Genealogy 

Beatrice A. McIntosh Cookery Collection

The Special Collections and University Archives Department of the W.E.B. Du Bois Library houses a collection of more than 1000 community cookbooks as well as books, pamphlets, and ephemera relating to the history of cookery in New England. Although most of these cookbooks come from the Western Massachusetts counties of Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, and Hampshire, the collection includes items from Central and Eastern Massachusetts as well as a small number of cookbooks from other states - chiefly Connecticut, New York, and Vermont. Choice Recipes (Ladies of Baldwinville, 1886) and Tried and True (Ladies of the Turners Falls Unitarian Society, 1888) are among the oldest cookbooks in the collection.

Usually volunteers from churches, women's clubs, social service organizations, and schools compiled these frequently spiral-bound archives of local history. Since nearly all of these cookbooks contain the recipe contributors' names they essentially provide an organization's membership roster.

The charity cookbooks or "charities" offer insight into the daily lives of women and families of a particular era. They also afford an examination of the communities' ethnicity, social networks, and food trends. Some volumes include advertisements for local businesses, helpful hints, and recipes for regional specialties. The Regional Community Cookbooks Collection contains contributions from Canadian, French, Jewish, Latin American, Polish, Russian, and other ethnic groups and nationalities.

The W.E.B. Du Bois Library Catalog does not currently list these cookbooks individually.

Special Collections and University Archives Hours