Women's History Month 2019: Community Cookbooks as City Directories

I've said it over and over again. Community cookbooks are city directories of women. So it makes sense that we spend some time looking at them. 

I know, I know, you might be tired of me talking about food. But I promise you that food history is family history and cookbooks provide genealogically relevant sources.

photo credit: Gary W Clark, PhotoTree.com

Community cookbooks (also known as charity, church or fundraising cookbooks) have been published by churches, schools, benevolent groups, membership organizations, social movements and others since the time of the American Civil War. Generally, these cookbooks were seen as a way women could raise funds for important causes. 

Although not typically thought of as a genealogical  source, these cookbooks serve as a resource to place a woman in a particular locality in time. Increasingly, historians are recognizing the value these cookbooks bring to understanding the lives of women. 

Cookbook expert Janice Bluestein Longone says of these books, “They also record historical, philosophical and religious aspects of their compilers, and thus, of their country.”  

These cookbooks serve as a “city directory of women” but also give us a look at the food history of a community.

From the collection of Gena Philibert-Ortega

From the collection of Gena Philibert-Ortega

When we think of community cookbooks as historical or genealogical sources, we should look at what information they offer the researcher:

• Verification of location and time period
• History
• Community services (ads for products, stores, service providers)
• Names
• Affiliations (church, volunteer organization, etc.)
• Possible ethnic origins
• Regional foods 
• Possible familial relationships

Community cookbooks serve the same purpose as any names list used in genealogy, such as a census or city directory; they provide a list of names that document where a person was at a specific point in their life. Unlike “regular” cookbooks, community cookbooks provide us more than just recipes, they provide us with a directory of women that includes their neighbors, friends, family and those in their specific community. Their inclusion in a community cookbook and its affiliation tells us what those women held as being important, what they belonged to, and what their values were.