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Start Over Subject Cooking Year 1979

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Chef Fritz Blank Victus Populi collection, 1874-2005 (inclusive)

Extent:
32.8 linear feet (82 boxes)
Abstract:
Chef Fritz Blank (1942 August 25 – 2014 September 9) was a prominent chef, restaurateur, and gastronome during the beginnings of Philadelphia's second-wave restaurant renaissance in the 1980s. His Victus Populi collection comprises over 3,000 recipe booklets, pamphlets, and cookbooks but constitutes only a small subset of Chef Fritz Blank's enormous cookbook library that was set apart by its focus on the American consumer and home cook. Blank titled the collection Victus Populi (Latin for "Food of the People") because he saw these pamphlets as one of the best sources of historical information about purchasing, cooking, and consumption habits of the American public in the 20th century. Many of the items appear to be promotional items or product premiums, often produced using relatively inexpensive materials and, as evidenced by extensive wear-and-tear and the occasional spatter, heavily used in household kitchens.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]

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Joanna Banks collection of African American authors and artists, foodways, and memorabilia, 1948-2016 (inclusive)

Extent:
6.5 linear feet
Abstract:
Joanna Banks is a retired Museum Educator and book collector, specializing in the writing of Black authors, with a particular focus on works by and about Black women, children's books, and African American cooking and foodways. Joanna Banks assembled a collection of materials around these themes that includes periodical articles, academic papers, newspaper clippings, photocopies, newsletters, catalogs, recipes, bibliographies, photographs, and ephemera.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]

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Esther B. Aresty papers, 1937-1989 (inclusive) 1963-1989 (bulk)

Extent:
7 linear feet (14 boxes)
Abstract:
Esther B. Aresty (1908-2000) was a cookbook collector and culinary historian who wrote on food, cooking and etiquette. This collection documents Aresty's personal and professional activities, primarily through correspondence, publication drafts, and research materials regarding her books, entitled The Grand Venture (1963), The Delectable Past (1964), The Best Behavior (1970), and The Exquisite Table (1980).

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]