#JBLCA

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Much Depends on Dinner 2024 Showcase

In Winter 2024, students enrolled in Dr. Margot Finn's ALA 264 Much Depends on Dinner worked in groups to research and write captions for food history materials in the Special Collections Research Center's Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive and in the collections of the William L. Clements Library.

These were featured on the Shapiro Library Screens in Bert's Study Lounge.

Katzen, Mollie & Mermelstein, Catherine B. (1977). The Moosewood cookbook : recipes from Moosewood Restaurant, Ithaca, New York. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press. In the Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive.

“The most influential vegetarian cookbook of all time” – Wall Street Journal 

The Moosewood Cookbook consists of authentic vegetarian food and dessert recipes that incorporate various cultures. Seven founders created the first Moosewood cookbook in 1972 in response to the rise of vegetarianism during the 20th century. These recipes range from the Mushroom Moussaka to the Cardamom Coffee Cake – an Indian spice incorporated into the classic German coffee cake. These simple yet healthy recipes are cooked at the Moosewood restaurant in Ithaca, New York. Make sure you visit the restaurant on your next trip!

[Culinary Menu : Travel - Ships]. 1905-1997. In the Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive.

This menu describes the luncheon served in the three-story first class “Grand Salon” dining room of the British R.M.S “Queen Mary” on Saturday, June 14, 1952, on their weekly trip between Cherbourg, France and New York, USA. Although the cruise ship was initially catered to the upper class before World War II, it eventually expanded to include the tourist classes as well. The menu on the ship changed daily and offered some of the fanciest dishes of the time. The “Queen Mary” is now permanently docked in Long Beach and serves as a floating museum and restaurant.

Read more!

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Obesity: The Science, Culture, and Politics of Fatness in America 

In Fall 2023, students enrolled in Dr. Margot Finn's course on the science, culture, and politics of obesity worked in groups to research and write captions for food history materials.

Most of these items were from the Special Collections Research Center's Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive.

These were featured on the Shapiro Library Screens in Bert's Study Lounge.

M. L. Holbrook, Eating for Strength (New York, M. L. Holbrook & co. [c1888]). Library of Congress. 

The 1888 edition of Eating for Strength, a popular 19th century work on diet written by Martin Luther Holbrook approaches food in a scientific manner, outlining the dietary needs of various classes of people and looking at the healthfulness of various foods. This book includes information about food and diet in relation to health and work, together with several hundred recipes for different foods and drinks. All of these tables illustrate the protein, carbohydrate, and fat content of some of the most common foods that characterized the diets of that era. This underscores how even over 100 years ago, these three macronutrients were seen as important to monitor in order to curb obesity.

Keeping Your Weight Down (Westfield, N.Y. : Welch Grape Juice Co., [1921?]). Janie Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive.

Published by Welch Juice Company in 1921, this recipe book called Keeping Your Weight Down suggests that Welch's Grape Juice can aid in weight maintenance, and emphasizes its importance in influencing desired health benefits with their beverage. The monochrome-purple book cover showcases an idealized “thin” model covered in loose night clothing, examining a weight scale. Inside, “Pudding and Desserts” recipes are listed in sections with the usage of Welch brand ingredients. Framing grapes as dessert, often eliminated in dieting practices, allows for the luxury of sweets within the strictures of losing weight.

Ruth West, Stop Dieting! Start Losing! (New York : E.P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1956.). Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive. 

Although Ruth West’s Stop Dieting! Start Losing! was a dieting recipe book published in 1956, the artifact has a startling resemblance to modern attitudes about weight, despite the huge body of research conducted on obesity since this time. Today, It’s easy to laugh at slogans like “how to lose 2 to 3 pounds a week” and “16 foods for sex appeal and vitality,” but how different are these claims from those we hear today from diet magazines, social media and even our own medical professionals? Is the rigor of evidence from then to now all that different? 

Read more!

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Food Literacy for All Showcase

"Do you know why the US Food Administration was created? Nope, it's not for public health reasons! Rather, it was created on August 17, 1917 by executive order primarily to provide food for the Allies in Europe during World War I. The US launched a rigorous campaign, greatly humanitarian in nature, onboarding roughly half the families in the nation to take on food pledges with weekly meatless, sweetless, porkless, and wheatless days to ship those foods to soldiers and starving civilians in Europe. This campaign demonstrates how the lack of overindulgence in food sympolizes patrioatism in the US during WWI."

Spotlight on food history posters prepared by students enrolled in the Food Literacy for All (Winter 2024), a community-academic partnership course hosted by the University of Michigan Sustainable Food Systems Initiative. Read more!

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Remembering Dan Longone

Daniel T. Longone and Janice Bluestein Longone, 2019. 

Daniel T. Longone, University of Michigan Chemistry Professor Emeritus, passed away on January 28th, 2024. Dan and his beloved wife Jan, who predeceased him in 2022, devoted much of their lives to the study and promotion of culinary history. 

Viard, A. ⁨Le Cuisinier Royal (Paris : G. Barba, 1840). Gift of Janice Bluestein Longone.

