Scope of collection
1929 cookbook.
Collector Lynnette E. Foucher assembled this cookbook collection and organized it into twenty-two distinct groups based on ingredient (exs. chocolate, yeast), company (ex. Pillsbury), and region (exs. local, international). While the bulk of the collection represents the period of the 1920s-1970s, it contains items from as early as 1902 and as late as 2000. Its strength lies in its documentation of corporations marketing their products to consumers, in particular to the American housewife.
From Lever Brothers Company's 10 Cakes Husbands Like Best (1952) to General Electric's Meals Go Modern Electrically (1940) cookbooks offered companies a unique opportunity to enter a woman's home where they continued to influence what she prepared and how she prepared it long after she left the market. These corporate cookbooks often promised women something greater than a delicious cake; they promised to provide them more free time to spend with their families, ways to economize, and a more glamorus lifestyle. As a result this collection is a rich source for the study of modern household technology, cooking and food trends, women's history, and consumerism during the 20th century
