Our academic and foodie lives are deliciously intertwined. We study at Espresso Royale with a hot latte and a scone. We order from Pizza House in the middle of those dreaded all-nighters. With food as such an important part of college life, one may wonder: Can food ever become academic? The William L. Clements Library suggests that the answer is yes.

Currently available at the Clements Library, located on South University near the President’s house, is the Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive. That’s right, U of M has an archive devoted to cookbooks. Well, it’s more than just cookbooks. This Archive has a wide variety of materials from the 16th to 20th century, including advertisements, magazines, menus, and the like. There are already thousands of items being stored, with many more being added on a regular basis. I ventured down to the library recently for a class assignment on archive research. I was intrigued by...

...the possibilities a culinary collection could provide, but unsure of what to expect. What I discovered was a study of American history through a very unique medium.

For those of you who have never done archive research, it’s not the sort of venture where you can simply wander in and take a book off the shelf. Depending on which one you visit, you have to sign different amounts of paperwork that ensure the archive’s integrity and privacy. This particular archive does not allow you to check anything out, nor can you make copies of any of the materials. You can take notes on your object of study, and they will check your things as you leave to verify that you haven’t taken anything out that should remain there. But, once you learn to work within their procedures, viewing the culinary collection at Clements becomes quite an interesting experience. 

Based on the types of materials I wanted to view for my particular class, I searched for titles that I thought made a statement concerning feminism throughout American history. I was also in the mood to indulge my sweet tooth (as I often am), so I picked pieces that were related to desserts. I expected to be reading three cookbooks, but I didn’t really read any at all. One piece was a pamphlet from the mid-1800s that advertised different types of extracts. No bigger than a deck of cards and only about a quarter as thick, it listed recipes for various sweets that all required different extracts, all the while emphasizing how this particular brand of extracts had the most superior product. Another piece was a thick manual that included a variety of recipes, as well as a guide for maintaining the proper upkeep of the household. What was perhaps most intriguing about this piece was its listing of a 365 day meal plan, which served three meals a day, based on the recipes of the book. My final item was a small magazine that demonstrated how to make ice cream and other chilly treats. This piece is indicative of a certain pride the collection holds, for it was authored by Sarah Tyson Rorer, a prominent culinary author and pioneer in the field of domestic science. She served as an example of the developing feminist movement through her relationship with food.

So, if you’ve ever been curious how cooking has evolved over the last few centuries, I would definitely recommend checking out the Culinary Archive. It serves as not only a collection of culinary history, but an interesting study of American history through a unique set of texts. Though you can’t check any of the pieces out, you can find many of them online in Google Books and you can copy down the contents with pencil and paper. If I ever find the time, I may be trying a recipe from the distant past some time in my near future.