinz and Hellman’s. The appearance of these two condiments seems to reflect the different food practices for a woman and her household in Parsons before the advent of supermarkets and easy availability of industrial food items.

Together, the first and second parts of the Fin-de-Siècle Cook Book offer a small glimpse into the complex and vibrant American foodways of the late 19th century and their broader historical and cultural contexts. The handwritten recipes carefully capture the specialized knowledge, skills, and dedication that the woman compiler most likely possessed while also reinforcing the idea that community and gendered authorship exist in a text often overlooked as simply being a collection of memories or a collection of delightful eating. Cookbooks and recipes, just like the small handwritten portion at the back of the Fin-de-Siècle Cook Book, are masterful representations of how literacy exists in the spaces and places sometimes overlooked because of who we consider to be authors and what we consider to be literature – even if that literature is mostly pickled green tomatoes recipes.

Joohye Oh
ENGL 776 student, Spring 2025

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Elspeth Healey, Phil Cunningham, Caitlin Klepper, Whitney Baker, and Shelby Schellenger at Spencer Research Library; English 776 peers; Professor Laura Mielke; and the ladies of Parsons who compiled this cookbook.

Works Cited

Baker, Whitney. “Re: Parsons cookbook.” Email received by Joohye Oh and Caitlin Klepper, 24 April 2025.

Fisher, Carol. The American Cookbook: A History. McFarland, 2006 (Call Number: X715 .F534 2006).

Mastrangelo, Lisa. “Community Cookbooks: Sponsors of Literacy and Community Identity.” Community Literacy Journal, vol. 10, no. 1, 2015, pp. 73–86.

McHenry, Elizabeth. Forgotten Readers: Recovering the Lost History of African American Literary Societies. Duke University Press, 2002 (Call Number: PS153.N5 M36 2002).

St. John’s Episcopal Church. Fin-de-Siècle Cook Book. Parsons, Kansas, 1894 (Call Number: RH B2788).

Check the blog each Friday for a new “That’s Distinctive!” post. I created this series to provide a lighthearted glimpse into the diverse and unique items at Spencer. “That’s Distinctive!” is meant to show that the library has something for everyone regardless of interest. If you have suggested topics for a future item feature or questions about the collections, you can leave a comment at the bottom of this page. All collections, including those highlighted on the blog, are available for members of the public to explore in the Reading Room during regular hours.

This week on That’s Distinctive! I am sharing an item from our Wilcox Collection, which is one of the largest assemblages of U.S. left- and right-wing political literature in the country. Since it was established in 1965, the Wilcox Collection has grown to include coverage of more than 10,000 individuals and organizations. The collection covers a wide array of topics including women’s rights. Most of the materials date from 1960 to the present.

The item shared today is a book titled 101 Wonderful Ways to Celebrate Women’s History. Written by Bonnie Eisenberg and Mary Ruthsdotter, the book (which is also referred to as a guide) was published in 1986 by the National Women’s History Project. It offers many different ideas on ways to celebrate women’s history. Shown today are some of the ideas presented for potential school programs. The guide notes that the activities within the section were “developed and recommended by classroom teachers around the country.” Other sections within the guide include school-community programs, as well as community programs. Some program ideas include designing women’s history posters, writing short public service announcements, and exhibiting books and works written by women at libraries. The book also has a slew of appendices that offer a wealth of information surrounding women’s history.

One of the guide’s authors, Mary Ruthsdotter, was actually a founder of the National Women’s History Project in 1980. A couple of years earlier, several of the group’s founders organized a local Women’s History Week in Sonoma County, California. Inspired by their success, women’s groups around the country lobbied for the week of March 8th to be National Women’s History Week. Congress later voted to make the entire month of March National Women’s History Month. Mary Ruthsdotter worked as the National Women’s History Project director for twenty years. The organization, now known as the National Women’s History Alliance, is still around today. National Women’s History Month continues to be celebrated today to ensure important women who fought for our rights are not forgotten.

Tiffany McIntosh
Public Services

Check the blog each Friday for a new “That’s Distinctive!” post. I created the series because I genuinely believe there is something in our collections for everyone, whether you’re writing a paper or just want to have a look. “That’s Distinctive!” will provide a more lighthearted glimpse into the diverse and unique materials at Spencer – including items that many people may not realize the library holds. If you have suggested topics for a future item feature or questions about the collections, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this page.

This week on That’s Distinctive! I am sharing a sketchbook from the Papers of Lady Pauline Trevelyan. As noted in the finding aid, Lady Pauline Trevelyan (1816-1866) was a “writer, traveler, etcher, and painter of watercolors. She was also known as a naturalist and scientist.” Her collection here at the library holds mostly journals, notebooks, and sketchbooks. The collection consists of 69 volumes and one document case.

