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The favorite dishes found in some cookbooks dating from Civil War times to present hardly are main entrées when examining the impact of the social networking required to create, publish and distribute the collection of recipes.
The circulation of many cookbooks, organized largely by women around the country, created a formal social network that established communication channels and helped fortify solidarity leading to women’s suffrage, says Jan Longone, curator of American Culinary History at the Clements Library.
“The Old Girl Network: Community Cookbooks and Empowerment of Women,” is on exhibit 1-4:45 p.m. Monday-Friday through Oct. 3 at the Clements Library. The exhibit of more than 100 books and items offers a layered interpretation of culinary preferences and a fledgling political movement that transformed American culture, leading to women’s right to vote, Temperance and Women’s Exchanges.
From Civil War times through today, cookbooks have been and sold to raise money for charities. The cookbooks in “The Old Girl Network” were written, compiled and sold by women. Collectively, the recipes and how-to advice in the books offer a compelling glimpse into cooking habits and a region-by-region culinary heritage.
Included in the exhibit is the first national cookbook, “The National Cookery Book,” published for the 1876 World’s Fair in Philadelphia.
On a social level, the exhibit offers an unconventional exploration of prevailing attitudes, customs and, ultimately, the irreversible consequences — and political power — of women bonding together for the common good.
Amid recipes in pro-suffrage cookbooks are inspiring quotes by famous Americans, supporting women’s right to vote. “The Woman Suffrage Cook Book of 1886” was sold at fairs and bazaars around the country. The book is among the earliest examples of how to successfully raise money for a political cause.
Among the local cookbooks in the exhibit is “The Blue Book of Cooking,” published in 1941, shortly after the Michigan League was built. The building included the first women’s center with the mission to help “further social and financial needs of deserving women students” at U-M.
