The introductory texts reproduced here were written by the original Feeding America team to contextualize the books that were selected for inclusion as part of the 2001 digitization project.
Favorite Dishes. A Columbian Autograph Souvenir Cookery Book. Over Three Hundred Autograph Recipes, and Twenty-three Portraits, Contributed By The Board Of Lady Managers Of The World's Columbian Exposition. Illustrated By May Root-Kern, Mellie Ingels Julian, Louis Braunhold, George Wharton Edwards. Comp.
By Carrie V. Shuman...
Chicago [R. R. Donnelley & Sons Co., Printers] 1893.
We have selected seven charity cookbooks to represent the more than 3000 that were published in the United States between 1864 and 1922. As we indicated in our introduction, the charity cookbook is a legacy of the Civil War. They are a remarkable resource for the culinary historian.
For other charity cookbooks, please see #29 Presbyterian Cook Book 1873;
These books all represent themselves as charities, but also are cross-referenced to other categories. In this case, Fairs.
First is with Fairs and Expositions. Following opon the first world's fair in London in 1851, the Sanitary Fairs during the American Civil War, the American Centennial Fair in Philadelphia in 1876, and others, many Fairs and Exhibitions were held throughout the United States.
This book was one of a large number of culinary items that came out of the great World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893. This Fair was held to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus's first voyage of exploration.
The Fair was perhaps the greatest public amusement of the 19th century. It was a phenomenal success, attracting about 28 million visitors. It included participation of more than 100 states, territories, countries and colonies, as well as thousands of concessionaires, from individual entrepreneurs to the largest companies.
A Woman's Building was one of the most important innovations at the 1893 Fair. Women from every section of America joined forces to present every aspect of women's lives and contributions to the greater society. One of their projects was to raise funds to help poor women who could not afford to pay their own way attend the Fair. This cookbook was one method they used to raise these funds.
The Fair had a Board of Lady Managers, which included the most influential women of the day: Mrs. Potter Palmer (Chicago), Mrs. Governor James P. Eagle (Arkansas), Mrs. Frona Eunice Wait (California), Mrs. Sarah S.C. Angell (Michigan), Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker (Connecticut), Mrs. Governor Oglesby (Illinois), Mrs. Governor Rikards (Montana), Miss Frances Willard (Illinois), Mrs. Governor John M. Stone (Mississippi), Senora Teresa Armijo de Symington (New Mexico), and Senora Don Manuel Chaves (New Mexico) who offered her regional recipes in Spanish.
This is a most handsome book. It has an evocative art nouveau cover, twenty-three remarkable portraits of members of the Board of Lady Managers, and more than 300 autograph recipes. The recipes do not seem, by and large, to be specifically regional, with the exception of the Spanish language New Mexican recipes noted above, a Bisque of Crab or Crawfish, Callas and a Jambolaya from Louisiana, Terrapins and Wild Duck from Maryland, a Pilauf from South Carolina, and an Old Virginia Bread Cake.
In fact, the homoginization of American cooking might be inferred by a careful look at the recipes: both the Boston Baked Beans and Cranberries are from a Nebraska Lady Manager, the Rhode Island Dish-White Corn Meal Cakes for Breakfast are from Michigan, and there are crab and lobster recipes from Idaho. The various Fairs of all kinds held in the United States generated a number of intriguing cookbooks.
This book also represents the subject of social issues and women's issues.
