The Cookbooks of Special Collections
It’s no secret that the usual reason for opening a cookbook is to find a recipe. However, cook-books—especially those created by churches and other municipal organizations—often contain much more than recipes; for example, in order to help fund the printing of a cookbook, organizations often sell advertising space in their publications. Often, they also use art from their contributors to denote what one can find on each page. Considering the number of cookbooks in Special Collections (115, to be precise), as well as the hundred-or-so years these cookbooks span, visitors to the ground floor of the library should expect to spend more than ten minutes looking for the perfect South Jersey recipe. In fact, they very well may find themselves distracted by the time warp created by the cookbooks’ advertisements and art. So, if you find yourself with a hankering for some old-fashioned South Jersey recipes, make Special Collections your first stop: this way, you’ll have the joy of sifting through quirky old advertisements and in some cases you will enjoy the hand-drawn art of neighbors and our South Jersey forbears.
Dandelion Recipe Book. Vineland: City of Vineland Graphics Office, The Mayor’s Special Events Committee, and Cumberland County Board of Freeholders, n.d.
Culinary Culture
Did you know there are recipes that call for dandelions as an ingredient? Or how about that Vineland is one of the largest distributors of dandelions in the nation? These are just two quirky insights that can be gained from the recipe book collection in Stockton’s Special Collections. These books not only represent South Jersey culture, with their numerous dandelion, cranberry, blueberry, and fish recipes, but also tell an interesting tale of publication trends.
The recipe books may not be leather bound with gilt pages, but what they lack in aesthetics they make up for in charm and utility. Of Stockton’s more than one hundred recipe books, a large number are locally produced works that helped fundraise for churches, volunteer firefighters, and auxiliaries. While these often lack the formality of mass-published books, they have a unique quality that speaks to South Jersey’s persona. Some of the recipe books are hand-written and copied. Others have hand-drawn steps, as well as depictions of ingredients. Not only did these recipe books help bolster budgets for local causes and groups, but they allow us to see individualized cookbooks in ways only small publications can portray.
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Cookbooks: Vessels of Local Art
Many of the cookbooks feature art on their pages to make them more pleasant and user-friendly—and it is, in some cases, actually quite good. Heavenly Morsels, for instance, a 1972 cookbook from St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, has a number of hand-drawn angels throughout, denoting its heavenliness, but it also uses drawings to help readers find what they’re looking for. For example, on the top of a page featuring a recipe for cheese pâté puffs, there is an image of cheese; on a recipe for corn pudding, there is a drawing of an ear of corn. On a recipe titled “Hong Kong Casserole,” there is even a stereotypical drawing of an Asian woman wearing a flowery robe and holding a paper fan. Let’s hope that she is not one of the ingredients. St. Mark’s Heavenly Morsels is just one of many cookbooks that use the art of its contributors to help readers find what they are looking for.
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Woman’s Auxiliary of the Hackensack Hospital. Time for Food. Hackensack, 1952.
Cookbooks: Advertisements as Points of Interest
Cook Book, a creatively titled collection from the Ladies’ Aid Society of Ventnor Community Church, is one of the oldest cookbooks in Special Collections, dating to 1927. Thus, its advertisements, nearly ninety years old, are an excellent sign of their times. For example, see the full-color advertisement for Royal Baking Powder, which reads, “Through five generations the advice to use Royal Baking Powder has been handed down from mother to daughter.” It seems odd—even uncomfortable—today to restrict the use of baking soda to women, as gender boundaries are more blurred today than they once were.
Another one of the older cookbooks, Time for Food, put out in 1952 by the Hackensack Hospital Women’s Auxiliary, features advertisements that are less interesting in their social commentary and more interesting in that they come from companies that are well-known today. For example, there is a small, typewriter-produced advertisement from Grand Union, the super-market, advertising self-service (a staple of grocery stores today) and low prices—still, of course, a bargain. The same page of this cook-book features a sloppily reproduced Pepsi-Cola logo as well. Looks like someone on the cookbook’s committee had been skipping his or her art lessons.
