Call Number:

Ms. Codex 2183

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

1 volume(s)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Eliza Dwight Pierce cookbook, 1847-1892, Ms. Codex 2183, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1847-1892 (inclusive)

Creator:

Pierce, Eliza Dwight, 1799-1878

Form:

Cookbooks

Abstract:

This volume contains 94 recipes written and compiled by Eliza Dwight Pierce (1799-1878) in Greenfield, MA between 1853 and 1892 and two pages of financial accounts dating from 1947 to 1948.

Eliza Dwight Pierce was born on November 10, 1799 in Gill, MA to Rodolphus Wright Field (1769-1816) and Hannah Dwight Pomroy (1775-1867).

In 1818, she married John Joyce Pierce (1793-1878), a farmer from Greenfield, MA. Together they had three children, Anna Feron Pierce Judah (1828-1895), John Dwight Pierce (1837-1914), and Charles Prentiss Pierce (1839-1888).

John Dwight Pierce and Charles Prentiss Pierce worked as farm laborers on the Pierce farm in Greenfield, MA and lived with Eliza and John Pierce.

Anna Judah married Theodore Dehone Judah (1826-1863) in 1849. Theodore Judah was a civil engineer and a major figure in the planning and design of the first transcontinental railroad. He was also the chief engineer for the Central Pacific Railroad for which he performed the survey over the Sierra Nevada Mountains in 1861.

After Theodore Judah's death in 1863, Anna Judah lived on the family farm with Eliza, John, John Dwight, and Charles Pierce. According to the 1860 and 1865 censuses, the family also employed domestic workers.

Eliza Pierce died on May 2, 1878 and is buried in Federal Street Cemetery in Greenfield, MA.

This volume contains 94 recipes written and compiled by Eliza Dwight Pierce in Greenfield, MA between 1853 and 1892 and two pages of financial accounts dating from 1947 to 1948. This volume was completed after Eliza Pierce's death, possibly by her daughter, Anna Judah.

There are recipes written by Eliza Pierce in addition to those in letters and clippings that were pasted into the volume (p. 6-9, 16-31, 98-100). A significant number of the pages are blank (p. 32-83, 87-97).

One letter with recipes was sent by Anna Judah, Eliza Pierce's daughter, and includes recipes used during her time surveying the Sierra Nevada Mountains with her husband, Theodore Judah, for the Central Pacific Railroad (p. 1). Other recipes are attributed to individuals in Folsom, CA (p. 1), Erie, PA (p. 3), Akron, OH (p. 4), and Boston, MA (p. 19). Other recipes are attributed to individuals including Ruth Hubbard (p. 1), Martha Phelps Day (p. 2), Helen Newcomb (p. 13), Clara P. Roots (p. 26), and Maria B. Judah (p. 28).

Examples of recipes include Anna's wedding cake (p. 1), Fanny's snow cake (p. 3), Carolina cake (p. 4), doughnuts (p. 8), tomato sauce (p. 9), ginger beer or pop (p. 10), chicken salad (p. 11), mother's cream tartar biscuit (p. 15), peppermints (p. 25), and peanut candy (p. 26).

The financial accounts include those of Charles Damon, superintendent of the Pleasant Valley Canal. From 1848 (p. 84) and a list of cash balances for Theodore Judah, David Judah, E.S. Cuyler (?), and E.F. Williams (p.86) from 1847.