Call Number:

Ms. Codex 2197

Repository:

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

Extent:

1 volume(s)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Almira Elizabeth Lincoln Shaw cookbook, 1869-1891, Ms. Codex 2197, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1869-1891 (inclusive)

Creator:

Shaw, Almira Elizabeth Lincoln, 1838-

Form:

Cookbooks and Codices (bound manuscripts)

Abstract:

This cookbook contains 285 recipes and was written and compiled by Almira Elizabeth Lincoln Shaw between 1869 and 1891 in Massachusetts.

Almira Elizabeth Lincoln Shaw was born on May 15, 1838 in Boston, Massachusetts to Minor Sprague Lincoln and Mary Ann Manchester Borden. On June 24, 1869, she married Franklin Shaw, a boot manufacturer from Braintree, Massachusetts born around 1824. Franklin Shaw had three children from a previous marriage. It does not appear that Franklin and Almira had children together.

In 1909, Almira Shaw applied for a passport at age 70 to visit England and "the East" with the intent to return to the United States within three years. At the time of the application, she was a widow living in New Bedford, MA.

It is unclear when Almira Shaw died, but she was recorded in the 1930 census as being a 91-year-old widow living at 35 Main Street in Fairhaven, MA.

This cookbook contains 285 culinary recipes written and compiled by Almira Elizabeth Lincoln Shaw between 1869 and 1891 in Massachusetts. There are also several newspaper clippings with recipes and several leaves with recipes written in other hands laid-in.

The volume is bound in quarter leather on marbled paper boards. There is significant damage to the binding. A significant portion of the original handwriting has faded but the recipes are mostly legible.

There is an attempt at a structure within this cookbook, with headings for bread (p. 1), cake (p. 13-40), puddings (p. 41-60), pies (p. 61-62), eggs (p. 67-70), pickles (p. 71-75), preserves (p. 81-87), salads (p. 89), confectionery (p. 93-97), and miscellaneous receipts (p. 103-174) providing a loose, if imperfect, system of organization.

Examples of recipes include steamed brown bread (p. 1), Deborah's Indian cake (p. 3), Mrs. Seabury's graham bread (p. 7), Mary Snyder's molasses gingerbread (p. 15), coconut cake (p. 23), Shrewsbury cake (p. 25), Portugal cake (p. 28), Mrs. Hollis' white mountain cake (p. 37), Aunt Fannie's Indian pudding (p. 43), pineapple pudding (p. 47), berry Charlotte (p. 54), lemon honeycomb (p. 57), Spanish fritters (p. 62), Welsh rarebit (p. 69), pickled cherries (p. 71), piccalilli (p. 75), Mrs. Emerson's wine jelly (p. 87) chicken salad (p. 89), sarsaparilla mead (p. 103), Delmonico's pudding (p. 133), bewitched veal (p. 140), economical soup (p. 145), Mary Hadley's cake (p. 155), Dolly Warden cake (p. 157), and Parker rolls (p. 171).