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thesis entitled

"THE DIGNITY OF OUR CHARACTER AS
RATlONAL BEINGS": IMAGES OF
WOMEN IN AMERICAN COOKBOOKS,

1820-1860

presented by

PETER IVERSEN BERG

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

M.A. HISTORY

degree in

 

 

Stephen Botein

Major professor

Date 8'13'82

 

0-7639 MS U is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution

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"THE DIGNITY OF OUR CHARACTER AS
RATIONAL BEINGS": IMAGES OF
WOMEN IN AMERICAN COOKBOOKS,

1820-1860

BY

Peter Iversen Berg

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

Department of History

1982

81/74??qu

ABSTRACT
"THE DIGNITY OF OUR CHARACTER AS
RATIONAL BEINGS": IMAGES OF

WOMEN IN AMERICAN COOKBOOKS,
1820-1860

BY

Peter Iversen Berg

This paper is an attempt to suggest that many
American women, between 1820 and 1860, were not as insu-
lated, or as separated from the business world as might
be assumed from previous historical research. In an
effort to discover how most American women may have
thought and behaved during the period of industrializa-
tion, I have examined over thirty American cookbooks
published between 1820 and 1860.

The image of women projected in these cookbooks
was not at odds with the male world of work. As active
participants in a unified entrepreneurial enterprise
aiming to achieve economic success for the family, women
had to bring system and order to the world of domestic
life; they had to perfect techniques to deliver services
effectively and efficiently; they had to manage finances
competently; and they had to create and insure a pragmatic
educational environment for their children, the future

members Of America's entrepreneurial families.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to thank Dr. Gordon T. Stewart, Dr. Peter
D. Levine, and Brooke V. Heagerty for their helpful sug-
gestions and encouragement throughout this study. The
staff Of Special Collections, Michigan State University
Libraries also deserve special praise for their diligence
and kindness in locating many Of the cookbooks. Finally,
I wish to acknowledge my thesis director, Dr. Stephen
Botein, who first suggested cookbooks as a field of
research. His ever thoughtful guidance and assistance in
preparing this study will always be remembered with deep

gratitude.

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
V. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

VI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

REFERENCES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY. . . . . . . . . . 47

iii

In the past fifteen years numerous articles and
books have been devoted to the experience of women in
nineteenth-century America. Many of these studies have
focused on the rise of industrialization and the changes
this meant for the status of women. The major interpre—
tation of this process suggests that before industriali-
zation most families were dependent upon an agrarian
economy and a system of production located in the home.

A division of labor existed and distinctions were made
between men's and women's work, but functions overlapped
and it was not unusual to see women working alongside
their husbands. To some extent, then, historians believe
this agrarian economy maintained a form of occupational
equality between the sexes. The work of both husband

and wife was necessary for the economic well-being of the
family.

By the nineteenth—century, however, the develop-
ment of a market economy and the beginnings of industriali-
zation had begun to change the nature and place of work.
The home system of production, which involved the whole
family, gradually died out and was replaced by an econo—

mic system that was located outside the home. This new

1

economic system, historians note, involved only men and
single working women who toiled predominantly in factories
and shops. Although this change was most prevalent among
the urban middle-classes in the Northeast, it also affected
people engaged in agriculture, who saw the family farm
transformed from a unit Of subsistence to a market con-
scious, profit-making business.

This interpretation has revolved around a parti-
cular sociological theory, which insists industrializa—
tion led to a separation of work and home. According to
Talcott Parsons, the best known of "functionalist" theo-
rists, separation Of the worlds of work and family was
necessary for the stability Of each institution and for
industrial society as a whole. The "functionalists"
argue that "the institutions of the family and workplace
divided into geographical and emotional units-specialized
in their separate activities without mutual interference".
Men dominated the world of work while the separate world
of home and family was the domain of women.

The theory of separate worlds, or "spheres",
appears especially plausible when viewed in light of
ante-bellum literary evidence. In the first half of the
nineteenth-century both male and female authors created
a new popular literature consisting of advice manuals,
novels, essays, magazine stories, poems, and sermons,

which advocated and reiterated women's limited role in

the home. The ideology of this literature established
norms by which women were to be segregated and insulated
from the public world Of work. Repeatedly, women were
told to stay in the home in order to cultivate their
superior moral nature and remain aloof from the competi-
tive and Often uncivilized world of business.1

Recently, challenging the view that the status
of women was declining in ante-bellum America, some his-
torians have argued that the ideology of separate spheres
guaranteed to women an area of relative autonomy, which
benefited and enhanced their status. Nevertheless, these
historians accept the proposition that nineteenth—century
women existed apart from their husbands with different
views, concerns, goals, and fears.2

Despite the prevalence of "separate sphere" ideo—
logy in the popular literature of the period, it may be
time to scrutinize its significance with skepticism. One
reason for such skepticism is that there is increasing
doubt about the validity of "functionalist" sociological
theory applied to the history of the family. As one
critic has noted, Parsons and others of his school for-
mulated, "a structural model for the evolution of insti-
tutions, perhaps a worthy enterprise in itself, but ill—
suited to studying the process of interaction between
work and family." In other words, "functionalist" history

is limited by its emphasis of how institutions fit

together; it tends to ignore how peOple cross institu-
tional boundaries.3

Another problem involves time. Within the space
of a few decades women supposedly turned away from an
economically important role in the family to a narrowly
confined role concerned solely with child rearing and
moral regeneration. Could so profound a psychological
revolution have occurred in so short a time? Indeed,
considering the simple facts of domestic proximity, could
the "sphere" metaphor have reflected emotional reality?

Finally, the evidence used by historians to sub-
stantiate many of the claims and conclusions in their
studies Of women and work appears somewhat unreliable,
especially if the Objective is to discover the real feel-
ings and behavior of most nineteenth—century American
women. This evidence consists Of a wide assortment of
the most overt prescriptive literature, supplemented by
scattered diaries and memoirs. Most such evidence seems
to have been produced by upper middle class women living
in the Northeast.

This paper is an attempt to suggest that many
American women, between 1820 and 1860, were not as insu-
lated, or as separated from the business world as might
be assumed from previous historical research. During
this period American society was immersed in the perva—

sive and powerful currents of the capitalist market place.

 

It is difficult to believe women could have been indif-
ferent to this larger environment while their husbands,
alone, worked frantically to achieve economic success.
Rather, it appears many women may have had an excellent
grasp of their market-conscious society and accordingly
may have accepted new entrepreneurial responsibilities.
If entrepreneurship may be defined as simply "getting
things done",4 women were entrepreneurs when they helped
their husbands climb to economic prosperity. As members
of emerging entrepreneurial families women had to eschew
the Often genteel life prescribed by sphere ideology and
exhibit the same traits as their husbands: self-denial,
practicality, initiative, resourcefulness, and energy.
Women perhaps understood that a domestic work force con-
sisting only of submissive individuals, who could make no
decisions on their own and could produce only under the
prodding Of another, were a dubious economic resource to
their husbands. This is not to suggest that as partici-
pants in entrepreneurial family life women became liber-
ated from constricting sexist stereotypes and behaviors.
To the extent that their values merged with those of
their husbands, however, it is untenable to claim that
women led separate lives divorced from the real world
around them.

In an effort to discover how most American women

may have thought and behaved during the period of

industrialization, I have examined over thirty American

cookbooks published between 1820 and 1860.5

One problem
inherent in a study of this nature is the uncertain rela-
tionship between norms and behavior. Did the image Of
women seen in these pages reflect their real situation?
This is a crucial question and unfortunately cannot be
answered definitively. Cookbooks are promising source
material, however, because they were meant for intensive
practical use and consequently carried a certain amount
of realism and common sense not often found in other
types of literature written for women. Whereas much of
the latter literature freely sentimentalized or romanti-
cized woman's role in the home, cookbooks had to meet the
tests of everyday experience. It is possible to glean
enough information from their prefaces, introductions,
and recipes to speculate about reader consciousness and
behavior.

In addition, cookbooks are a valuable body of
evidence because of their popularity. It is reasonable
to suppose that their themes were an expression of broad
middle-class taste and interest. Cookbooks were rela-
tively inexpensive, which made them available to a wide

and diverse audience. The Good Housekeeper, Sarah Hale's

 

first cookery volume, sold for 50 cents in 1839, and

Eliza Leslie's Directions for Cookery sold for $1.00 in

6

1853. The speed with which some cookbooks sold bears

 

testimony to their appeal. The Good Housekeeper sold a

 

 

thousand c0pies in one month,7 The New England Economi-

cal Housekeeper and Family Receipt Book, which sold for

 

just 25 cents, sold out its first edition of fifteen-
hundred copies in only fifteen weeks.8
Perhaps even more important was the continuing

demand for many cookbooks. The Frugal Housewife, for

 

instance, was first offered to the American public in
1829 and was into its twenty-eighth edition by 1842.

Sales figures for best cookbooks may not have been extra-
ordinary by the standards of contemporary popular fiction,
but publications Of the latter sort were usually just
seasonal events and consumed for leisure purposes instead
of habitual reference.

Cookbook authors were themselves concerned about
the costs of cookbooks and their availability to women of
a moderate income level. Writing in 1852, one author,
Mrs. Bradley, announced her intention to compile a cook-
book that combined "cheapness with great value" and price

9

it "within the reach of all." As the author of The

Complete Cook explained, by including the whole realm of

 

domestic science she could "swell our small book to the
dignity of a three volume work; but by doing so we should
place it beyond the reach of that class to whom its

precepts will prove most valuable."10

Combining the evidence of a conscious attempt to
make cookbooks available to all interested readers with
their enduring popularity and relative inexpensiveness,
it seems safe to assume that access to this literature
was not restricted to affluent readers. Instead, it
appears cookbook readers between 1820 and 1860 were
located in a broad stratum of American society. Most
were probably married, white, middle-class, American born
of British Protestant heritage: there is no reason to
doubt that they included inhabitants of farms, rural
towns, and cities.

