Whittemore Library: NUTR 262: Food, Culture, and Society: Primary Sources

Food & Culture Primary Sources

Primary sources are the raw materials of research, and can include items such as manuscripts, documents, diaries, letters, audio and visual media such as photographs, sketches, art, recorded interviews, and even physical objects (artifacts of material culture) such as tools and utensils. However, keep in mind that any object, depending on the context, could be considered a primary source in a research study.

Finding Food & Culture Primary Sources...

...from the FSU Rare Book Collections
...from Online Websites

How to access and use the Whittemore Library's Rare Book Collections

Alumni Collection
Books written by graduates of Framingham State University during the nineteenth through the twenty-first centuries. The volumes cover a wide range of subjects and genres, including nutrition.
Ruth Graves Wakefield Cookbook Collection by Ruth Graves
The Wakefield Cookbook Collection is comprised of Ruth Graves Wakefield's (creator of the Toll House cookie) personal library of books on cooking, domestic science, etiquette, and other household topics.
Special Collections
Primarily consists of nineteenth and early twentieth century works on education, home economics, and cookery.

Cookbooks and Home Economics Collection by Internet Archive
A digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. This sub-collection covers topics on cookery, textiles, family and home, budgeting, and domestic sciences from the early 20th century.
HathiTrust Digital Library by HathiTrust
A digital preservation repository and highly functional access platform. Includes historical documents and an appreciable amount of primary source food and culture-related materials (cookbooks, pamphlets, etc.) Try searching for 'food', then use the available limiters (such as date or subject).
Historical Dietary Guidance Digital Collection by USDA
Allows the public to discover and research the history of nutrition education and dietary advice online. Materials in this collection include historical nutrition education materials, such as posters, recipes, and radio transcripts, as well as current nutrition education materials.
Recipe for Victory: Food and Cooking in Wartime by University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries Digital Collections
Presents books and government publications documenting the national effort to promote and implement a plan to make food the key to winning World War I. Within the collection are materials explaining the world food situation, the nutritional value of foods, how to grow productive gardens in less than ideal conditions, and cookbooks with recipes for dealing with scarcity of various commodities such as meat and wheat.
Szathmary Recipe Pamphlet Digital Collection by The University of Iowa
Includes more than 4,000 promotional recipe pamphlets, published mainly by food and appliance manufacturers and trade associations (the majority are listed in this index). Dating from the late 19th century to the present, this advertising ephemera reflects the evolution of the modern American diet.