Dan and Jan came to Ann Arbor in 1959, when Dan joined the University of Michigan’s Chemistry Department, where he taught and researched organic chemistry. Dan’s culinary expertise was in the history of wine in America. In addition to building a world-class collection of texts on wine and grapes, he shared his knowledge generously with colleagues and novices alike. He taught “Wine: An Historical and Sensory Evaluation” through the University Center for Adult Education, founded the Ann Arbor Wine and Food Society, and was a founding member of the Detroit Chapter of the Commanderie de Bordeaux.

Rendella, Prospero. Tractatvs de vinea, vindemia, et vino...(Venetiis : Apud Iuntas, 1629). Gift of Janice Bluestein Longone. 

In the early 2000s, Jan and Dan Longone donated much of their personal culinary collection to the University of Michigan to establish the Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive (JBLCA), and in 2009, Dan curated “500 Years of American Grapes and Wine: A Remarkable Journey" at the University of Michigan's William L. Clements Library. 

Hall, Harrison, The Distiller... (Philadelphia : Published by the author, 1818). Gift of Janice Bluestein Longone.

Now residing in the University of Michigan Library's Special Collections Research Center, the JBLCA comprises many thousands of items ranging from the 16th to the 20th centuries, from handwritten manuscript recipe books to a multitude of church and temple charity cookbooks. Thanks to Dan and Jan’s shared vision, students and scholars for generations to come, will be able to study the production, consumption, and appreciation of food and drink through this rich collection.

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Crisscross Apricot Pi(e) Day

All about Home Baking : Cakes, Cookies, Pies, Pastries, Biscuits, Muffins, Quick Breads, Frostings, Table Service, Party Menus. 2nd ed., Consumer Service Dept., General Foods Corp., 1933. Call No. Cookery 1933 Al 2nd ed.

More for pie day from our colleague Melanie Lowrie!

"Happy Pi(e) Day! As the resident nerd in high school, Pi Day was always one of those holidays that I enjoyed reminding the rest of my classmates of, and what better way to celebrate than with one of my favorite desserts, pie! (Although, I like all desserts personally, I have a sweet tooth and will never turn down something sweet). 

In my capacity as one of the Collection Services Support Specialists for Special Collections, I have been the go-to person for almost all post-cataloging activities since arriving at the Library in July 2023, meaning that I have been getting very close with new acquisitions once they arrive back from Technical Services.

One of the main collections that has been coming across my desk almost constantly since July has been additions to our Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive. In other words, I’ve been seeing a lot of cookbooks! So, when Juli McLoone sent out an email announcing the annual Pi(e) Day celebrations, I immediately knew I needed to participate. The theme being fruit pies, I challenged myself to find a recipe using a fruit not commonly found in pies at the grocery store (apple, cherry, blueberry, peach, you get the idea), and I wanted this recipe to come from a book in our collection.

Enter All about Home Baking: Cakes, Cookies, Pies, Pastries, Biscuits, Muffins, Quick Breads, Frostings, Table Service, Party Menus. The edition in our collection is the second edition created by the General Foods Corporation circa 1933. I thought this was perfect as I started leafing through the book as it seems to have been created to help the home chef learn basic skills and then build upon them with foolproof recipes. While I was searching through the section on pies, I came across the recipe for pie crust with a simple cherry filling. Well dang, I wanted to stay away from fruits you commonly find in pies in the grocery store!

Thankfully, I kept going, because on the final page of the section was the recipe for Crisscross Apricot Pie. Racking my brain, I could not pinpoint a single time in my life where I have had or even seen an apricot pie. Perfect! Thankfully this book was scanned and uploaded to Hatitrust from Cornell University’s collection, so I printed out the two pages I needed and decided to get to work...."

Read more!

Crisscross Apricot Pie recipe from All About Home Baking.

While I could have used a food processor to complete this process, I felt that actually "getting my hands dirty" may be a little more fun.

Carl definitely thought the pie filling was for his dinner. He was disappointed when I said it's people food.

The completed pie.

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A Legacy to Savor: The Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive

Janice B. Longone (1933-2022), Founder and Adjunct Curator of the Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive

Join us on Thursday, 11 May 3-5 pm for a panel honoring the impact of collector, donor, and adjunct curator Janice B. Longone (1933-2022) through her work building the renowned Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive (JBLCA). The JBLCA encompasses more than 25,000 items including 19th and early 20th century cookbooks, charity cookbooks, immigrant cookbooks, food-related advertising ephemera, and restaurant menus. 

Read more!

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Much Depends on Dinner

Dr. Chase's Recipes or Information for Everybody. A.W. Chase, Ann Arbor, Michigan: Published by the Author, 1867. In the University of Michigan Library, Special Collections Research Center (Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive). Gift of Janice Bluestein Longone.

We are excited to announce a special collaboration between the Special Collections Research Center, the William L. Clements Library, and the students of ALA 264 Much Depends on Dinner. From April 17 to May 8th, you will be able to find culinary history across campus on Diag Boards and Campus Bus Signs. To see all five selected items together, scroll through this blog post or visit the Shapiro Screens (April 16-May 7) on the first floor of the Shapiro Library. 

Read more!

