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05/12/2021 09:15 AMAlthough Susan Campbell admits she’s not a cook and would consider herself to be the last person to write a cookbook, she has produced one that is both entertaining and useful, honoring the Ivoryton Library’s 150th anniversary this year.
The 2021 Cookbook of the Ivoryton Ladies’ Society contains modern-day recipes and those from a cookbook of the same name that was published in 1898.
Campbell, who is a member on the library’s board of directors, describes the 2021 compendium of recipes and historical photographs as a “tongue-in-cheek Victorian cookbook.”
It contains about 55 recipes spanning many categories, including soups, breads, meats and fish, snacks or “teatime” edibles, desserts, and puddings.
Although each of the recipes has been fully vetted in a test kitchen, there were a few, like the one for “Calf’s Head Soup,” that were included more for fun than actual use, with a slow cooker pulled pork and Dr. Pepper recipe offered as an alternative to the original recipe.
Other modern-day recipes include those for zucchini bread, chicken salad with chutney dressing, cucumber canapes, and more.
“The recipes that we got from modern day are really pretty easy and they take into account that very few people have all day to make a meal,” said Campbell.
“A lot of the Victorian recipes involved starting in the morning and then working through the afternoon…We don’t live like that anymore,” she said.
Other indications of the era in which the early recipes were created include uncommon ingredients. Standardized measuring was also just getting started in the late 19th century and evidence of this is in some of the terms used in the old recipes.
Cookbooks, like the one from 1898, “provide a fascinating glimpse into the social and regional history of a particular time,” said Melissa Josefiak, director of the Essex Historical Society.
“The recipes often provide clues as to ingredients available at the time, ethnic and regional specialties, and the extent of what historians call ‘domestic technology’ or the history of kitchen appliances,” she continued.
Starting in the 1860s, fundraising cookbooks, or “charity cookbooks,” were often created by women to raise funds for social causes that were important to them.
“Women could fundraise by drawing upon their traditional skill set, cooking, and then move into new areas such as editing, printing, soliciting for advertisers, and distributing to ensure the cookbooks reached their intended audience and met their fundraising goals,” said Josefiak.
“Producing charity cookbooks allowed women a new sense of relative empowerment while improving designated areas in their community,” she added.
Accordingly, the Ladies’ Society of Ivoryton, which Campbell describes in the opening pages of the 2021 cookbook as a “sewing circle,” helped to form the library’s first collection of books and to raise funds to help build the Ivoryton Library.
“There was this core group of women in town who just absolutely believed that books should be free, and they did all kinds of fundraisers,” said Campbell.
The library was organized in 1871 and fundraising efforts by this group started then.
“They were maniacal about it,” said Campbell.
Their efforts paid off when the library was built in 1889.
Today, the building is a fine example of Victorian-era architecture that houses a collection of more than 9,000 books and other items, not to mention offering a variety of children’s and adult programming.
Really, it’s the library’s history and promise of the future that is reflected in Campbell’s cookbook. And her hometown pride shines through.
“I love this little town,” she said. “It was a great way to get to know it better.”
In honor of the library’s 150th anniversary, copies of the 2021 cookbook are available for $10. Contact the library at 860-767-1252 for more information.