I actually first came across this collection when we had a researcher viewing it in the Reading Room. Otherwise, I am not sure I ever would have stumbled upon it. While I have not viewed the journals, the sketchbooks fascinated me because they are quite thin and all different sizes. Due to age, some of them are quite fragile. The sketchbook shared today is from Paris in 1863. This particular sketchbook is quite small (similar to a small spiral notepad) which makes the paintings that much more impressive.

To get a “taste” of Pauline Trevelyan’s journals, see the 2012 blog post “An Easter Pizza in Umbria, Italy in 1842” by former Special Collections Librarian Karen S. Cook.

Tiffany McIntosh
Public Services

Check the blog each Friday for a new “That’s Distinctive!” post. I created the series because I genuinely believe there is something in our collections for everyone, whether you’re writing a paper or just want to have a look. “That’s Distinctive!” will provide a more lighthearted glimpse into the diverse and unique materials at Spencer – including items that many people may not realize the library holds. If you have suggested topics for a future item feature or questions about the collections, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this page.

This week on That’s Distinctive! I am sharing some scans of the New Women’s Times, a feminist newspaper from Rochester, New York, circa 1975-1984. I found this item last year while looking for Women’s History Month items. While it didn’t make the cut in 2023, I knew I wanted to share it eventually because the idea behind this paper really interested me. My preliminary research has turned up limited information. The paper appears to have first been published in 1975, and it apparently ended in 1984 after a call for feedback and donations went unanswered. According to the paper itself, it was published on a monthly basis except in August. A basic one-year subscription was $15. The pages shared today are from issues from 1983. As seen from the table of contents, the paper covered topics including women’s health issues, women’s rights, and so much more.

The New Women’s Times is housed within the library’s Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements. Established in 1965, the collection “is one of the largest assemblages of U.S. left- and right-wing political literature in the country.” Primarily covering the 1960s to the present, the collection comprises of more than 100,000 items such as books, serials, audio tapes, ephemera, and archival materials. The Wilcox Collection came to the library by way of Laird Wilcox, a researcher of political fringe movements. According to the finding aid for Spencer’s collection of Wilcox’s papers, “in 1964, Wilcox’s collection of political ephemera earned first prize in KU’s student book collecting contest. Emerging from that nucleus, the Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements was established at the University of Kansas in 1965, with Wilcox as its founder.”

Many copies of the New Women’s Times are available online via JSTOR.

Tiffany McIntosh
Public Services

Check the blog each Friday for a new “That’s Distinctive!” post. I created the series because I genuinely believe there is something in our collections for everyone, whether you’re writing a paper or just want to have a look. “That’s Distinctive!” will provide a more lighthearted glimpse into the diverse and unique materials at Spencer – including items that many people may not realize the library holds. If you have suggested topics for a future item feature or questions about the collections, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this page.

This week on That’s Distinctive! we highlight a book from Special Collections titled Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction by Hallie Q. Brown. The book, published in 1926, highlights notable African American women of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by, in the words of a Google Books summary, telling the stories of “[enslaved people] and social workers, artists and activists, cake makers and homemakers.” In so doing, it offers “unusual insight into female networks, patterns of voluntary association, work, religion, family life, and Black women’s culture.” The book highlights many notable figures such as Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Dinah Cox, Matilda J. Dunbar, and Martha Payne (mother of Daniel Alexander Payne).

According to Britannica, author Hallie Q. Brown was an

“American educator and elocutionist who pioneered in the movement for African American women’s clubs in the United States. In 1893 Brown was a principal promoter of the organization of the Colored Woman’s League of Washington, D.C., which the next year joined other groups to form the National Association of Colored Women. In 1893 she was appointed professor of elocution at Wilberforce University, but her teaching duties were limited by her frequent and extensive lecture tours, notably in Europe in 1894–99. Her lectures on African American life in the United States and on temperance were especially popular in Great Britain, where she appeared twice before Queen Victoria. She was a speaker at the 1895 convention of the World’s Woman’s Christian Temperance Union in London and a representative of the United States at the International Congress of Women there in 1899. Browns other works include Bits and Odds: A Choice Selection of Recitations (1880) and First Lessons in Public Speaking (1920).”

Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction is a part of the Howey Collection within Special Collections at Spencer Research Library. The Howey Collection houses many books that originate from the Gerritsen Collection. Spencer’s copy of this volume originally came from the library of physician and women’s activist Aletta Jacobs (1854-1929) and her husband C. V. Gerritsen, who collected books, pamphlets, and other materials on women’s issues. Acquired by the John Crerar Library of Chicago in 1903, the Gerritsen collection was purchased with other Crerar Library materials by the University of Kansas in 1954. The collection was microfilmed and is now available digitally through subscription to libraries worldwide.

A digital copy of the book can be found at Documenting the American South, or the library’s physical copy can be viewed in the Reading Room, Monday through Friday between 10am and 4pm.

Tiffany McIntosh
Public Services