The image of women projected in these cookbooks
was not at odds with or in contrast to the male world of
work. As active participants in a unified entrepreneurial
enterprise aiming to achieve economic success for the
family, women had to bring system and order to the world
of domestic life; they had to perfect techniques to
deliver services effectively and efficiently; they had
to manage finances competently and responsibly; and they
had to create and insure a pragmatic educational environ-
ment for their children, the future members of America's

entrepreneurial families.

II
Alongside advice for practical living, a few

cookbooks sweetened their contents with sentiment.

Characteristically, Catherine Beecher ended hers with
this consoling message to her readers: "Remember then,
that you have a father in heaven, who sympathizes in all
your cares, pities your griefs, makes allowances for
your defects, and is endeavoring by trials, as well as
by blessing to fit you for the right fulfillment of your

11 But most cookbooks contained

high and holy calling."
no sentiment whatsoever. In fact, some cookbook authors
believed that lack of sentiment enhanced the appeal of
their publications. For instance, Mrs. A. M. Collins,
designed her cookbook "to supply a want which is not
fully met by larger and more pretentious volumes, which
frequently are burdened by superfluous matter...".12 A

few, like Prudence Smith's Modern American Cookery,

 

Offered no preface or introductory material. "A great

defect in many works," Observed the author Of The National

 

Cookbook, was that the cook had to wade "through a formi-
dable amount of reading" before she learned "the process

13

of making a pudding." As Mrs. Bradley simply noted,

"Lengthy prefaces, and labored introductions" were "sel—

. "l4

dom if ever read.
It was no secret to ante-bellum entrepreneurs that

for a business enterprise to grow and prosper order and

system had to be established and maintained so that work

and productivity would not be interrupted. If adherence

to this rule Often guaranteed success to a businessman,

10

it also proved useful when employed by his wife in their
home. The terms "order", "system", and "efficiency"
appeared in many of the cookbooks. The home, like the
shop or factory, was to be a thoroughly regimented and
technical world. A goal of all women, cookbook authors
believed, should be a home managed according to a detailed
and comprehensive plan.

The importance of efficient home management was
illustrated by Mrs. Mary Randolph's belief that, "the
government of a family" bore "a Lilliputian resemblance

15 Mrs. Ellet fully under-

to the government of a nation."
stood the same point. "As a country cannot be governed
without laws," she noted, "neither can a household; and
the mistress should be as absolute in her own house as

16

a sovereign in her dominions." The author of The

American Matron also perceived the similarities between

 

a government and a household of laws when she urged
"American wives and mothers to adapt their households,
practically, to those social and political institutions,"
which were "intended to afford competence...to all, and

17 Even the best planned sys-

overgrown wealth to none!"
tem of home management required modification, but once

a system had proved itself worthy it became "inviolable

law."18

A major feature of domestic management was a

"written schedule," so that each phase Of housework could

ll

be accomplished with swiftness and efficiency. The
necessity as well as the propriety of "well-regulated
domestic arrangements in the household" could not be

19 . . .
Like a consc1entious

questioned, declared Mrs. Hall.
business manager, a wife took command Of her home and
awakened every morning to "examine minutely the different
departments of her household [in order to] detect errors
in their infant state," when they could be "corrected

20 This was not possible, however, unless

with ease."
women reduced "to practical rules the best theories con-
cerning an extensive and varied range of household
duties."21

The use of well-planned system for efficient
housework was especially important for women if they
lacked domestic help. Cookbooks assumed the overwhelm-
ing number Of American homes did not have servants. Only
five of thirty-two cookbooks specifically mentioned ser-
vants and these complained of their shiftlessness and
obstinance. That only a few cookbooks discussed servants
implied that the nineteenth-century woman spent most of
her time working. She presumably had the aid Of her
children, but most of the work would have been hers alone.
Sarah Hale pronounced it "rare to find a married woman"
who did not "superintend personally" to the duties Of

the household, whether her husband was rich or poor.

Perhaps somewhat wishfully, Hale believed even "the most

 

 

12

delicate lady...would scarcely boast of retaining a hired
housekeeper to perform her duties; and no lady would gain
credit or consequence in society by doing so."22
Obviously, during this period women were expected
to take their work seriously. They were not creatures
of leisure or fashion, nor were they shy or weak. Com-
parable tO their market-conscious husbands, the woman
described in these cookbooks brought rationalization to

their work." The immediate plan of every family," urged

the author of The Cook's Own Book, "must be adapted to

 

its own peculiar situation and can only result from the
good sense and early good habits of the parties, acting

23 Work in the home

upon general rational principles."
and work in the business or factory had to be accomplished
much in the same manner. Both depended on system and

both succeeded or failed according to the ability of the
worker to complete a series Of tasks quickly and compe-
tently.

The woman would be recognized as household magis-
trate, but her status so achieved would not be separated
from her husband's: a smooth running household was not
an end in itself. Instead, the aim was to provide sup-
port for the endeavors of the businessman. Husband, as
head of the entrepreneurial family unit. There were

"numerous instances", Mrs. Cornelius pointed out, "of

worthy merchants and mechanics, whose efforts" were

13

"paralyzed and their hOpes chilled by the total failure

24

Of the wife." Status and success would come only when

women insured "social peace at home"; if they could not,

"misery and ruin" would follow.25

III

Practicality meant special technical competence
and nowhere was this competence more important than in
the kitchen. "To be an able and successful cook should
be the aim of every prudent housekeeper," noted one
author, "for we know of no surer mark of sloth or negli-
gence than an ill—spread table. For if incapacity and
indifference be allowed to exist in the kitchen, need we
be surprised to find it in the parlor."26 To prevent
an "illserved table," cookbook authors provided their
readers with recipes which had been "fully tested" and
judged successful by "actual individual experience."
Mrs. Collins confidently declared that many of her recipes
were in "regular and constant use" in her household, while
most had been "thoroughly tested during an experience of

"27

twenty years. Unspeculative recipes were also the

goal of Hannah Widdifield's cookbook: "Noureceipts are
contained in this volume but those fully tested, not only
by the author, but by the best judges in this as well as

28

other cities." Experience was the priority of Elizabeth

Lea, who had "applied to persons Of experience, and

 

l4

embodied the information collected in a book" to which
she had added "the results of their own experiments" as
the years had "matured her judgements."29
Besides providing readers with "fully-tested"
recipes, cookbooks emphasized practical dishes over more

complex and ornamental creations. The New England Econo-

mical Housekeeper and Family Receipt Book left out "such

 

receipts as were not of practical utility" and "added

30

more than fifty new ones." Practical dishes were

respectable, and "infinitely preferable," noted a Boston
Housekeeper, and she urged her readers to serve a dinner

of "far less show where nobody need be afraid of what

31

they are eating!" Because ostentatious dining might

end badly, Mrs. Bradley decided her cookbook would "fur-

32

nish plain and practical recipes," another cookbook

author testified that her recipes would "be found to be

practical, clear, simple, readily understood and as

33

easily followed." Mrs. P. H. Mendall summed up her

outlook when she entitled her publication, A Practical

Receipt Book.34 The following are two examples of the

 

"practical receipts" that dominated American cookbooks
during this period:
Codfish

Fresh codfish is good to boil, fry, or
make into a chowder. It is rather dry
for boiling. Salt cod should be soaked
all night in water, with a glass of
vinegar. It will make it like fresh

 

 

15

fish. In the morning take it out, put

in fresh water, and place it three or
four hours over a moderate fire, where

it will keep warm without boiling—boiling
hardens it; take it up, and take Off the
skin; serve it out with milk gravy.

Plain Baked Rice Pudding

 

Allow one small cup of rice to one quart
Of milk, sweetened with sugar, and baked
in a slow oven until the milk disappears.36

A few cookbooks did offer foreign recipes or
others of an elegant character, such as the following:
Cod

The head and shoulders, comprehending in
weight two-thirds or three-quarters of

the fish, is much better dressed separately;
the tail being much thinner would be broken
to pieces before the thicker parts are done.
The best way of dressing the tail, is to

fry it. For boiling cod, allow plenty of
room and water, that the fish may be per—
fectly covered. Put it in blood-warm water,
with a large handful of salt. Watch for

its boiling. that it may be set a little
aside. A small cod will require twenty
minutes after it boils; a large one, half

an hour. When the fins pull easily, and the
eyes start, the fish is done. Slip it very
carefully on the fish plate, that it may not
be broken. Take out the roe and liver, which
are much esteemed; they will serve to garnish
the dish, together with horse-radish and
slices Of lemon, or fried smelts, or oysters.
Sauce, oyster. The sound, a fat jelly-like
substance, along the inside of the backbone,
is the great delicacy of the fish. Cod is
sometimes boiled in slices. Let them be
soaked half an hour in salt water. then set
on with cold spring water and salt, just enough
to cover them. Let it boil up; then carefully
skim and set aside for ten minutes. Serve
with the same sauce as above. Slices of cod
are much better fried as soles. Slices of
crimped cod, for boiling, are put in boiling
water, and when done served on a napkin.

