Skip to Main Content

Oregon Food and Farming History

Archival and Manuscript Collections Related to Recipes and Cooking

"According to the OAC catalog, this class was "a course designed to give advanced students of Home Economics training in application of principles of cookery to conditions found in the camp." P047:0013

Asian & Pacific Cultural Center Records, 1987-2011

The Asian and Pacific Cultural Center (APCC) Records document the activities of the center and include event programs, newsletters, newspaper clippings, photographs, posters, panel displays, and digitized photograph albums. The photographs, posters, and panel displays comprise the bulk of the collection. This collection contains some material about cooking demonstrations at the APCC.

Centro Cultural César Chávez Records, 1973-2015

The Centro Cultural César Chávez Records document activities and events organized by the center such as staff retreats, open houses, César Chávez Tribute Month, holiday celebrations, lectures, and workshops pertaining to Latino/a community issues. Several files relate to cooking demonstrations at events sponsored by the CCCC. Of note is Series 4 in the collection as it hold several albums of pictures from past events, including the serving of food for the events and gatherings that they've held. 

Chatter Club/Friendship Internationale Scrapbook, 1964-1977

The Chatter Club/Friendship Internationale was established by unmarried foreign female students and the wives of international students and staff. The group had several activities that they did together, including cooking, sewing, child care, etc., in addition to meeting on a monthly basis. Though the collection is small, it holds a scrapbook that covers the club's activities, including cooking and event receptions that they held.

Fred Eckhardt Papers, 1879-2013 

The Fred Eckhardt Papers covers a broad range of topics related to craft beer brewing, as well as sake and wine making. Included are historical and contemporary brewing practices; research files and personal notes about northwest, regional, national, and international breweries; and photographs of brewing operations, brewers, national and international travels, and industry events. The Fred Eckhardt Papers include recipes and commentary on food and beer pairings, as well as cooking with beer.

Several things of note in the collection are "Fred's Full Beer List: All Beers, All Categories," Series 1, Sub-Series 3, which contains articles written, but not published by, Fred Eckhardt, and Series 3, which includes lecture scripts, notes, and handouts from Fred Eckhardt’s speaking engagements and brewing courses. Instructional slideshows and lesson plans are also included and cover topics like homebrewing and beer analysis.

Extension Family and Community Health Program Records, 1956-2012An unidentified man adjusting a Canco Machine at the OSC Canners Short Course, ca. 1930.

The bulk of the collection consists of slide presentations, workshop leader guides and participant handouts, newsletters and other publications, and video productions on food buying, food preservation, meal preparation, and nutrition, including recipes. A large majority of the materials were generated or assembled by Carolyn Raab, Judith Forest, and Velma Seat, who served as Extension Food and Nutrition Specialists, and document educational programming on food buying, food preservation, meal preparation, and nutrition.

Extension Service Photographs, 1900-2007

The Extension Service Photographs document Extension programs, activities, and staff throughout Oregon as well as Oregon agriculture. The bulk of the collection pertains to the three traditional Extension programmatic areas -- agriculture, home economics, and 4-H. This collection includes photographs related to a number of cooking clubs, demonstrations, and exhibits.

Extension Service Records, 1903-2011

The Extension Service Records pertain to the administration and programmatic activities of the Oregon State University Extension Service. The records document policies and procedures, research activities, special events, and services provided to Oregonians at the state and county levels.  This collection contains numerous records related to the Extension Service's demonstrations and education on food and cooking.

Some things of note in this collection are the Extension Specialists' Reports on food and nutrition, a cookbook of prize winning favorites from the Oregon 4-H club, and materials concerning the Bankhead-Flanagan Fund and food during wartime (Public Law 76), 1944-1948.

Food Science and Technology Department Records, 1924-2006

The Food Science and Technology Department Records document the instruction, research, and extension programs and include correspondence, research files, minutes, day files, travel reports, grants and awards information, Extension Station reports, and Seafoods Lab reports. Recipes related to the seafood lab in Astoria are included, as well as research for bugs as food. 

