Collection is open for research.
Permission to publish material from Macon County, Alabama, Household and Recipe Book must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Macon County, Alabama, Household and Recipe Book, Ms2011-088, Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.
Special Collections, Virginia Tech purchased the Macon County, Alabama, Household and Recipe Book in August 2010.
The processing, arrangement, and description of the Macon County, Alabama, Household and Recipe Book was completed in October 2011.
European settlers established Macon County, AL, in December 1832. The previous inhabitants, Creek Indians, vacated the land following the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Macon County, there after, developed into a traditional, agrarian Southern community; cotton production occurred on large plantations sustained by enslaved people.
After the Civil War, many citizens--black and white--fled in search of jobs within the industrial cities of the North and West. Today, Macon County's population consists largely of African Americans. The rural economy faces high rates of poverty.
Notable sites within Macon County include: Tuskegee University, Tuskegee National Forest, and Moton Field (the training site of the Tuskegee Airmen of WWII).
The collection consists of one household and recipe book from Macon County, AL. A variety of writers left entries within the journal, most notably Miss Zoonomia d. Hoxey Carter and Mrs. M. P. Edwards.
A majority of the collection pertains to culinary interests. There are numerous recipes for cakes and icings, "messy" doughnuts, "pickels,"and breads. Some unique entries include a "Japanese Salad, "Rusk," and beer. Most of recipes contain a listing of ingredients and appropriate "method." However, some measurements maybe: unfamiliar (e.g. "saltspoon") or ambigous (e.g. wine glass) to the contemporary chef.
Written also within the book is an elaborate "description of servants duties." Each enslaved person receives his/her own section that outlines specific tasks and times for schedules on which they should be executed. Collectively, all were responsible for: meals, the enslaver's children, other enslaved people, clean rooms, livestock, firewood, laundry, gardening, and the enslavers themselves.
Folded between the pages are also several letters of personal correspondence, poetry, prayer. Though one letter is undated, others range from 1842 to 1891.
The collection is arranged by material type.