: For Students, Faculty, and Staff 
Want to search our collection of cookbooks? That just got a lot easier thanks to the new collection page interface on the Libraries’ website. Now you can view all 5953 (and counting) titles in the Kirschner Collection in a visual interface and search within that collection. It’s a great substitute if you can’t make it to our shelves in person or want to see if we have a specific title before coming.
Do you accept cookbook donations? My mom never gave anything away and after she passed away I discovered quite a few cookbooks I’d never seen before. I’d like to keep some but can’t keep them all. They run from a large “Favorite Eastern Star Recipes Casseroles Including Breads” published in 1968 and a Westinghouse Cook Book published in 1954 to pamphlets produced by companies like Spry, Swans Down, Chiquita Bananas, etc. Some are older and speak to a time when women’s roles were more home-bound than they are now, which I think is interesting. Are these items I could donate to the Kirschner Collection?
Hello Donna. Due to capacity and cataloging constraints, we are limited in what we can take for donations. We cannot take duplicates of anything we already have and generally look for things of historical and/or local significance (excluding community cookbooks which are collected by the Minnesota Historical Society). If you have a list of titles you are interested in donating, you can send it to us for review. Thank you!
Megan – thanks for your advice and explanation of what your library accepts. I’ll list here what I think is appropriate for your collection.
1) The Betty Furness Westinghouse Cook Book, prepared under the direction of Julia Kiene, 1954. Dedication – “This book is dedicated to you, a busy homemaker who gladly prepares three meals a day for your family, and who delights in doing it”
2) Food Freezing…the way to real Carefree Cooking, Frigidaire – 1958. “How to Freeze Plan-overs, Fruits and Vegetables, Meats, Baked Goods…Freezing is Fun with a Frigidaire Food Freezer”
3) 15 pamphlets from NSP including those titled “Holiday Recipes”, “Collage” and monthly “Electrical Living Features”
4) Body Building Dishes for Children, edited by Ruth Berolzheimer, Director, Culinary Arts Institute,1954. “A well-nourished child is a happy child. Vitamins are their spark plugs”
5) 250 Ways to Make Candy, edited by Ruth Berolzheimer, Director, Culinary Arts Institute, 1951. Everything you need to know about making…. Fondant Candies, Chocolate Candies, Fudges, Caramels, Divinities and Nougats, Taffies and Kisses, Brittles and Hard Candies, Uncooked Candies, Maple Candies, Coconut Candies, Marzipans, Glaceed Fruits and Nuts
6) Meals for Two Cookbook, edited by Ruth Berolzheimer, Director, Culinary Arts Institute, 1951
7) 250 Delectable Desserts – Custards, Souffles, Sauces, Puddings, Meringues, Cakes, edited by Ruth Berolzheimer, Director, Culinary Arts Institute, 1940. “Rich! Luscious! Tempting! New Desserts and Famous Favorites to End Each Meal in Triumph!”
8) Favorite Eastern Star Recipes Casseroles including Beads, Cookbook Committee Miss Ellie Stokes – Chairman, Mrs. Gay Hayes – Worthy Matron, 1968
9) Baker’s Chocolate and Coconut Favorites, General Foods Kitchens, 2nd edition, no copyright but obviously older
10) What Shall I Cook Today? – 124 thrifty, healthful tested recipes, Spry, no copyright but obviously older. Has interesting front and back covers with pictures of people making comments of Spry in “balloons”
11) Spry 20th Anniversary Cookbook of old and new favorites”, Lever Brothers Company, 1955
12) Kerr Home Canning Book and How to Freeze Foods, Kerr Glass Manufacturing Corp with intro by Ruth Kerr, President, 1948, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1955
13) Cedric Adams Sandwich Book of All Nations – 400 New Ways of Making Delicious Sandwiches, Frederic H. Girnau, Culinary Expert, 1944, published in Winona, MN
14) Housewives New 1945 Home Canning Methods, by Ruth Elizabeth Mills, Culinary Expert, 1944
15) Rawleigh’s Good Health Guide – Almanac…Cookbook, compliments of Olof S. Mortenson, Minneapolis, MN, your Rawleigh Dealer, 1954. Besides recipes, this contains ad for their non-food products such as deodorants, ointments, shampoos, creams, vitamins, etc.
16) program from The Minneapolis Tribune Cooking and Home Makers’ School under direction of Miss Jessie Marie DeBoth, Wed, September 12, 1928. Includes recipes.
17) The Hennepin County Home Extension Cookbook, no copyright, 24 sheets stapled together an the front sheet has a poem on it – “Spice Shelf”
18) Minneapolis Public Schools Adult Education – 6 pages of recipes during classes given by Ardis Peterson during 1954 and 1955
19) Booklets from The Hannah Strong Homemakers Institute, Metropolitan Building, Minneapolis, MN, Volume VIII Number 1 (introduces Margaret Dayton as new director); Volume IX, Number 1; Winter 1965; and, undated
20) Sheets of recipes and tips from Jerry’s Home Economist, no dates. Topics – Stuffed Vegetables: Peppers; Vegetable Dips; Cauliflower; Magnificent Mushrooms
21) Favorite Recipes, Rita Martin, Home Services Director, International Milling Company (Hood Flour), Minneapolis, MN, 1957
22) Jello Pudding Ideabook, General Food Corporation, 1968
23) Chiquita Banana’s Recipe Book, Home Economics Department, United Fruit Company, 1956
24) Land O Lakes Light Appetizers & Desserts, Land O Lakes Inc., 1990
25) Kitchen Secrets and Short Cuts – 83 Kitchen Hints and Ways to Save You Time, Steps, and Food, The Prudential Insurance Company of America, Anthony Swaja, Agent, Minneapolis No. 2 District. No date. No recipes – just tips regarding the care of food.
26) Favorite Cookies of the American Dairy Princess, Ruth Marie Peterson, Austin, Minn (the first American Diary Princess), 1955. This is a tiny, fold-down cookbook.
27) 14 Dairy Treats…Recipes for Pearadise with Cottage Cheese, Milk, Buttermilk, Whipped Cream, Sour Cream. No date. This is a tiny, fold-down cookbook. “You’ll like these wonderful dishes BEST with Our Always Fresh Cottage Cheese – Get a Carton from your Milkman – Today!”
28) Dine With Wine, The Taylor Wine Company, Inc., NY, two in a series of three 32-page Taylor wine/food booklets
29) Schenley Guide for Holiday Entertaining and parties all year round, no date, distributed from Union Liquor Store, West Broadway, Minneapolis, MN. Small, older, booklet with tips on entertaining plus food/drink recipes.
30) Occident/King Midas 120 Bar Cookie Recipes, Peavey Company Flour Mills, Minneapolis, MN. No date.
I think the above are all that meet your criteria, Megan. I do have a lot more product-specific cookbooks such as Wyler’s Boullion, Campbells, Nestle, Eagle Brand if you’re interested. Also sheets and small cookbooks from Minnegasco where my father worked.
Please let me know if you’re interested in any of the above and I can always drop them off.
Kind regards,
Donna Bolte