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St. Rose of Lima Church. . . . With a Dash of Love. Circulation Service Shawnee Mission, Kansas, 1981.
Unexpected Recipes
Imagine browsing through recipe books, searching for the next great lasagna and finding instructions on “How to Preserve Children,” which can be seen here. The recipe books found in Special Collections contain directions to prepare and serve delectable meals, appetizers, and desserts but they also contain witty homespun advice, remedies, and musings. Alongside dishes such as lasagna, clams casino, caesar salad, and caramels are many unusual recipes not found in everyday cookbooks. “Forgotten Cookies” is one example of an uncommon recipe. Batter is prepared and the oven is preheated to 350°. The oven is then turned off, and the cookies are placed inside to sit overnight. Having food sit for long periods of time is a theme throughout these recipe books. The recipe for “Bran Muffins” instructs the cook to make the batter for the muffins, but then let it sit in the fridge for six weeks prior to baking. These books do not only contain recipes for food, they also include recipes for home remedies. “Uncle George Caldwell’s Turpentine Ointment” requires mutton or lamb fat, lard, gum camphor, turpentine, and ammonia. After straining, heating slowly, then beating the mixture until cold, one is left with a home remedy that is good for sore throats, sprains, and sores.
Dock to Dish: What to do with Fish: Jersey Shore Seafood Secrets. Np.: Eat More Fish, Inc. 1981.
Home Service Department of Public Service Electric and Gas Company of NJ. Salute to New Jersey: A Collection of Original New Jersey Recipes and Historical Anecdotes. Np., n.d.
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Lee Gant-Thorn. The Jersey Devil’s Favorite Blueberry Recipes and More Tall Tales. Np.: Singalong Press, 2000.
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South Jersey Wares
Blueberries, history, the Jersey Devil, and more can be found in the recipe books of South Jersey available in Special Collections. There are countless books on seafood recipes that pay tribute to our coastal cuisine. The blueberry, cranberry, and dandelion recipes have their own books as well as pages throughout most other recipe books compiled in the region. All of these pay homage to the local foods we are known for. Whether you are looking to read short fables and tall tales from the region in The Jersey Devil’s Favorite Blueberry Recipes and More Tall Tales or hunting for historical anecdotes in Salute to New Jersey: A Collection of Original New Jersey Recipes and Historical Anecdotes, Stockton’s collection of cookbooks is sure to please. While these works all have similar purposes—they are receptacles for recipes—they each have their own goals, whether to promote Vineland or to purchase new pews for the local church. Here lies the power of these books; it is not simply their recipes but rather the stories that they tell and the idiosyncrasies that they display. Not only can you find a myriad of recipes; you also can get a sense of our community and its culture.
Woman’s Auxiliary of the Hackensack Hospital. Time for Food. Hackensack: 1952.
A Pharmacy at Home
You wake up in the morning and go to brush your teeth, but find yourself without toothpaste. A quick fifteen minute routine to get ready for the day just turned into a thirty minute task, because now a trip to CVS is necessary for a new tube of toothpaste to brush those pearly whites. But, if you were to take a look at the cookbooks in Special Collections, you would find an array of recipes that could eliminate last minute pharmacy trips to pick up the essentials. In The Township of Upper Bicentennial Cookbook, the recipe for toothpaste can be found. Recipes for cough medicine, foot powder, soap, and remedies for a weak stomach or rough skin can also be found in this cookbook.
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The Human Preservation Recipes of Southern New Jersey
After reading the recipe for “How to Preserve Children” earlier in this exhibition, one may wonder how this concept came to life and was recorded in a cookbook. The cookbook . . .with a Dash of Love was not the only book containing recipes calling for preserving a human. The cookbook committee at the Ladies Auxiliary of Marmora Volunteer Fire Department included a similar recipe in their book. The recipe for “Husband Preserve” can be found in Cooking Favorites of Marmora. Typically, fruit and jams are preserved. Given that blueberries are a South Jersey staple, most people would believe that recipes for different blueberry preserves and jams would be found in these cookbooks. While that is true, these quirky and whimsical recipes to “preserve” humans can be seen as well.