Ronald V. and John G. Hogg Papers, 1918-1922

The​ Hogg Papers consist primarily of class notebooks and photographs created by brothers Ronald V. and John G. Hogg. The class notebooks are for a variety of agriculture courses including agricultural economics, bee culture, crop production, farm accounts, hippology, and horticulture; as well as other science and general university courses. Of note in this collection are the papers regarding camp cooking during this time period. 

Multnomah County Extension Home Economics Units Collection, 1930-1985 Women assembled for a style show sponsored by the Oregon Agricultural College Home Economics Department and held at the Multnomah Hotel, Portland, Oregon, 1920.

The Multnomah County Extension Home Economics Units Collection includes eight scrapbooks assembled by members of four Home Economics Extension units in Multnomah County, as well as other photographs which document Home Economics unit activities in the area. Various topics include cooking projects, food preservation, and more. Among the subjects covered in the workshops are metric system conversion, food preservation, automotive maintenance, pants fitting and alteration, upholstery, and the at-home development of cleaning supplies.

Oregon State University Memorabilia Collection, ca. 1860-present

The Memorabilia Collection is an artificial collection containing items of interest about Oregon State University and to a lesser extent, the city of Corvallis, and the state of Oregon. The Memorabilia Collection includes information about Oregon State University buildings and campus development; academic departments and programs; research, extension, and outreach; faculty, staff, and alumni; student organizations; intercollegiate and intramural athletics; and other campus events, activities, and issues.

Several things of note in the collection are  "Aunt Sammy's Radio Recipes," OAC Bulletins cookbooks (1913-1925), "Kent House Cook Book" (1967), Rediscovering German Cookery (1976), and Mirian Thayer Seeley's Cooking Notes (1913), a notebook with handwritten notations on cooking and recipes.

Recipes and Cooking in the Main Collection

Searching the Main Collection through the library catalog is extremely beneficial for sources.  Though the terms and searches may not be obvious in the beginning, the deeper you dig, the better the finds! It's important to note that there is a plethora of sources in the Special Collections and Archives regarding Oregon food and farming, and there's a potential for the sources you do find in 1Search may actually be from Special Collections and Archives.  There is also a good chance many of the sources you find will be available digitally and the catalog will link you to external databases like HathiTrust.  If you're unsure where to go to find a specific resource, don't be afraid to ask a librarian for research tips!

Cooking and home economics generally is one of the strongest sub-collections in the OSU Main Collection, given OSU's rich history in this field. In fact, there's a large collection of cookbooks on the first floor of the library!

​Some fun books that we found using 1Search that are here at OSU: 

Some key terms that could help with research relevant to Recipes and Cooking:

Recipes and Cooking in the Rare Books Collections

The Rare Books Collections in SCARC have hundreds of items related to the history of recipes and cooking. Here are a few examples of the range of books in the Rare Books Collections:

Some key terms that could help with research relevant to Recipes and Cooking:

Recipes and Cooking in ScholarsArchive@OSU

"Foreign Recipes" cookbookScholarsArchive@OSU is Oregon State University's digital service for gathering, indexing, making available and storing the scholarly work of the Oregon State University community, including theses and dissertations. It also includes materials from outside the institution in support of the university's land, sun, sea and space grant missions and other research interests.

Some interesting collections in ScholarsArchive@OSU include:

  • Department of Food Science and Technology: This collection includes two sub-collections. One for faculty research publications, and the other for theses, dissertations, and student research papers. 
  • Extension Service: This collection contains a wide variety of publications on the topic of food.
  • Agricultural Experiment Station: This collection contains a wide variety of food publications that range from public surveys and opinions to research publications.

Recipes and Cooking on MediaSpace

OSU MediaSpace is where the OSU community can post recordings, most of which are recent recordings of lectures. classes, or events.  

SCARC's presence on Media Space consists largely of oral history interviews, digitized copies of SCARC films, and presentations hosted by SCARC.

Some keywords to to search include: