August 9-October 12, 2019, Central Library (Fourth Floor Lobby)
Vanderbilt’s History of Medicine Collections is home to thousands of cookbooks, receipt books, and collections of home remedies. This exhibit, featuring rare and not-so-rare selections from our collections, explores the development of cookbooks across the centuries, with emphasis on the connections between cooking, medicine, class, household management, and regional and ethnic identity.
Highlights of the exhibit include a 1562 receipt book containing “secretes” for household remedies, early editions of works by women authors such as Hannah Woolley, Hannah Glasse, and Eliza Smith, handwritten recipe books from the 18th and 19th centuries, and cookbooks by prominent southern and African American writers such as Marion Flexner and Edna Lewis.
The public is invited to a talk by New York Times-bestselling author Anne Byrn, also known as the Cake Doctor, on Wednesday, October 2, at 4:00 p.m. in the Central Library Community Room with reception and book signing to follow.
View Online: Vanderbilt History | Digital Exhibit