Janet McKenzie Hill was born in Westfield, Massachusetts in 1852, the daughter of Alexander McKenzie and Nancy (Lewis) McKenzie. She graduated from Massachusetts State Normal School in 1871, and became an assistant teacher at Stockbridge High School. In 1873 she married Benjamin M. Hill. Years later, she went back to school to study cookery, and in 1892 graduated from the Boston Cooking School, where Fannie Farmer was assistant principal. Four years later, in June 1896, Hill founded the Boston Cooking School Magazine - the official journal of the Boston Cooking School. (In 1914 its name changed to American Cookery, and remained so until 1946.) In addition to being the long-time editor of the magazine, Hill was known as a food writer, demonstrator of cookery, and lecturer on domestic science. Making her home in Needham, Massachusetts, she authored or co-authored many books and numerous pamphlets on preparing food. Her cookbooks, which went through many editions, included Salads, Sandwiches and Chafing Dish Dainties (1899); Practical Cooking and Serving (1902); The Up-to-Date Waitress (1906); Cooking for Two (1909); The Book of Entrees (1911); American Cook Book (1914); Canning, Preserving and Jelly Making (1915); Whys of Cooking (1916).

Hill was one who led the way in the evolving relationship between food companies and trained domestic scientists, where companies paid well-trained cooking specialists to concoct recipes using their products, and in return the (female) specialists were given professional recognition for themselves and their new field of domestic science. Hill authored many advertising "ephemera" published by food companies. Chocolate and Cocoa Recipes by Miss Parloa and Home Made Candy Recipes by Mrs. Janet McKenzie Hill (1909), included in this collection, was a particularly high-quality example of a promotional recipe book, in which Hill's recipes for luscious chocolate candies using Baker's Brand Chocolate, were brought to life by unusually detailed, idealized illustrations of the confections. Some of her other promotional publications included A Short History of the Banana and a Few Recipes for Its Use (1904), published by the United Fruit Company; Dainty Desserts for Dainty People: Salads, Savories, and Dainty Dishes Made with Knox Gelatine (1909), published by Charles B. Knox Co.; Cooking and Serving in Guernsey Earthenware: and Things We Relish (1909), published by the Guernsey Earthenware Company; and Recipes for the Use of Milk (1906), published by the long-time Massachusetts dairy company, H.P. Hood.

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