16

A Baked Rice Pudding

 

The above may be used, enriched by slices
of bread and butter laid at the time, with
a little sugar and nutmeg strewed over.--
Or, scald the rice in a small quantity of
water; when all the water is absorbed by
the rice, add a quart of new milk, and let
it boil up, with a stick Of cinnamon for
flavour; beat three or four eggs with fine
moist sugar, stir to them gradually the
boiling milk and rice; add one ounce of
beef suet or butter; when it is in the pan,
or dish, which should be buttered before
putting in, grade nutmeg over the top; put
it in ghe oven as soon as made, and make an
hour.3

These were exceptionally rich items, however, of a sort

that most cookbook authors self-consciously avoided.

The kitchen, like a business enterprise required
numerous daily decisions. TO make correct decisions,
reducing uncertainty and waste, women needed verifiable
and clear information from cookbooks. Evidently, they
informed cookbook authors what was and what was not
appreciated. Mrs. T. J. Crowen had "the pleasure of
receiving letters from persons (entire strangers) in
different parts of the United States, expressing their
extreme satisfaction" with her recipes, which they found
to be of great "practical value".39

The image of women making use of technical exper-
tise in kitchen management was extended by the comments
of cookbook authors to include health care. At a time

when standardization of work schedules had begun to make

personal fitness all the more economically important,

 

 

l7

cookbooks, stressed the need for medically sound food
preparation. Fresh ingredients and a balanced diet, as
well as an ability to care for the sick without the aid
Of a physician, were central concerns.

If cookery was worth studying "as a sensual grati-
fication," said a Boston Housekeeper, it was "surely much
more so as a means Of securing one of the greatest of human
blessings--good health."40 Mrs. Horace Mann realized
the pleasures Of the appetite were legitimate; as with
any other pleasure, however, appetite could be abused.

If its "proper conditions" were ignored "the loss of
power, premature decay, and untimely death" were inevi-

table.4l

To aid her readers in the pursuit of good
health, Mann explained how "even luscious food" could be
prepared without the use of unhealthy ingredients. She
warned women to avoid most brands of wheat-flour, sugar,
and salt because they were "adulterated with plaster of

42 Fresh and nutri-

paris, alum, and sulphate of copper."
tious ingredients were emphasized by Mrs. Collins, who
wrote especially for "Western Housekeepers" where the
"generous and prolific clime" afforded a "bountiful supply
of nutritious fruits and vegetables" and the "forests and
hillsides" abounded in "excellent game." She was confi-
dent, however, that the ingredients called for in her
cookbook could be obtained in any section of the coun-

try.43

l8

Scientifically balanced meals were emphasized as
well. Theories varied, for every cookbook that warned
against eating "animal food", another advised that "the
most nourishing and strength-giving Of all foods" were
"fresh red meats." Other recommendations were more eso-
teric. For instance, one cookbook urged "the use of a
moderate quantity of such diet as shall neither increase
the salts and Oils so as to produce disease, nor diminish
them, so as to suffer the solids to become relaxed."44

To assist the reader in the selection Of healthy
foods, many cookbooks cited the scientific discoveries of
authorities like "Dr. Combe", "Dr. Boerhaave", and the

ubiquitious "Dr. Beaumont." The most noteworthy example

was Sarah Hale's Ladies New Book of Cookery. Hale

 

believed that once "the true principles Of preparing food
were understood" a woman could insure "the healthy action"
of her family. By aiding women "in their researches",
Hale hoped to show "the true way Of living well and being
well while we live." She therefore devoted a lengthy
chapter in her cookbook to "The PhilOSOphy Of Cooking"
which followed "chiefly The System of Dr. Andrew Combe on
'Diet and Health'." This is turn was corroborated by

"The Authority of Baron Leibert".45

Application of such
'learned' works enhanced the image of women's technical

expertise. Men still were the ultimate source of

 

19

scientific truth, but it was up to women to transmit
that wisdom to the households of the nation.
Yet even the most scientific diets and freshest

foods could not prevent all disease. Hence, The National

 

Cookbook, among others, paid great attention "to that

department Of cookery exclusively adapted to the sick or

46

convalescent." Although the medicinal department was

not intended as a substitute for the physician, presum-

ably male, there were still times when his attendance or

advice could not be had" at the moment when most needed."47

In case a physician was "not at hand", Elizabeth Lea

believed women should be trained to prepare remedies.48

Prudence Smith provided cures for gout, heartburn, and

rhumatism,49 while a cure for "chilblains" was available

50

in The Roger Cookery. Remedies 'For a Cut' ("wash Off

 

the blood in cold water, and bind it up with a clean
cotton bandage-—if it inclines to bleed, put on scraped
lint, after bringing the edges of the wound together as

l and

closely as possible, and bind it rather tight"),5
for more serious afflictions such as consumption and
dysentery were Offered by The Good Housekeeper. Besides
caring for the sick, Mrs. Sylvia Campbell urged her
readers especially to watch their own health during
pregnancy. "Many A Mother", commented Campbell, "has in

that state laid the foundation of drunkeness in her child.

How many tobacco-chewers have been made such by the habits

20

of the Mother...when she was continually looking for some-

52 Here, the woman was charged even with

thing to chew?"
responsibility for the welfare of an unborn child--who
was apparently expected to be male.

Especially within the abundant literature on sick
cookery and medicinal cures was on effect of poor or
unhealthy meals, dyspepsia, "an undefinable word implying

53 According

almost every sort of distress and anguish."
to a Boston Housekeeper, this was "after insanity, the
most grievous affliction Of providence, or rather of

54 A "really good book will

improvidence and imprudence."
be patronized...in these days of dyspepsia," as Mrs.
Sanderson claimed, because for too long America had
"suffered from the vile concoctions inflicted upon it by

55 NO family members, least of all the

untutored cooks."
husband, could perform at peak efficiency for very long

if continually at the mercy of an upset stomach. To be
regularly at work and fulfill their potential, husbands
depended on their wives. If the husband ate at a table
"constantly and invariably ill-spread," than "a feeling

of dissatisfaction" might be "extended to other things."
More specifically and "however improbably" it might seem,
Mrs. Cornelius believed "the health of many a professional
man" was "undermined and his usefulness curtailed, if not
56

sacrificed, because he habitually" ate "bad bread!"

Mrs. Cornelius' argument thus affirmed the importance of

21

women to the male work world. Their ability to provide
health care, along with sound nutrition, was not inter-
preted as an application of romantic or sentimental salve
to protect and relieve men from the trials of work.
Instead, proficient in techniques that represented the
best contemporary Opinion available, women actively
involved themselves in the larger economy by trying to
sustain a full-time and productive labor force.

A major part of this effort to insure a productive
labor force was temperance. "Drams or distilled spiritous
liquors," declared a Boston Housekeeper, possessed "the
most poisonous qualities," which eventually led to "the

"57

destruction Of thousands. Mrs. Allen thought nothing

could "add more to the sum Of human happiness than temp-

58
erance."

Some cookbook authors were not as unyielding,
but they still expressed concern about alcohol's "dire-
ful effects". Mrs. Campbell, for instance, was willing

to tolerate the use of beer and wine, if their ingredients
were pure and their fermentation natural.59 Even "natu-
ral" beer and wine was too much for Mrs. Horace Mann,
however, who believed the purpose of her cookbook would
"not be wholly answered if it should fail to enforce all
arguments for temperance." Mann was so fanatic in her

abhorrence towards alcohol that she banned the use of

city-raised pork in her cookbook because the

22

"near-sighted" beast, raised "amid the abominations of
distilleries," would not be "particular about its food."60
Devotion to temperance in ante-bellum America
was more than a health movement. It represented also an
important facet of "the new industrial morality" that
emphasized "sensual self-denial" as a means to achieving
entrepreneurial success. Businessmen were eager to pro-
mote temperance; their wives, tOO, understood the impor-
tance of a serious-minded, sober society, and practiced

at home what their husbands preached in the public forum.61

IV
One of America's greatest entrepreneurs would
later define middle-class competence as "moderate sums
[of money] saved by many years of effort, the returns
from which are required for the comfortable maintenance

62 If cookbooks are indica-

and education of families."
tors of behavior in the ante-bellum American home, there
can be little doubt that many women were competent
financiers. "Many families have owed their prosperity
full as much tO the conduct and propriety of female
management, as to the knowledge and activity of the

63 Whether women used

father," asserted Mrs. Rundell.
inexpensive cooking recipes, suggested bookeeeping devices

for household budgetary calculations, or taught their

23

children the meaning of thrift, it was assumed that they
were conscious of the need to save and manage money.
Just as cookbook authors wished to have their
publications inexpensive enough for a wide variety of
readers, so they desired "to avoid expensive receipts,"
and show the public how "to cook well and cheaply."64
Cookbooks were "not designed to spread a taste for perni-

65 nor for housekeepers who kept their

cious luxuries,"
tables with great extravagance. Rather, cookbook authors
provided "receipts which will enable one to furnish a

66 Mrs.

table handsomely, at the smallest expense."
Howland's cookbook was "compiled with a careful regard
to the most economical mode of preparing the various
dishes for which directions have been given; and is
particularly recommended to the attention of those who

67 With her mind

would cook well at a moderate expense."
on economy, "A Practical American Housekeeper" offered
her "present collection Of receipts...selected and
arranged with much care, and a well-directed attention

to economy...."68 Cookbook authors believed that "with—
out any increase Of expenditure, one person, by means of
good receipts, skillfully used, and by a tasteful arrange-
ment of the table," [could] "make a feast". This could
be accompanied with "sufficient variety...to relieve all
who practice by it, from an every day sameness, without

severely taxing the purse, while gratifying the palate."69

24

By studying the "business of cooking, women might reduce

significantly "the cost of a year's housekeeping," and
thus perhaps achieve moderate savings for the future.70
"If any persons think some of the [recipes] tOO rigidly
economical," warned Lydia Child, "let them inquire how
the largest fortunes among us have been made. They will
find thousands and millions have been accumulated, by a
scrupulous attention to sums 'infinitely more minute than
sixty cents.'"71
Women were expected to keep a strict vigil over
family income and expenses. To insure a family lived
within its financial means, cookbook authors encouraged
their readers to bring system and order to the Often
delicate management Of family finances. "What we spend

72

rationally, we enjoy" was the shaping philosophy of

The Roger Cookery, and other cookbook authors repeatedly

 

stressed the importance of "an economy careful and judi-
cious" that enabled women to satisfy their families'

"73 One consequence of ignoring its

"wants and wishes.
financial limits might be a home where "the vanity of
having a showy drawing room to receive company" would
relegate the family to "a more close back room."74
But women had to be expert in more than the tradi-
tional role of handling household expense; they were

expected to understand the vicissitudes of their husbands'

income. The importance Of women understanding and

25

effectively implementing a rational plan for total family
finances was paramount during the ante-bellum period.
America appeared a nation where to "rich and poor
together", the world was Open "with all its pleasures,

75 Tocqueville found it "not

hopes, and its prizes."
uncommon for the same man in the course of his life to
rise and sink again through all the grades...from opu-

76 This exaggerated reality, but the

lence to poverty."
average middle-class family could anticipate the possibi-
lity of both good times and bad, depending on unpredict—
able economic conditions. Thus, understanding "the cir-
cumstances of her husband" was important because it
allowed the wife to share with her spouse "the losses

and events" that might occur to reduce family income.
With her experience in financial matters the wife could
more easily adjust expenses and "encourage...her partner
and enable him to struggle through the difficulties which

77

were thought insurmountable." Before she could "spend

rationally," a woman had to become acquainted with the
extent of her husband's resources and resolve with firm-
ness to regulate her household with such prudence and

"78

economy as not to exceed them. Mrs. Mary Randolph was

especially explicit concerning women and financial matters:
The contents Of the Treasury must be known and great care

taken to keep the expenditures equal to the receipts."79

 

26

The concerns of income and expenses ultimately
led to the question Of how much real control women had
over the budget. Women were urged to exhibit prudence
in household expenses, but was that still the main area
of financial decision-making? Cookbooks appeared to urge
women to take a more prominent role in finances. As it
was "the business of man to provide the means of living
comfortably," argued Mrs. Ellet, so it was "the province
of women to dispose judiciously of those means and main-

80 Sarah Hale

tain order and harmony in all things."
believed it was a mark of respect or honor to the wife
when the husband placed his wealth at her disposal. "The
husband earns, the wife dispenses; are not her duties
as important as his?"81
The financial role of women in the ante—bellum
entrepreneurial family was kind of a first line defense
against disasters to which the American legal system
would otherwise have to respond. Nineteenth century
Americans valued private property for its entrepreneurial
potential and were prepared to use legal means to create
an environment that sustained such activity. By the
middle of the century, bankruptcy laws were on the books
to save debtors from "irretrievable ruin," so that they

might re-enter the entrepreneurial world. Before relying

on statutes that "stayed a creditor's remedies to afford

 

27

the debtor a breathing spell in which he might regather
his strength," perhaps financially knowledgeable women
could salvage entrepreneurial husbands "who might yet

again contribute productively to the market."82

V
Women's knowledge of the work world and their

application of routinizing methods in the home were
expected to guarantee the future success and growth of
entrepreneurship in America. If young men and women were
brought up "to consider frugality contemptible and indus-
try degrading," warned Lydia Child, it was vain to think
they would at once become "prudent and useful" when "the

83 Women had to inculcate

cares Of life" confronted them.
in their children, by deeds and words, the desire and
expertise to "get things done."

According to recent examinations of ante-bellum
American childrearing manuals and popular magazines,
mothers by the 18305 had come to be defined as the primary

84 Fathers were presumed to be pay-

rearers of children.
ing less attention to their children as their work took
them out of the hOme for the major part Of the day. "The
pressure upon a multitude of business and professional
men is really frightful," commented one observer; "com—

bined with the necessity in many cases of going long dis-

tances to their places of duty, it produces little short

28

Of an absolute separation from their families."85 By

the evidence Of cookbooks, however, it does not appear
that maternal education necessarily resulted in "senti-
mentalization Of the home," or that mothers were encour-
aged to instill in their sons "a love for the quiet of
domesticity," thus undermining the very pattern of values
that the emerging economic order demanded.86
Ante bellum cookbooks did comment on the educa-
tional role of mothers for the republic's future. Begin-
ning her chapter on "The Care of Children," Mrs. Ellet
wrote: "Among the many duties of a woman is called upon
to fulfill, surely none can be deemed to such paramount

"87 Women were

importance as those she owes her children.
reminded that the American home was "the theatre of the
highest hopes and the proudest pretentions." Legislators,
judges, presidents, and intellects were "cradled and
educated there...seldom in the abundance of superfluous

88

wealth." Little wonder, then, that one cookbook author

proudly proclaimed: "in no country as in this one does
its future destinies so entirely depend on woman."89
Mothers, however, did more than raise America's
future political leaders. Within homes devoted to economy,
practicality, order, system, efficiency, and self-denial,

mothers provided a rigorous training environment for

future entrepreneurial effort. From a mother's example,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

29

it was said, "young minds...will receive and retain every
impression you make,...will imitate your feelings, tastes,
habits, opinions, and...will transmit what they receive
from you to their children, to pass again to the next
generation,...until a whole nation will have received its
character and destiny."90
One of the most enthusiastic proponents of teach—
ing children the entrepreneurial benefits of hard work
and economy was Lydia Child. "In early childhood, you
lay the foundation of poverty or riches, in the habits

you give your children," wrote Child in her cookbook,

The Frugal Housewife. The earlier children were taught to

 

"turn their faculties to some account," she believed,

"the better for them and their parents." Child bemoaned
the custom of some parents who allowed their children

"to romp away their existence, till...thirteen or four—
teen." Instead, "a child of six years Old can be made
useful; and should be taught to consider every day lost

in which some little thing has not been done." As young
workers, Child felt children could "knit garters, suspend-
ers, and stockings,...make mats for the table," and they
could be taken to a farm to pick "blueberries at six cents
a quart." Children might not resist this early education
in hard work, if parents would recommend—-it was an

employment."91

30

Cookbook authors believed there was no subject
"so much connected with individual happiness and national
prosperity as the education Of daughters." It was cri—
tical that young women possess the skills needed to one
day manage their own entrepreneurial households. Thus,
cookbook authors were highly critical of fashionable
women. The most ominous threat to America's future was
the frivolous education that some mothers were allowed
their daughters to receive in or outside of the home.
"Education has given a wrong end and aim to their whole
existence," cried one author; "they have been taught to
look for happiness" where it could never be found, in
the "absence of all occupation, or the unsatisfactory
and ruinous excitement of fashionable competition."92
Previously, a woman knew the meaning of hard work, but
now all her time was "devoted to the acquisition of showy

93

accomplishments." The "frivolous" and those "superfi-

cially taught," asserted Sarah Hale, "despise and neglect
the ordinary duties of life."94
To counteract this corrupting trend, women were
urged to cease their roles as "Circassian parents-giving
their daughters Mahommedan education-training them for

95 Young daughters should

the ballroom and gala nights..."
be less interested in potential husbands and marriages.
As Lydia Child insisted, "the greatest and most universal

error: was teaching daughters "to exaggerate the

 

31

importance Of getting married; and of course to place an
undue importance upon the polite attentions Of gentlemen.
Leave the affections to nature and truth; and all will

96 Ties of affection alone were not sufficient

end well."
for Mrs. Ellet, who wrote it was "not well to rush into
matrimony without due attention to such sublunary matters
as dollars and cents; for the notion that when once a
couple is married, all will go right is a foolish one."97
Since most young women did eventually marry,
mothers were expected to educate their daughters on the
benefits of domestic science. Mary Randolph, for instance,
hoped "exemplary mothers" would serve as models to their
daughters, so they could "use the same means for securing
the happiness" Of their own families that they had seen

98 But cookbook authors realized

"successfully practiced."
that "even a judicious mother" might not have the time to
teach her daughter all the skills necessary to manage a
successful and prosperous household. To fill this crucial
role, cookbooks themselves were "offered as an assistant"
to the education of young women.99 Authors, like Mrs.
Putnam, knew that a reliable cookbook was "one of the
greatest conveniences to a young housekeeper."loo
Throughout the nineteenth century, then, as
America experienced rapid economic growth, industrious

men and women brought to their businesses and households

skills and habits acquired while growing up in

32

entrepreneurial homes. The nineteenth century American
home did not stand as a fortress to repel the attitudes
and practices of an industrial, market-conscious society.
Instead, the home was meant to be a microcosm of that
society and serve as a training school for effective
entrepreneurial adulthood. Women, as educators, were
supposed to contribute significantly to the male world

of competitive work.

VI

Despite the primary importance of woman's role in
the entrepreneurial family, cookbook authors did not
endorse that "mental ignus fatuus, 'women's rights.”101
Rather cookbooks consciously steered their readers away
from the women's rights movement. Mrs. Bradley noted
"much talk, nowadays, about the 'rights'...of woman,"
but hoped women would "enter actively and energetically
into domestic employments and affairs." This repudiation
of women's rights did not mean cookbook authors encouraged
women to engage in "ultra-housewifery." Women, who did
so, according to Mrs. Ellet, exercised "a pernicious
influence" on everyone around them and were as much "to
be avoided as downright sluts."102

If cookbook authors did not ask women to become

either feminists or ultra-housewives, how can the ideology

of this literature best be defined in the context of

33

ante-bellum society? There is much to suggest that cook—
books aimed tO help women become "modern". Women who
followed the advice of cookbook authors would have been
more likely to be Open to new ways Of doing things; to
be assertive in their daily endeavors; to desert passivity
and fatalism when confronted with life's obstacles; to
believe in the efficacy of science and medicine; to hold
high occupational and educational goals for their chil-
dren; and to appreciate people who were prompt and showed
an interest in planning their affairs in advance.103
One cookbook author referred to the managerial duties of
women as "not a matter of choice, but Of necessity, if
we would maintain the dignity of our character as rational
beings."104
At the center of nineteenth century American
”modernizing forces," it has been argued, lay a "release
of energy principle." Through subsidies as well as
general incorporation laws, American government and law,
both national and state, stimulated and directed private
ambitions to foster the rapid growth of entrepreneurial

105 But the energy of potential and actual

enterprise.
entrepreneurs might have weakened had not they received
support from wives and families. The "Lilliputian Resem-
blance" of the ante-bellum family to civil government

was not meant as simply a duplication of the Puritans'

"little commonwealth". In line with the new economic

34

policies of the age, nineteenth century women were

expected to create a domestic environment that encour-

106 Order,

aged a high level of "achievement motivation."
technique, frugality, and education were the essential
ingredients Of the formula for success that inspired
middle-class Americans in the decades before the Civil
War.

Yet it need not be assumed that there was any
"automatic, or over-direct, correspondence," as one his-
torian has cautioned in a different context, "between
the dynamic of economic growth and the dynamic of social

107

or cultural life." The very rapidity of economic

change, it has been suggested, may have meant that many
men and women "lacked the time, historically, culturally,
and psychologically, to be separated or alienated from

settled ways of work and life and from relatively fixed

"108

beliefs. To explain human behavior, society and

culture must be examined together:

Human behavior, whether individual or collective,
is invariably the resultant of two factors: the
cognitive system as well as the goals and patterns
of behavior as defined by culture systems, on the
one hand, and the system of real contingencies as
defined by the social structure on the other. A
complete interpretation and apprehension of social
processes can be achieved only when both systems,
as well as their interaction, are taken into con-
sideration.

Such a framework for the analysis of human behav-

ior suggests that many nineteenth century American women

35

may have simultaneously performed effectively in the
emerging entrepreneurial family and rejected "modernity."
It may explain how a Prudence Smith could entitle her

cookbook Modern American Cookery, while in her cookbook

 

a Mrs. P. H. Mendall Offered "a number of Old fashioned

110 or, how a Mrs. Ellet could compliment women

receipts;"
on their great power, which could be made "to move the
secret springs of action and the machinery of business

...,"lll while a Mrs. Allen exhorted her readers to

emulate the "women of bygone times."112
The women whose images fill American cookbooks
published between 1820 and 1860 appeared to look back-
wards as Often as forwards. They were active partici-
pants in a new industrial society that forced them to
learn new ideas and habits, by holding out the promise
of success to Offset the risks of failure. Their new
role was possibly more acceptable to all concerned because
it could be offered as an adaption Of traditional family
life to a new environment. In this respect, the ideology
Of "separate spheres" seemed inappropriate. Not only did
it ignore the reality Of most everyday family experience,
if not the general society; but it also presented a chal-
lenge to the traditional culture of middle class Ameri-
cans that emphasized a more unified pattern of economic

organization. In an era of rapid change, cookbooks served

as useful guides and comforting companions.

36

FOOTNOTES

FOOTNOTES

lSee Barbara Welter, "The Cult of True Womanhood:
1820-1860," American Quarterly 18, (Summer 1966); 151-74;
Ronald W. Hogeland, "'The Female Appendage': Feminine
Lifestyles in America, 1820-1860," CiviliWar History, 17
(June 1971),: 101-114; Glenda G. Riley, "The Subtle Sub-
version: Change in the Traditionalist Image of the Ameri-
can Woman," The Historian, 32 (February 1970),: 210-227.

2See Kathryn Kish Sklar, Catharine Beecher, A
Study in American Domesticity (New Haven: Yale Univer-
sity Press, 1973); Nancy F. Cott, The Bonds of Womanhood:
"Woman's Sphere" in New England, 1780-1835 (New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1977); Jill Conway, "Women Reform-
ers and American Culture," Journal of Social History 5
(Winter l97l/72),: 164-177.

3Elizabeth Pleck, "Two Worlds in One: Work and
Family," Journal of Social History 10 (Winter 1976): 180.

4Joseph Schumpeter did not believe the entrepre-
neurial function consisted in either "inventing anything
or otherwise creating the conditions which the enterprise
exploits." Instead, he argued, "it consists in getting
things done." For a full discussion of Schumpeter's
views on Entrepreneurship see Capitalism, Socialism, and
Democracy (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1942).

5The cookbooks examined represent the total hold-
ings of American cookbooks, published between 1820 and
1860, in the Michigan State University Libraries. The
years 1820-1860 were chosen because it is believed many
American women underwent a profound change in their status
within the family and society during this period.

6Sarah Virginia Gray, A History of the Publica—
tions of Cookbooks in the United States, 1796-1896
(Rochester, New York: University of Rochester Press for
the Assocaition of College and Research Libraries, 1965),
p. 38.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

71bid., p. 38.

37

38

8Mrs. E. A. Howland, The New England Economical
Housekeeper and Family Receipt Book (Worcester, Massa-
chusetts: S. A. Howland, 1847), p. 9.

9Mrs. J. S. Bradley, Mrs. Bradley's Housekeeper's
Guide: or A New Plain and Economical Cook-book, Contain-
ing the Greatest Variety of New Valuable and Approved
Receipts Ever Published in One Work. Arranged on A
IMOdern and Scientific Basis (Cincinnati: H. M. Rulison,
1859), P. i.

10J. M. Sanderson, The Complete Cook. Plain and
ZPractical Directions for Cooking and Housekeeping; With
jgpwards of Seven Hundred Receipts: Consisting Of Direc-
'tions for the Choice of Meat and Poultry; Preparations
for Cooking, Making of Broths and Soups; Boiling, Roast-
ing, Baking, and Frying, of Meats, Fish, &c. Seasonings,
(Zolourings, Cooking Vegetables; Preparing Salads, Clarify:
ing; Making of Pastry, Puddings, Gruels, Gravies, Gar-
Iiishes, &c. and, With General Directions for Making Wines.
(Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, 1843), p. V.

 

 

 

ll[Catherine Esther Beecher], Miss Beecher's
IDomestic Receipt Book: Designed As A Supplement To Her
Treatise on Domestic Economy (New York: Harper and
.Brothers, 1846), p. 280.

12Mrs. Collins' Table Receipts; Adapted to Western
Housewifery (New Albany, Indiana: Jno. R. Nunemacher,
1851), p. iv.

13Hannah Mary (Bouvier) Peterson, The National
Cook Book (Philadelphia: Robert E. Peterson and Co.,
1850), p. iv.

14

 

 

 

 

Bradley, Mrs. Bradley's Housekeeper's Guide,

 

p. i.

15Mrs. Mary Randolph, The Virginia Housewife, or
:Methodical Cook (Baltimore: Plaskitt and Cugle, 1838),
p. ix.

 

 

16Mrs. [Elizabeth Fries (Lummis)] Ellet, The
Practical Housekeeper: A Cyclopedia of Domestic Economy
jEmbracing Domestic Education. The House and Its Furni-
'ture. Duties of the Mistress. Duties of the Servant.
The Store-room and Marketing. Domestic Manipulation.
Care of Children, and Their Food. The Table and Atten-
dance. The Art Of Cookery. Receipts Under Forty Five
'Heads. Family Bills of Fare. Perfumery and the Toilet.

39

Infusions and Cosmetics. Pommades, Vinegars, Soaps, etc.
The Family Medical Guide. Miscellaneous Receipts, etc.
Comprising Five Thousand Practical Receipts and Maxims.
Illustrated With Five Hundred Wood Engravings. (New
York: Stringer and Townsend, 1857), p. 31.

17The American Matron; or A Practical and Scien-
tific Cookepy (Boston and Cambridge: James Munroe and
Company, 1851), p. 7.

 

l8Randolph, The Virginia Housewife, p. ix.

19Elizabeth M. Hall, comp., Practical American
Cookery and Domestic Economy (New York: Miller, Orton,
and Mulligan, 1856), p. i.

20

 

Randolph, The Virginia Housewife, p. x.

21Ellet, The Practical Housekeeper, p. 7.

22Mrs. S. J. [Saran Josepha] Hale, The Good House-
keeper, Or The Way to Live Well and to Be Well While We
Live. Containing Directions for Choosing and Preparing
Food in Regard to Health, Economy, and Taste (Boston:
Weeks, Jordan and Company, 1839), p. 117.

23The Cook's Own Book; Being a Complete Culinary
Encyclopedia: Comprehending all Valuable Receipts for
Cooking Meat, Fish, and Fowl, and Composing Every Kind
of Soup, Gravy, Pastry, Preserves, Essences, &c. That Have
Been Published or Invented During the Last Twenty Years.
Particularly the Very Best of Those in the Cook's Oracle.
Cook's Dictionary, and Other Systems of Domestic Economy.
With Numerous Original Receipts, and a Complete System
of Confectionery (Boston: Munroe and Francis; New York:
Charles S. Francis and David Felt; Philadelphia: Carey
and Lea, and Grigg and Elliot, 1832), p. vii.

24Mrs. [Mary Hooker] Cornelius, The Young House-
keeper's Friend; or, A Guide to Domestic Economy and
Comfort (Boston: Tappan, Whittenmore and Mason, 1848),
p. 9.

 

25Ellett, The Practical Housekeeper, p. 18.

 

26Eliza Acton, Modern Cookery In All Its Branches,
Reduced to A System of Easy Practice for the Use of Pri-
vate Families. In A Series of Practical Receipts, All
of Which Are Given With the Most Minute Exactness (Phila-
delphia: Lea and Blanchard, 1860), p. xxi.

 

 

40

27Hannah Widdifield, Widdifield's New Cookbook;
or, Practical Receipts for the Housewife. Comprising All
the Popular and Approved Methods for Cooking and Prepar-
ing All Kinds of Poultry, Omelets, Jellies, Meats, Soups,
Pies, Vegetables, Terrapins, Pastries, Pickles, Syrups,
Rolls, Preserves, Puddings, Desserts, Sauces, Cakes, Fish,
etc. (Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson, 1857), p. 19.

29Elizabeth E. Lea, Domestic Cookery, Useful
Receipts, and Hints to Young Housekeepers (Baltimore:
H. Colburn, 1851), p. vii.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

30Howland, The New England Economical Housekeeper,
p. 9

31 , .

The Cook 5 Own Book, p. 1X.

32Bradley, Mrs. Bradley's Housekeeper's Guide,
p. i.

33Acton, Modern Cookery In All Its Branches, p.
xxii.

34Mrs. P. H. Mendall, The New Bedford Practical
Receipt Book New Bedford, Massachusetts: Charles Tabor
and Company, 1859), p. 94.

35Mrs. Sylvia Campbell, The Practical Cook-Book:
Containing Recipes, Directions, etc., for Plain Cookery,
Being the Result of Twenterears Experience in that Art
(Albany: Munsell and Rowland, 1860), p. 66.

36

 

 

 

Ibid., p. 30.

37Sanderson, The Complete Cook, p. 68.

 

38Ibid., p. 150. In addition to this recipe for
"A Baked Rice Pudding", The Complete Cook also Offered
eleven other elaborate recipes for rice pudding.

39Mrs. T. J. Crowen, Every Lady's Cookbook
(Toledo, Ohio: Sawyer, Brother and Company, 1854), p. i.

40

 

 

The Cook's Own Book, p. ix.

 

41Mrs. Horace [Mary Tyler (Peabody)] Mann,
Christianity in the Kitchen. A Physiological Cookbook
(Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1857), P. 1.

421bid., p. 15.

 

41

Mrs. Collins' Table Receipts, p. iii.

 

44The Cook's Own Book, p. xi.

 

45Sarah Josepha Hale, The Ladies' New Book of
Cookery: A Practical System for Private Families in Town
and Country; with Directions for Carving and Arranging
the Table for Parties, etc. Also, Preparations Of Food
for Invalids and Children, 5th Ed. (New York: H. Long
and Brother; J. C. Derby, 1852), p. viii.

46The National Cook Book, 4th Ed., (Philadelphia:
Robert E. Peterson, 1853), p. iii.

47Howland, The New England Economical Housekeeper,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

p. 9.

48Lea, Domestic Cookery, p. 226.

 

49Miss Prudence Smith, Modern American Cookery:
Containing Directions for Making Soups, Roasting, Boiling,
Baking, Dressing Vegetables, Poultry, Fish, Made Dishes,
Pies, Gravies, Pickles, Puddings, Pastry, Sick Cookery,
etc. With A List Of Family Medical Recipes, and A Valu-
able Miscellany (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1835),
p. 33-44.

 

 

 

 

 

 

50[P. P. Roger], The Roger Cookery. Being A
Collection of Receipts, Designed for the Use of Private
Families (Boston: Joseph Dowe, 1838), p. 47.

51

 

Hale, The Good Housekeeper, p. 127-128.

 

52Campbell, The Practical Cook-Book, p. 8.

 

53Hale, The Good Housekeeper, p. 119.

 

54The Cook's Own Book, p. iv.

 

55Sanderson, The Complete Cook, p. vi.

 

56Cornelius, The Young Housekeeper's Friend, p. 8.

 

57The Cook's Own Book, p. xiii.

 

58[Ann H. Allen], The Housekeeper's Assistant,
Composed Upon Temperance Principles, with Instructions in
the Art of Making Plain Puddings, Pastry, Confectionary,
Ice Creams, Jellies! Blanc Manage, Also for the Cooking
of All the Various Kinds of Meats and Vegetables; with A

42

Variety of Useful Information and Receipts Never Before
Published (Boston: James Munroe and Company, 1845), p. 1.

59

 

 

Campbell, The Practical Cook-Book, p. 8.

 

60Mann, Christianity in the Kitchen, p. 24.

 

61Alan Dawley and Paul Faler, "Working Class Cul-
ture and Politics in the Industrial Revolution: Sources
of Loyalism and Rebellion," Journal of Social History 9
(Summer 1976): 467.

62Andrew Carnegie, The Gospel of Wealth and Other
Timely Essays (Garden City, New Jersey: Doubleday, Doran,
and Company, 1933), p. 7.

63Mrs. [Maria Eliza (Ketelby)] Rundell, A New
System of Domestic Cookery: Founded Upon Principles of
Economy and Adapted To the Use of Private Families, 67th
Ed. (Philadelphia: Carey and Hart, 1844), p. iv.

64

 

 

 

 

 

Campbell, The Practical Cook-Book, p. i.

 

65The Cook's Own Cook, p. iv.

 

66Mrs. [Elizabeth H.] Putnam, Mrs. Putnam's
Receipt Book; and Young Housekeeper's Assistant (Boston:
Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1849), p. iv.

67

 

Howland, The New England Economical Housekeeper,
p. 9.

68The Good Cook; Containing Eight-Hundred First
Rate Receipts. Selected with Great Care and Proper
Attention to Economy and Embodying All the Late Improve-
ments in the Culinary Art (New York: Philip J. Cozens,
1853), P. i.

69

 

Putnam, Mrs. Putnam's Receipt Book, p. iv.

 

70Ibid., p. iv.

71[Mrs. Lydia Maria (Francis) Child], The Frugal
Housewife. Dedicate To Those Who Are Not Ashamed of
Economy, 2nd Ed. (Boston: Carter and Hendee, 1830), p. 7.

72

 

The Roger Cookery, p. i.

 

73The American Matron, p. 5.

74The Cook's Own Book, p. vii.

 

43

75The American Matron, p. 5.

 

76Alexis DeTocqueville, Democracy in America, 2
Vols. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 2: 202.

77

 

Lea, Domestic Cookery, p. 292.

 

78Hall, Practical American Cookery, p. 1.

 

79Randolph, The Virginia Housewife, p. xi.

 

80Ellet, The Practical Housekeeper, p. 18.

 

81Hale, The Ladies' New Book of Cookery, p. iii.

 

82James Willard Hurst, Law and the Conditions of
Freedom in the Nineteenth-Century United States (Madison,
Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1964), p. 26.

 

83[Child], The Frugal Housewife, p. 99.

84Abigail J. Stewart, David G. Winter, and A.
David Jones, "Coding Categories for the Study of Child—
Rearing from Historical Sources," Journal of Interdisci-
plinary History, 5 (Spring 1975), 687—701.

85Monthly Religious Magazine (1860), quoted in
Arthur W. Calhoun, A Social History of the American
Family; From Colonial Times to Present, 3 vols. (Cleveland,
Arthur H. Clark, 1919), 3: 187.

86Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, "Beauty and the Beast
and the Militant Woman: A Case Study in Sex Roles and
Social Stress in Jacksonian America," American Quarterly
23 (October 1971): 574.

87

 

 

 

 

 

Ellet, The Practical Housekeeper, p. 46.

88The American Matron, p. 6.

 

89Cookery As It Should Be; A New Manual of the
Dining Room and Kitchen, for Persons in Moderate Circum-
stances. Containing Original Receipts of Every Branch
of Cookery; Domestic Beverages; Food for Invalids; Pickl-
ing, etc., etc. Together with Bills of Fare for Every Bey
in the Year; Rules for Carving, etc. 2nd Ed. (Philadel—
phia: Willis P. Hazard, 1855), p. 6.

9OLBeecher], Miss Beecher's Domestic Receipt Book,

p. 279.

44

91[Child], The Frugal Housewife, p. 4.

921bid., p. 101.

93Cookery As It Should Be, p. 5.

94Hale, The Good Housekeeper, p. 117.

95Cookery As It Should Be, p. 8.

96[Child], The Frugal Housewife, p. 96.

97Ellet, The Practical Housekeeper, p. 18.

98Randolph, The Virginia Housewife, p. xii.

99The Housekeeper's Assistant, p. 1.

100Putnam, Mrs. Putnam's Receipt Book, p. iv.

lOlCookery As It Should Be, p. 7.

102Ellet, The Practical Housekeeper, p. 16.

103Alex Inkeles, "Making Men Modern: On The
Causes and Consequences of Individual Change in Six
Developing Countries," American Journal of Sociology, 75
(1969): 210.

104Ellet, The Practical Housekeeper, p. 109.

105Hurst, Law and the Conditions of Freedom, p.

3-32.

106David C. McClelland, The Achieving Society
(Princeton: D. Van Nostrand Company, 1961), p. 36-62.

107E. P. Thompson, The Making of the English
Working Class (New York: Pantheon Books, 1964), p. 192.

108Herbert G. Gutman, Work, Culture, and Society
in Industrializing America; Essays in American Workigg
Class and Social History (New York: Vintage Books, 1977),
p. 40.

 

109Zygmunt Bauman, "Marxism and the Contemporary
Theory of Culture," Co-Existence, 5 (July 1968): 171.

lloMendall, The New Bedford Practical Receipt
Book, p. 95.

 

45

lllEllet, The Practical Housekeeper, p. 16.

 

112[Allen], The Housekeeper's Assistant, p. 2.

 

46

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

 

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. Primary Sources

Acton,

[A11en,

[Miss] Eliza. Modern Cookery In All Its Branches:
Embracing A Series Of Plain and Simple Instruc-
tions To Private Families and Others, for the
Careful and Judicious Preparation of Every Variety
of Food As Drawn from Practical Observation and
Experience. Philadelphia: John E. Potter, 1860.
Sarah Hale completely revised the American
edition of this popular English cookbook which
was published in Philadelphia in 1845.

 

Ann H.] The Housekeeper's Assistant, Composed
Upon Temperance Principles, With Instructions In
the Art of Making Plain and Fancy Cakes, Puddings,
Pastry, Confectionary Ice Creams, Jellies, Blanc
Mange, Also for the Cooking Of All the Various
Kinds of Meats and Vegetables; With A Variety of
Useful Information and Receipts Never Before
Published. Boston: James Munroe and Company,
1845.

Possibly to emphasize experience to a pros-
pective buyer The Housekeeper's Assistant was the
product of "An Old Housekeeper".

 

 

The American Housewife: Containing the Most Valuable

and Original Receipts in All the Various Branches
of Cookery; and Written in A Minute and Methodi-
cal Manner. Together with A Collection of Miscel-
laneous Receipts, and Directions Relevant to
Housewifery. New York: Dayton and Saxon, 1841.

Again, to emphasize experience in cookery,
The Americae Housewife was written "By an experi-
enced lady." The cookbook had eight editions by
1853.

 

The American Matron; or, Practical and Scientific Cookery.

Boston and Cambridge: James Munroe and Company,
1851.

The author of The American Matron was "A
housekeeper". Like a few others it stressed
temperance and prominently displayed on its title
page, "hand inexperta loquor."

 

47

 

48

[Beecher, Catherine Esther] Miss Beecher's Domestic
Receipt Book: Designed As A Supplement TO Her
Treatise on Domestic Economy. New York: Harper
and Brothers, 1846.

Published in 1846, Miss Beecher's Domestic
Receipt Book went through three editions and
numerous printings by 1860. It, along with
Domestic Economy, was designed "for a complete
course of instructions on every department of
Domestic Economy" which Beecher believed should
be on an "equality with the other sciences in
female schoOls."

 

 

 

 

Bradley, Mrs. J. S. Mrs. Bradley's Housekeeper's Guide:
or a New, Plain, and Economical Cook-Book, Con-
taining the Greatest Variety of New Valuable and
Approved Receipts Ever Published in One Work.
Arranged on a Modern and Scientific Basis.
Cincinnati: H. M. Rulison, 1852.

This cookbook was first published by H. M.
Rulison in Cincinnati. However, by 1860, it also
had publishers in Philadelphia and St. Louis.

 

Campbell, Mrs. Sylvia. The Practical Cook-Book: Con-
taining Recipes, Directions, etc. for Plain and
Fancy Cooking Being the Result of Twenty Years
Experience In That Art. Albany: Munsell and
Rowland, 1860.

The Practical Cook Book was also published

in Cincinnati. Like Bradley's cookbook it too
traveled eastward for another publisher.

 

 

 

[Child, Lydia Maria] The Frugual Housewife. Dedicated
To Those Who Are Not Ashamed of Economy. 2nd Ed.
Boston: Carter and Hendee, 1830.

The Frugual Housewife went through thirty-
two editions by 1850. Child designed her book
for families of moderate income. And covered
many other subjects Of the household besides
cooking. She was also well known for her novels,
verse, biographies, and her support of the aboli-
tionist movement.

 

 

 

Cookery As It Should Be; A New Manual of the Dining Room
and Kitchen, for Persons in Moderate Circumstances.
Containing Original Receipts of Every Branch of
Cookery; Domestic Beverages; Food for Invalids;
Pickling, etc. etc. Together with Bills of Fare
for Every Day in the Year; Rules for Carving, etc.
2nd Ed. Philadelphia: Willis P. Hazard, 1855.

 

49

Introduced in 1853, Cookery As It Should Be
went through seven editions by 1860. The author
was "A Practical Housekeeper, and Pupil of Mrs.
Goodfellow," reputedly Philadelphia's best cook.

 

The Cook's Own Book; Being a Complete Culinary Encyclo-

 

pedia: Comprehending All Valuable Receipts for

 

Cooking Meat, Fish, and Fowl, and Composing Every

 

Kind of Soup, Gravy, Pastry, Preserves, Essences,
&c. That Have Been Published or Invented During

 

 

the Last Twenty Years. Particularly the Very

 

Best of Those in the Cook's Oracle. Cook's Dic-

 

tionary, and Other Systems of Domestic Economy.

 

With Numerous Original Receipts, and a Complete

 

§ystem Of Confectionery. Boston: Munroe and

 

Francis; New York: Charles 8. Francis and David
Felt; Philadelphia: Carey and Lea, and Grigg and
Elliot, 1832.

"A Boston Housekeeper" wrote The Cook's Own
Book. The contents were alphabetically arranged

in a dictionary format.

Cornelius, Mrs. [Mary Hooker] The Younngousekeeper's

Crowen,

 

Friend; or A Guide TO Domestic Economy and Comfort.

 

Boston: Tappan, Whittemore, and Mason, 1848.
One of the most popular cookbooks was The
Young Housekeeper's Friend. It sold for 40 cents

 

and was reprinted many times.

Mrs. T. J. Every Lady's Cook Book. Toledo, Ohio:
Sawyer, Brother and Company, 1854.

This popular publication sold for 25 cents
and was published first in New York, and then
Toledo.

 

Ellet, Mrs. [Elizabeth Fries (Lummis)] The Practical House-

 

keeper: A Cyclopedia of Domestic Economy Embrac-

 

ing Domestic Education. The House and Its Furni-

 

ture. Duties of the Mistress. Duties of the

 

Servant. The Store-room and Marketing. Domestic
Manipulation. Care of Children, and Their Food.
The Table and Attendance. The Art of Cookery.
Receipts Under Forty Five Heads. Family Bills of
Fare. Perfumery and the Toilet. Infusions and
Cosmetics. Pommades, Vinegars, Soaps, etc. The
Family Medical Guide. Miscellaneous Receipts,
etc. Comprising Five Thousand Practical Receipts
and Maxims. Illustrated with Five Hundred Wood
Engravings. New York: Stringer and Townsend,

 

1857.

 

50

The Practical Housekeeper contained over
five thousand "practical receipts and maxims"
ans was illustrated with five hundred wood engrav—
ings. Elizabeth Ellet also wrote The Women Of
the American Revolution.

 

 

 

The Good Cook; Containing Eight Hundred First Rate
Receipts. Selected with Great Care and Proper
Attention TO Economy and Embodying All the Late
Improvements In the Culinary Art. New York:
Philip J. Cozens, 1853.

Another anonymous author wrote The Good Cook.
The title page is signed simply: "a practical
housewife."

 

 

 

 

 

Hale, Mrs. S. J. [Sara Josepha] The Good Housekeeper; Or
the Way To Live Well and To Be Well While We Live.
Containing Directions for Choosing and Preparing
Food, In Regard To Health, Economy, and Taste.
Boston: Weeks, Jordan and Company, 1839.

Already editor of Godey's Lady's Book, Sarah
Hale published her first bookbook, The Good House-
keeper in 1839. It represented an original com-
plication Of "essay receipes", "sensible if not
strictly scientific." It cost 50 cents and proved
very popular.

 

 

 

 

 

Hale, Sara Josepha. The Ladies' New Book of Cookery: A
Practical System for Private Families In Town and
Country; with Directions for Carving and Arranging
the Table for Parties, etc. Also, Preparations of
Food for Invalids and for Children. 5th Ed. New
York: H. Long and Brother, 1852.

Published in 1852, The Ladies' New Book of
Cookery was Hale's second cookbook. The emphasis
in this cookbook on economics and the key place
of women in the family stemmed from Hale's own
experience as a successful businesswoman.

 

 

 

 

Hale, Elizabeth M. Practical American Cookery and Domes-
tic Economy. New York and Auburn: Miller, Orton,
and Mulligan, 1856.
This comprehensive and lengthy cookbook was
"compiled" by Elizabeth Hall. Its 436 pages make
it the longest Of all the cookbooks under study.

 

 

Howland, Mrs. E. A. [Esther Allen] The New England Econo—
mical Housekeeper, and Family Receipt Book.
Worcester: S. A. Howland, 1847.

 

 

51

An inexpensive and very popular cookbook
that was published by a number of publishers in
New England and one in Ohio.

Lea, Elizabeth E. Domestic Cookery, Useful Receipts, and
Hints To Young Housekeepers. 13th Ed. Baltimore:
H. Colburn, 1851.

