Research Guides: Cookbooks and Food Publications: Community Cookbooks

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Community Cookbooks

Community cookbooks are a subset of the cookbook genre. These books are collections of recipes submitted by members of community organizations. The sponsors can include churches, civic groups, schools, social clubs, and other similar organizations. The books are frequently created as part of a fundraising effort for the organizations and can include information about their history as well as local details such as advertisements. The recipes often represent specific regional or ethnic food traditions.

The Schlesinger's community cookbook collection includes examples ranging from the late 1800s through the present day representing all fifty U.S. states, Washington, D.C, Canada, Mexico, and a variety of international groups.

The quickest way to find everything that has been labeled as a community cookbook at Schlesinger is to do a form/genre search of our collections using the term Community cookbooks. Consider adding an additional keyword search facet for the state you're interested in, or the type of community group, i.e. school, temple, club, sorority, church. (If you're looking for Junior League Cookbooks, check out our Junior League research guide.)

A few examples from our community cookbooks are included below.

Edibilia : a cook book of valuable private receipts
Publication Date: 1873
This church cookbook from Indianapolis, Indiana is one of the oldest community cookbooks in the Schlesinger's collections.
Echoes from the Southern kitchen
Publication Date: 1905
This community cookbook from 1905 was published by the Robert E. Lee Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy, No. 278, which was actually based in Los Angeles, California. It is described as "a collection of the recipes for the delicate and delicious dishes of the 'old plantation days' of the South."
Souvenir cook book of tried and tested recipes
Publication Date: 1922
This cookbook was issued as a souvenir for the 1922 National Convention of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and included recipes from members across the country.
Out of Vermont kitchens
Publication Date: 1939
The Schlesinger holds 6 editions of this community cookbook compiled by the Women's Service League of St. Paul's Church in Burlington, Vermont, published between 1939 and 1991. This is the first edition. We also have a small collection of papers from Marion Ballou Smith, one of the original co-compilers.
The USFAL cookbook prepared by the Salzburg Women's Club of the United States Forces in Austria
Publication Date: [1950s?]
Our community cookbook collection extends beyond U.S. borders--for instance, this item was compiled by the wives of American soldiers who were living in Austria, likely in the 1950s.
Radcliffe recipes : delicious and different
Publication Date: [1900s?]
This undated book of "Radcliffe recipes" is also available along with a handful of other cookbooks that have connections to the College in a digitized folder from the Radcliffe College Archives subject files collection.
Favorite foods from fortieth
Publication Date: 1975?
This cookbook was compiled by members of the Radcliffe College Class of 1935 on the occasion of their 40th reunion.
Pow wow chow : a collection of recipes from families of the Five Civilized Tribes : Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole
Publication Date: [1988?]
This community cookbook from Muskogee, Oklahoma was sponsored by the Five Civilized Tribes Museum. The names and tribal affiliations of the contributors are listed with their recipes.
Recipes compiled by Rachel Kimboko, Sherri Mack and Lisa Gordon, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Boston Alumnae Chapter
Publication Date: [1989?]
The recipes in this community cookbook were contributed by members of the Boston Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, a historically Black sorority. The Schlesinger also holds some of the Chapter's archival records.
Hugs & knishes, XOXO : kosher cooking at its best
Publication Date: 2001
This community cookbook from the Betty & Milton Katz Jewish Community Center in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, was published by Morris Press in Kearney, Nebraska. Morris Press is the country's largest and longest-running publisher of community cookbooks.
In the kitchen with your favorite chefs
Publication Date: 2020
Organizations continue to use community cookbooks as a fundraiser and collective activity to this day. This title, described as "a collection of favorite recipes from a star-studded list of award winning chefs, who have come together to honor the memory of Julia Child and to support services for breast cancer patients," was published in 2020 by the Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, just down the street from the Schlesinger Library.