Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use

Items in this collection are largely in the public domain, but individual items may be subject to copyright restrictions. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials.

Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: http://bit.ly/scuareproduction . Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: http://bit.ly/scuapublication .

Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Kitchen Equipment Collection, ca. 1850-2003, Ms2023-002, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Processing Information

The processing, arrangement, and description of the Kitchen Equipment Collection was completed in March 2023.

Scope and Content

This collection includes five series of kitchen equipment, Housewares, Kitchen Appliances, Kitchen Accessories and Designs, Ranges, Stoves, and Ovens, and Other items. Items range from the Antebellum era to the early 2000s. The majority of items are from the United States, with some pieces from Canada, England, France, Germany, and Spain. Items include sales and promotional materials such as catalogs, product cookbooks, brochures, trade cards, coupons, handbills, broadsides, and billheads. The collection also has a safety grater with its original packaging and a pie rimmer, crimper, and pastry cutter with an illustrated broadside. Many cookbooks were written for specific appliance products that include details on the appliance. Appliance directions and maintenance manuals are within the collection. Materials provide insight into consumer culture, technology, and history of gender, race, class, sanitation, marketing, and graphic design.

Some materials include racialized depictions of African Americans and Asians, and a statement of such is marked next to each material.

Arrangement

Series I: Housewares includes materials dated from 1866 to 1982, with many of the items undated. All items are organized in alphabetical order. Housewares include many types of items such as aluminum, iron, tin, earthen, and other wares. There are also materials on utensils. The booklets subseries include catalogs and recipe books as product promotional materials, which are alphabetically organized in three folders. Instruction materials explain how to best use and maintain houseware products.

Series II: Kitchen Appliances includes materials dated from 1867 to 1972, with many undated. All items are organized in alphabetical order. The series includes a large number of materials related to refrigerators and freezers, with advertisements, booklets, recipes for ice cream and other cold foods, and instructions and maintenance manuals. The series covers other appliances such as the chafing dish, broilers, toasters, waffle irons, choppers, grinders, shredders, slicers, steam cookers, pressure cookers, mixers, blenders, frying, dishwashers, and skillets. Booklets and pamphlets contain appliance-specific cookbooks, catalogs, and other promotional materials.

Series III: Kitchen Accessories and Design includes materials dated from 1928 to 1993, with many undated. Accessories include items such as crochet patterns for potholders and a sewing pattern for an apron. Design items include materials that discuss how to best create a kitchen with colors, types of cabinets, countertops, and other such items.

Series IV: Stoves, Ranges, and Ovens includes materials dated from 1847 to 1977, with many undated. Types of stoves, ranges, and ovens include electric, oil, gas, fireless, and outdoor barbecuing. Materials include cookbooks for how to best cook with electric, oil, gas, or fireless. Other materials include promotional items on why to upgrade to a new type of cooking. Materials showcase the trends of cooking from the nineteenth century into the twentieth century.

Series V: Ephemera includes materials like paper bags with advertisements, recipes, greeting cards, notebooks, and other paper-based items that did not fit into other series. These items are undated.

Separated Material

This collection also included a more than 100 books, booklets, and other publications. As part of processing, these were removed and cataloged for the Rare Book Collection. Catalog records include the manuscript collection name and number (Kitchen Equipment Collection, Ms2023-002) and can be located by searching for that phrase.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Food Technology and Production
• History of Food and Drink

Rights Statement for Archival Description

The guide to the Kitchen Equipment Collection by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 ( https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/ ).