Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions

Permission to publish material from the How to Cook a Husband Manuscript Book must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: How to Cook a Husband Manuscript Book, Ms2010-079, Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.

Acquisition Information

This collection was obtained by Special Collections in 2010.

Alternate Form Available

This collection has been digitized and is available online .

Processing Information

The processing, arrangement, and description of the How to Cook a Husband Manuscript Book was completed in October 2010.

Historical Information

The book's contents are based on a popular story that uses cooking metaphors to instruct newlywed women in treating their husbands well. Although the creator of the original story is unknown, the story is thought to have originated in New England in the early 1880s.

Scope and Content

The collection contains a single hand-made ribbon-bound manuscript entitled, A Novel Recipe "How to Cook a Husband." The book's recipe instructs newlywed women on how to treat their husbands well with metaphors that compare wifely duties and cooking. It starts off with the lines, "A good many husbands are utterly spoiled by mismanagement in cooking and are so not tender and good."

Arrangement

This collection is arranged by material type.

Index Terms

Local Subjects:

• History of Food and Drink