If you drank a little too much beer at last night’s social house party; you should try drinking three eels out of a glass jar. That’s what a College-owned medicinal cookbook recommends at least. The book is part of an acquisition of 700 cookbooks made by the George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections and Archives. The books will be belong to the Esta Kramer Collection of American Cookery which includes cookbooks and domestic advice books published between 1772 and 1960, though the majority of the collection dates back to the 1800s.
“Since the acquisition of this collection, I have talked with Bowdoin students—some of whom have never been in Special Collections faculty members who are working on books and want to use this to supplement their research, and other community members,” said Marike Van Der Steenhoven, a special collections and archives outreach fellow.
“Almost any topic or discipline can be served by this collection. The depth and the breadth is amazing,” said the Director of Bowdoin College Library, Marjorie Hassen. “For us, it’s a fabulous resource and we’re hoping as the word gets out [students and faculty] will think about ways they can incorporate it into their classes.”
One first year seminar professor has already expressed interest in visiting the collection with her class.
“The seminar is using this cookery collection [to look] at different medicinal recipes over time,” said Van Der Steenhoven. “The cookbooks are an amazing way to look at different periods of time and see how food changes and shifts in ideologies based on social movements...there’s a nice juxtaposition of how things have stayed the same and how other things have changed.”
In particular, Van Der Steenhoven notes that the collection can be used to track alcohol use in conjunction with changes in policies and temperance.
“When we think about our Special Collections, we think about how a collection is supporting the College, students, and faculty and student research,” added Hassen. “When we think about building collections or gifts, it is prime to think about how our students and faculty can use it.”
The rare book dealer who sold the books to Bowdoin provided a catalogue that provides both a physical description and historical context for some of this work. Going forward, librarians hope to continue to catalogue the collection in order to make it even more accessible.
Currently, there is an assortment of ten books displayed in the Reading Room for people to browse. This includes the first cookbook published in Maine as well as a domestic advice book written by sisters Harriet Beecher Stowe Catharine Beecher, which they wrote after leaving Brunswick.
“I’ve discovered that there is a really deep collaborations among institutions in Maine,” Hassen said. “The importance of the collection for Maine is something to keep in mind.”
Looking forward, Bowdoin Special Collections plans on exhibiting the cookbooks alongside other materials in the archives.
“One of the things I’m going to be working on for the spring semester is an exhibit that highlights and draws on this collection,” said Van Der Steenhoven. “I’m interested in pairing it with items from our current book and manuscript collections.”
Hassen also noted that the cookbooks’ value extends beyond the information they contain.
“In this day when so many resources are available electronically, here’s an incredible resource that has a physicality to it. That’s unique,” she said. “It’s exciting for students who are interested in that aspect of research and learning to have that opportunity. It’s not esoteric, it’s something that’s been part of all our lives because it’s food, which is a big part of everyone’s life.”