Use Restrictions

Permission to publish material from the Elvira Jane Hanna Receipt Book must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.

Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Elvira Jane Hanna Receipt Book, Ms2013-052, Special Collections, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Acquisition Information

The Elvira Jane Hanna Receipt Book was purchased by Special Collections in April 2013.

Processing Information

The processing, arrangement, and description of the Elvira Jane Hanna Receipt Book was completed in August 2013.

Biographical Note

The author, who signs her name Elvira Jane Hanna, is likely Elvira Jane Foreman, daughter of William Percy Foreman and Margaret Minerva Hanna. Born in Pope County, Illinois on October 24, 1837, Elvira Jane Hanna married three times. In 1854, Elvira married Thomas Jefferson Glass, with whom she had two known children. She then married John W. Dillard in 1863 and they had five children. Her final marriage was to Simon Cottom in 1880. Elvira died in Denmark, Illinois on February 23, 1905.

Scope and Content

The collection contains a book holding both recipes and receipts, likely written by an Elvira Jane Hanna whose name is signed on many of the volume's pages. The recipes include Sweet Potato Waffles, Turtle Soup, Bacon Frase, Ginger Beer, Cottage Pudding, Panada, Arrow Root Jelly, Oyster Pie, and Election Cake. The receipts in the collection are medical, cataloguing purchases of tonics, cleaning methods, and hair restoratives. There are 49 written pages of recipes. Several pages have been excised and others damaged. The recipes are written on thin paper, and the author skips every other page to maintain legibility. The book was likely written in the mid nineteenth century.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• History of Food and Drink