If you are able to meet with family this Thanksgiving you can start by having everyone recall their favorite dish made by your grandmother or mother. See if anyone has any recipes.
Years ago, when I was home from grad school, I worked with my mother to copy her most memorable dishes (she would direct me to the specific cookbooks) and her recipe cards onto index cards. Now they would be scanned. Sadly, just ten years later I inherited her handwritten recipes. But I was able to use them for a family recipe book, photocoping the originals with pictures and memories.
My grandmother's written recipe and her picture with my mom as a baby is the bottom center page (photo). It is laying on a 1910 cookbook with a recipe for fudge written on a blank page by her mother (my greatgrand). To the right is one of the section dividers for the family cookbook, done by my sons in 2d and 3d grade (now 36 and 37).
Check out other places where recipes may be found - local newspaper, friends, community cookbooks. I was involved in several fundraiser cookbooks. Years ago I bought one done by our church during WWII (top right in photo), and was astonished to see two recipes by my paternal grandmother (who I had never seen cook).
So, you have compiled your family recipes, what's next? Scan or photograph and put online, or on word or publisher document. There are self publishing sites. Or just take to local printer to print and bind.
For smaller amount of recipes (~100, 68 pages max) you can make your own booklet with card stock cover. For years, I made them for a group of hearth cooks yearly gift exchange - pictured is one on Elizabeth Ellicott Lea, cookbook author, also one on Mrs. BC Howard and family. (and lemonade, pumpkins, Civil War bake ovens in the Capitol, and ...). Fast and easy with information, stories, biographies, images and don't forget the index.
Now to the talks ... with more ideas.
Whip Up a Family Cookbook. “tips on how to capture the stories, recipes, thoughts, and traditions” Maryellen Burns. ACC Senior Services. CA HERE Feb 2022 TAPE HERE
Family Heirloom Recipes and the Illinois State Fair. Catherine Lambrecht. Des Plaines History Center. May 2022 TAPE HERE
Stories from the Archives: Family Recipes. Judy Lucey. R. Stanton Avery Special Collections at American Ancestors. Dec 2022 TAPE HERE
Why We Cook: Women in the Kitchen. “share your experiences in the kitchen, your family traditions, heritage recipes…” Lindsay Gardner author of Why We Cook: Women on Food, Identity, and Connection. one hundred women restaurateurs, activists, food writers, home cooks, and professional chefs. Culinary Literacy Center. Free Library of Philadelphia. Dec 2021 HERE Why We Cook. TAPE HERE
ADDITIONAL FAMILY HISTORY TALKS NOT SPECIFYING RECIPES
Jan 20 Thu 2 Preserving the past for future generations. “the care of items and the different types of packing available. If you have specific items e.g. medals, coins, fabric, books etc. that you would like to know how to care for then please send that information via an Eventbrite email.” Lydia Stirling. Glamorgan Family History HERE UCLA/Getty Oct 2020 TAPE HERE
Women, Philanthropy, Recipes & Social Progress: Review of Primary Resources. Nicole Stocker, Nancy Webster, Catherine Lambrecht. Illinois History Conference at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Oct 2021 TAPE HERE
How to Progress from Inherited Research. American Ancestors. New Eng His. Genealogical Soc. Jan 13 2022 TAPE HERE
Matt Paxton with Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff: Declutter, Downsize, and Move Forward with Your Life. Feb 2022 TAPE HERE
Putting Family History On The Map. Research with landownership & survey maps. Leventhal Map Center in Boston Public Library TAPE HERE
Manuscript Cookbooks Survey HERE
Manuscripts: Medical and Cookbooks HERE
Manuscripts: Medieval, Renaissance HERE
CALENDAR OF VIRTUAL FOOD HISTORY TALKS HERE
THIS WEEK'S TALKS deleted
©2021 Patricia Bixler Reber
Researching Food History HOME
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