Domestic Cookery was popular before and after
the Civil War. Published in 1845, a thirteenth
edition appeared in 1869. On the title page was
written: "The source of liberal deeds is wise
economy."

 

 

 

Mann, Mrs. Horace [Mary Tyler (Peabody)] Christianity In
The Kitchen. A Physiological Cook Book. Boston:
Ticknor and Fields, 1857.

With the rise of the Temperance Movement in
the 1830s and 18405 some cookbook authors wrote
to promote the crusade. One of the best known
crusaders was Mary Tyler Mann, the wife of educa-
tor Horace Mann.

 

 

Mendall, Mrs. P. H. The New Bedford Practical Receipt
Book. New Bedford: Charles Taber and Company,
1859.
The New Bedford was a fine example of a local
cookbook. The author, publisher, and title were
all linked to New Bedford.

 

 

[A. M. Collins] Mrs. Collins' Table Receipts; Adapted To
Western Housewifery. New Albany, Indiana: Jno.
R. Nunemacher, 1851.

As the title suggested this cookbook was for
those in the west. Besides introducing food
recipes, Mrs. Collins had this passage from.ee
You Like It on the title page: "If I bring thee
not something to eat, I'll give thee to die."

 

 

 

The National Cookbook, 4th Ed. Philadelphia: Robert E.
Peterson, 1853.

A "lady of Philadelphia: a practical house-
wife" was the anonymous author Of The National
Cookbook. Graham's Magazine pronounced her "a
lady in whose judgement we have the most unbounded
confidence" and believed the book singularly
"worthy of a housekeeper's perusal". Obviously,
others did too and this cookbook went through
eight editions by 1857.

 

 

 

52

Putnam, Mrs. [Elizabeth H.] Mrs. Putnam's Receipt Book;
and Young Housekeeper's Assistant. Boston:
Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1849.

This popular cookbook appeared in a "new and
enlarged edition" in 1860.

 

Randolph, Mrs. Mary. The Virginia Housewife, Or Methodi-

cal Cook. Baltimore: Plaskitt and Cugle, 1838.
The Virginia Housewife superceded New Ameri-

can Cookery (1796) as America's most popular cook-
book. The wife of a Virginia planter Mary Randolph
emphasized the importance of executive abilities
in managing a large household. Although only four
editions were published at least thirteen reprints
of the final edition appeared by 1858.

 

 

[P. 0. Roger] The Roger Cookery. Being A Collection of
Receipts, Designed For the Use of Private Families.
Boston: Joseph Dowe, 1838.

Although not a large selling cookbook, 222
Roger Cookery typified the thrust of many cook-
books when it implored on its title page: "What
we spend rationally, we enjoy."

 

Rundell, Mrs. [Maria Eliza) Ketelby)] A New System of
Domestic Cookery: Founded Upon Principles of
Economy and Adapted To the Use of Private Fami-
lies. Philadelphia: Carey and Hart, 1844.
The final edition of this cookbook in 1844
was augmented and improved by the addition of
more than nine hundred new receipts."

 

Sanderson, J. M. The Complete Cook. Plain and Practical
Directions for Cooking and Housekeeping; With
Upwards of Seven Hundred Receipts: Consisting
of Directions for the Choice of Meat and Poultry;
Preparations for Cooking, Making of Broths and
Soups; Boilingi Roasting, Baking, and Frying, of
Meats, Fish, &c. Seasonings, Colourings, Cooking
Vegetables; Preparing Salads, Clarifying; Making
of Pastry, Puddings, Gruels, Gravies, Garnishes,
&c. and, With General Directions for Making Wines.
Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, 1843.

The_gomplete Cook cost "twenty-five cents"
and was "sold by all booksellers and news agents."

 

Smith, Miss Prudence. Modern American Cookery: Contain-
ing Directions For Making Soups, Roasting, Boil-
ing, Baking, DressingAVegetables, Poultry, Fish,
Made Dishes, Pies, Gravies, Pickles, Puddings,
Pastry, Sick Cookery, etc. With A List Of Medical

53

Recipes and A Valuable Miscellany. New York:
Harper and Brothers, 1835.

Although published by J. and J. Harper in
New York, Modern American Cookery was also "sold
by all the principal booksellers throughout the
United States."

 

 

Widdifield, Hannah. Widdifield's New Cook Book: Or,
Practical Receipts For the Housewife. Comprising
All the Popular and Approved Methods For Cooking
and Preparing All Kinds of Poultry, Omelets,
Jellies, Meats, Soups, Pies, Vegetables, Terrapins,
Pastries, Pickles, Syrups, Rolls, Preserves,
Puddings, Desserts, Sauces, Cakes, Fish, etc.
Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson, 1856.

Hailed as "the most valuable cookbook ever
published," Widdifield's New Cookbook sold for
one dollar in 1856. Its author was "celebrated
for many years for the superiority of every
article she made, in South Ninth Street, above
Spruce, Philadelphia."

 

 

 

 

 

II. Secondary Sources

 

A. Articles

Andrews, William D. and Andrews, Deborah C. "Technology
and the Housewife in Nineteenth-Century America."
Women's Studies 2 (1974): 309—28.

 

Bauman, Zygmunt. "Marxism and the Contemporary Theory of
Culture." Co-Existence 5 (July 1968): 156-171.

 

Branca, Patricia. "The Myth of the Idle Victorian Woman."
In Clio's Consciousness Raised, pp. 179-91.
Edited by Mary Hartman and Lois Banner. New York:
Harper and Row, 1974.

 

 

Conway, Jill. "Women Reformers and American Culture."
Journal of Social History 5 (Winter 1971172):
164-177.

Dawley, Alan and Faler, Paul. "Working Class Culture and
Politics in the Industrial Revolution: Sources
of Loyalism and Rebellion." Journal of Social
History 9 (Summer 1976): 466-480.

Furstenberg, Frank F. "Industrialization and the Ameri-
can Family: A Look Backwards." American Socio—
logical Review 31 (June 1966): 326-37.

 

54

Hogeland, Ronald W. "The Female Appendage: Feminine
Life-Styles in America, 1820-1861." Civil War
History 17 (June 1971): 101-14.

 

Inkeles, Alex. "Making Men Modern: On the Causes and
Consequences Of Individual Change in Six Develop—
ing Countries." American Journal of Sociology
75 (Winter 1969): 199-213.

Pleck, Elizabeth. "Two Worlds in One: Work and Family."
Journal of Social History 10 (Winter 1976): 178-
95.

 

Riley, Glenda G. "The Subtle Subversion: Change in the
Traditionalist Image of Women." The Historian
32 (February 1970): 210-27.

Smith-Rosenberg, Carroll. "Beauty and the Beast and the
Militant Woman: A Case Study in Sex Roles and
Social Stress in Jacksonian America." American
Quarterly 23 (October 1971): 562-84.

 

Stewart, Abigail; Winter, David G.; and Jones, David A.
"Coding Categories for the Study of Child-Rearing
from Historical Sources." Journal of Interdisci-
plinary History. 5 (Spring 1975): 687-701.

 

Welter, Barbara. "The Cult of True Womanhood, 1820-1860".
American Quarteriy 18 (Summer 1966): 151-74.

 

B. Books

Calhoun, Arthur W. A Social History of the American
Family; From Colonial Times to Present. 3 vols.
Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark, 1919.

Cott, Nancy F. The Bonds of Womanhood: Women's Sphere
in New England, 1780-1835. New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1977.

 

Degler, Carl N. At Odds; Women and the Family in America
from the Revolution TO the Present. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1980.

Faragher, John Mack. Women and Men on the Overland Trail.
New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979.

Gutman, Herbert G. Work, Culture, and Society in Indus-
trializing America; Essays in American Working

55

Class and Social History. New York: Vintage
Books, 1977.

 

Gray, Sarah Virginia. A History of the Publications Of
Cookbooks in the United States, 1796-1896.
Rochester, New York: University of Rochester
Press for the Association of College and Research
Libraries, 1965.

 

Hurst, James Willard. Law and the Conditions of Freedom
in the Ninettenth-Century United States. Madison:
University of Wisconsin Press, 1964.

 

 

Lowenstein, Eleanor. Bibliography Of American Cookery
Books, 1742—1860. Worcester, Massachusetts:
American Antiquarian Society, 1972.

 

McClelland, David C. The Achieving Society. Princeton,
New Jersey: D. Van Nostrand Company, 1961.

 

Melder, Keith. Beginnings Of Sisterhood: The American
Woman's Rights Movement, 1800-1850. New York:
Schoken Books, 1977.

 

 

Oakley, Ann. Women's Work: The Housewife, Past and
Present. New York: Vintage Books, 1974.

Schumpeter, Joseph A. Capitalism, Socialism, and Demo-
cracy. 34d Ed. New York: Harper and Row, 1962.

 

Sklar, Kathryn Kish. Catharine Beecher: A Study in
American Domesticity. New Haven: Yale Univer-
sity Press, 1973.

Thompson, E. P. The Making of the English Working Class.
New York: Pantheon Books, 1964.

 

DeTocqueville, Alexis. Democracy in America. 2 vols.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945.

 

Wishey, Bernard. The Child and the Republic; The Down
of Modern American Child Nurture. Philadelphia:
University Of Pennsylvania Press, 1968.

 

C. Reports

Sicherman, Barbara; Monter, E. William; Scott, Joan
Wallach; Sklar, Kathryn Kish. Recent United
States Scholarship on the History of Women; A

 

56

Report Presented at the XV International Congress
Of Historical Sciences. New York: American
Historical Association, 1980.

 

 

 

 

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