Skip to main content

Cookbook-palooza!

Dutilh Centennial Cookbook art by Holly Pultz, 1979

by Linda Theil

There is nothing more real than a meal. If you wish to learn about the real lives of humans, discovering what they ate is a good foundation for understanding. Community cookbooks are primary sources for what people ate; how they ate it; and sometimes, why they ate the meals they chose.

It is our contention that the recently released digital edition of the Dutilh Centennial Cookbook is a perfect resource for this type of investigation as it is full of recipes and kitchen lore covering Twentieth Century kitchens in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania. As an example you can learn on page 55 that the editors included an Italian pasta dish translated to "Straw and Hay" in a Christmas Eve dinner menu highlighted by an original Holly Pultz drawing of baby Jesus in a manger. This cookbook is a treasure of real lives at a real time in a real place.

Watch "Cooking Up Change" promo reel for some sizzle!

This year the Harvard Radcliffe Institute has chosen to celebrate cookbook historical treasure in its current exhibition Cooking Up Change: Women's Agency and Community Building Through Cookbooks currently showing through January 8, 2027 at the Lia and William Poorvu Gallery, Schlesinger Library in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Their online introduction describes the goals of the Cooking Up Change exhibit:

Drawn from the Schlesinger Library’s extensive collection of more than 4,300 community cookbooks, Cooking Up Change: Women’s Agency and Community Building Through Cookbooks explores the history and cultural significance of community cookbooks spanning the 19th to the 21st centuries. The collection showcases the efforts of women’s groups within a variety of organizations to raise funds for their religious, educational, and civic causes while also documenting the social and cultural history of their varied communities and culinary traditions.


Featuring cookbooks from diverse geographic regions and racial and ethnic communities, this exhibition invites visitors to consider how foodways and community advocacy intersect. Archival materials from local organizations offer insights into the production and marketing of these fundraising tools, while volumes with handmade and artistic elements show the physical and creative work that went into making them. Heavily annotated and food-stained pages demonstrate how these well-loved cookbooks found a place in homes within these communities and beyond. Through recipes and reflections, Cooking Up Change celebrates the power of shared cooking traditions and the enduring legacy of women’s community building through the kitchen.


This introductory web page features a wealth of information and resources available online on this fascinating study, including a link to the video of the Cooking Up Change opening event on March 2, 2026.



The introductory information also includes links to reviews of the exhibit and a link to a PDF sampling of many of the library's fascinating collection of community cookbooks such as the 1913 Easton Home for Friendless Children Benefit cookbook and the 1953 Army Brats Cookbook.

Community cookbooks from the Schlesinger Library collection of over 4300


This extraordinary exhibit enhances our understanding of the importance of the 1979 Dutilh Centennial Cookbook and the value of its 2026 digital edition in memorializing the worth of sharing and caring cooks.

Resources:

Dutilh Centennail Cookbook Digital Edition 2026 https://www.cranberrylibrary.org/DocumentCenter/View/38902/Dutilh-Centennial-Cookbook-Digital-Edition-2026

"Dutilh Centennail Cookbook Digital Edition Published Today" post on AppletonDance weblog May 27, 2026
https://appletondance.blogspot.com/2026/05/dutilh-centennial-cookbook-digital.html

Cooking Up Change: Womens' Agency and Community Building through Cookbooks exhibit March 6, 2026 through January 8, 2027 https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2026-cooking-up-change-exhibition

Cooking Up Change slideshow of cookbooks in collection

https://radcliffe-harvard-edu-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/c66da958-0b5a-4119-955e-00b6b35cb697/CCtimelineslideshow-fullscreen-Remediated.pdf

Cooking Up Change promo video
https://vimeo.com/1171882513?fl=pl&fe=sh

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Notes on Purl Soho Cross-back Apron pattern

Purl Soho Cross-back Apron, regular sized, front view Purl Soho Cross-back Apron, regular sized, back view by Linda Theil This is the Purl Soho Cross-back Apron featured on their website at  https://www.purlsoho.com/create/2015/11/20/cross-back-apron . Their page includes complete directions for making this one-size-fits-most apron with large, side-pockets and cross-back straps. This retro apron is so nicely made and looks so much like the apron my grandma wore in the Nineteen-fifties that I had to make one for my friend who appreciates the nostalgia and the beauty of this design. Although this apron pattern, as published, can adjust to several sizes from 2-10; I also made a larger option, adjusting the width of the pattern pieces to accommodate up to size 16 and up. Size adjustment may also be made by varying the length of the straps. These notes are a record of my experience with the pattern, and should only be viewed as commentary; your results may vary. ...
15 comments
Read more

Scrappy log cabin blocks

by Linda Theil Scrappy Log Cabin quilt block by Linda Theil  Next month the Greater Ann Arbor Quilt Guild will host a virtual quilt-along to make quilts for the SafeHouse Center womens' shelter in Ann Arbor, Michigan. One of the suggested blocks to make at the event is a Scrappy Log Cabin suggested by GAAQG member and artist Mary Bajcz. I love the Log Cabin block design and decided to get a head start on next month's event by organizing my materials and develping a process for making my Scrappy Log Cabin blocks. I began by watching Mary's YouTube video: "Scrap Quilt Strategy: The Log Cabin Technique" , and many others available on the topic. What a variety of approaches!   I'm not much of an improvisor and this is the first time I've tried the scrappy approach to quilt making. So It was quite an adventure for me. I pulled out my scrap bin and began sorting for lights and darks. After looking at many videos, I decided to work with a central square of 2.5-i...
1 comment
Read more

Dutilh Centennial Cookbook Digital Edition published today

by Linda Theil Cranberry Library announced today that it has published the Dutilh Centennial Cookbook Digital Edition on its new Local History webpage. They said: "Cranberry Library is pleased to provide access to the Dutilh Centennial Cookbook Digital Edition , published in honor of the centennial celebration of the dedication of the Dutilh Methodist Church on November 30, 1979." As organizers of this digitization project, we are grateful for and indebted to library staff Leslie Pallotta, Director; Rebecca Bess, Assistant Director; and Mallory Laporte.  This longtime wish and dream could not have come true without the generous support of The Reverend Tom Parkinson, Pastor of Dutilh United Methodist Church; who wrote a moving dedication to the digital edition of this work. We thank him. Dutilh Centennial Cookbook  editorial assistant Janet Duncan of Cranberry Township provided this contemporary newspaper clipping from the November 3-4, 1979 edition of the Butler county New...
1 comment
Read more