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Recipe cabinet / by Fannie Merritt Farmer, Author of ... The Boston Cooking School Cook Book. New York : George Sully & Company, 1913 (Cookery 1913 Fa)

Enjoy this 1913 Fannie Farmer Recipe Cabinet from the #LongoneArchive for #WhatsCookingWednesday! Published commercially, our copy also includes some handwritten additions.

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Chinese-Japanese Cook Book (1914)

Chinese-Japanese Cook Book (1914) by Sara Bosse and Onoto Watanna, published by Rand McNally & Company.

Guest post by Lisa Ryou

“Cookbooks can reveal so much about the time in which they were written through their recipes and their authors. For instance, many cookbooks were written for a particular audience, most often women because historically they were the ones cooking or keeping up in the kitchen. In the 20th century, more and more cookbooks were published that sought to bring cuisines of the world to American housewives. The Chinese-Japanese cookbook (1914) is an early example of one.” 

Read more!

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New Exhibit! A Perfect Pairing of Books and Dinnerware

Children’s toy plastic American Modern dinnerware, mid-1950s by Ideal Toy Company, designer Russel Wright, with Betty Crocker’s Cook Book for Boys and Girls (1957).

John Meir and Son, Greengates Pottery, Tunstall, Staffordshire, England (1837–1897). Ironstone dinnerware, Kyber pattern, circa 1838. Ironstone china, glazed, with decals. IMoDD 2017.82. Gift of Russell and Sheila Stevens.

Lydia Maria Child. The American Frugal Housewife: Dedicated to Those Who Are Not Ashamed of Economy. 22nd Edition. New York: Samuel S. & William Wood, 1838. The Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive.

Robeson Rochester Corp., Rochester, New York; and Fraunfelter China, Zanesville, Ohio, 1923–1939. Art Deco Royal Rochester Modernistic syrup, batter bowl, and waffle iron with cord, ca. 1928. China, hand-painted, and chrome. IMoDD 2018.64. Gift of Judith and Martin Schwartz (syrup); 2019.182 (batter bowl); and 2018.86 (waffle iron). Museum Purchases.

Alice Bradley. Breakfast to Midnight, Recipes with Pabst-ett. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Pabst Corp., 1929. The Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive. Gift of Janice Bluestein Longone.

Glidden Pottery, Alfred, New York (1940–1957). June Chisolm, decorator. Chi-Chi Poodle shirred egg server, squared cup and saucer, salt & pepper shakers, 1951–55. Earthenware, glazed, hand-decorated. IMoDD 2016.131. Museum Purchase (shirred egg server); 2013.68 Gift of D. Philip Baker and Julie Baker Boyer from the Collection of Mildred Higgins Baker (cup and saucer); 2014.193 Museum Purchase (salt & pepper).

Lucy’s Notebook!: With Inside Secrets on Favorite Menus, Recipes, and Good Entertaining by the Star of “I Love Lucy.” [New York?]: Philip Morris, [1950?]. The Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive. Gift of Janice Bluestein Longone.

We’re pleased to announce a new exhibit, A Perfect Pairing, on display in the Audubon Room from July 7, 2022 to September 29, 2022! An online version of A Perfect Pairing is available on the website of the International Museum of Dinnerware Design. Come check it out --- in person or online!

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Special Collections After Hours | A Perfect Pairing

Peanuts Lunch Bag Cook Book by June Dutton. San Francisco: Determined Productions, 1970. From the Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive. Gift of Janice Bluestein Longone.

Join us for our first After Hours event of the term, online next Tuesday, 13 September, 4-5 pm via Zoom.

Curators Juli McLoone and Margaret Carney, PhD will discuss A Perfect Pairing, the current Audubon Room exhibit, which pairs cookbooks from the Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive with dishes from the International Museum of Dinnerware Design.

We'll begin at 4:00pm with a pre-recorded tour of the exhibit via Zoom, followed by Q&A in real time. Please register to attend this remote event via Zoom. 

We hope you'll be able to join us!

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History in the Kitchen

Earlier this month, Special Collections was pleased to host WEMU news reporter Jorge Avellan as he researched a story for their “Hidden in Plain Sight” program, featuring Malinda Russell’s A Domestic Cook Book. This unprepossessing little 39-page booklet in faded paper wrappers is one of the greatest treasures of the Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive. Published in Paw Paw, Michigan in 1866, A Domestic Cook Book is the only known copy of the oldest known cookbook published by an African American.

Both Malinda Russell’s original A Domestic Cook Book and the 2007 facsimile produced by the Clements Library at the University of Michigan have been digitized and are available to read online or download as PDFs through HathiTrust. Those interested in learning more about Malinda Russell and other important 19th century African American household publications will especially enjoy the introductory essay by Jan Longone in the facsimile…

Read more!

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Our Third Annual Selection of Pies for Pi Day!

For the past two years, the Special Collections Library has celebrated Pi Day (3/14) by sharing pie recipes from the Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive (JBLCA). This year, we bring you a pair of pies from The new cyclopaedia of domestic economy and practical housekeeper...(1872), edited by Elizabeth Fries Ellet. Read more!