home Events and Exhibits, Special Collections and Archives Friday Food: Catharine Beecher’s Recipe for Rhubarb Tart, 1846

Friday Food: Catharine Beecher’s Recipe for Rhubarb Tart, 1846

beecher0001_lgCatharine Beecher (1800-1878), the sister of the abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe, was an early feminist and advocate of women’s education.  Beecher was at the forefront of the home economics movement in the nineteenth century.  She sought to increase the status of traditional women’s work such as cooking and childcare, arguing for its value to society and the need for female education to inform this work.

Beecher published her Treatise on Domestic Economy in 1841.  The book combined useful household hints with Beecher’s radical views on women’s rights and education.  Surprisingly, the book was a great success; fifteen editions were published in the next fifteen years.  As supplements to the Treatise, Beecher published several other cooking and household management books, including Miss Beecher’s Domestic Receipt Book.

beecher0002_lg

Ellen’s Pudding, or Rhubarb Tart

From Miss Beecher’s Domestic Receipt Book

One pint of stewed pie plant.
Four ounces of sugar.
One half pint of cream.
Two ounces of pounded cracker.
Three eggs

Stew the pie plant, and rub it through a sieve. Beat the eggs well, and mix with the sugar and cream. Stir the cracker crumbs into the fruit, and add the other ingredients. Line your plate with a moderately rich paste, and bake half an hour.

See the full text at the Hathi Trustbeecher0003_lg

Don’t miss Food Sense, the 2012 Life Sciences and Society Symposium, March 16-18.  SCARaB will be participating with an exhibition of books on science and nutrition.

home Events and Exhibits, Special Collections and Archives Friday Food: Isabella Beeton’s Recipe for Baked Beef, 1861

Friday Food: Isabella Beeton’s Recipe for Baked Beef, 1861

beeton1_lgAs the oldest girl in a family of twenty-one children, Isabella Mayson (1836–1865) had ample practice in the domestic arts by the time she married Samuel Beeton at the age of 20.  Samuel was an innovative editor and publisher, and Isabella participated fully in his publishing business, putting her domestic skills to work as editor of the English Woman's Domestic Magazine. The year after her marriage, Isabella also began work on the monumental compendium of domestic science that is The Book of Household Management.  The book was first published it in 1861, when Isabella was only 25, and it was an immediate success due to her attention to accuracy, economy, and taste.

Isabella died of childbed fever only a few years later, at the age of 28.  After her death, Samuel sold the rights to her book to the publisher Ward, Lock, and Tyler, whose intense marketing created the Victorian domestic icon that Mrs. Beeton later became.

Baked Beef (Cold Meat Cookery)beeton2_lg

Ingredients.—About 2 lbs. of cold roast beef, 2 small onions, 1 large carrot or two small ones, 1 turnip, a small bunch of savoury herbs, salt and pepper to taste, 4 tablespoonfuls of gravy, 3 tablespoonfuls of ale, crust or mashed potatoes.
Mode.— Cut the beef in slices, allowing a small amount of fat to each slice; place a layer of this in the bottom of a pie-dish, with a portion of the onions, carrots, and turnips, which must be sliced; mince the herbs, strew them over the meat, and season with pepper and salt. Then put another layer of meat, vegetables, and seasoning; and proceed in this manner until all the ingredients are used. Pour in the gravy and ale (water may be substituted for the former, but it is not so nice), cover with a crust or mashed potatoes, and bake for ½ hour, or rather longer.
Time.—Rather more than ½ hour.
Average cost, exclusive of the meat, 6d.
Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons.
Seasonable at any time.
Note.—It is as well to parboil the carrots and turnips before adding them to the meat, and to use some of the liquor in which they were boiled as a substitute for gravy ; that is to say, when there is no gravy at hand. Be particular to cut the onions in very thin slices.

See the full text at the Hathi Trust or Find the 1899 edition in Special Collections

Don't miss Food Sense, the 2012 Life Sciences and Society Symposium, March 16-18.  SCARaB will be participating with an exhibition of books on science and nutrition.

Happy Birthday, Charles Dickens!

So Handsome!Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on this date in 1812. Dickens, one of the most famous and most belovPickwick Papers, 1837ed of all English novelists, created some of the most powerful characters in fiction. He is known all over the world, and, unlike most great authors, he was rock-star famous in his own time. He moved around a lot as a child and was forced to quit school at twelve years old to work in a factory. Those early memories, however, would later inspire settings both fantastic and real; characters both legendary and sympathetic.

Friends and family described Dickens as full of energy, almost frenetic, and he was able to focus this power into an amazing literary output. He began writing journalism at age 15, and by 24 he had finished the Pickwick Papers and was famous on both sides of the Atlantic.

When Dickens began writing A Christmas Carol, perhaps his most well known work in the U.S. today, he was 31 and already the author ofDickens-919 Sketches by Boz, The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shop, Barnaby Rudge, and American Notes.

Early in his career he adopted various pen names, the most popular of which, Boz became a nickname as well as a marketing tool. Boz knew how to play to the public and controlled not only his public appearances and persona, but also the illustrations that accompanied his work. From the beginning, Dickens worked very closely with illustrators and vetted every sketch before it went to press. In fact, more than one illustrator claimed later that they had been responsible for story elements, though the author denied this.

 

Dickens-1114The first of these pairings was with George Cruikshank, a popular cartoonist at the time. The author and illustrator became great friends, though their relationship soured due to many factors including Cruikshank’s growing obsession with the Temperance movement.

Seymour

Dickens started working with Robert Seymour when publishers hired him to provide the words for a series of engravings featuring cockney sporting life. Dickens argued successfully that the words should take precedence over the art. Seymour mimicked Cruikshank’s style for the occasion but was of a depressive sensibility and often in conflict with Dickens over the artwork. He had a nervous breakdown in 1830, and committed suicide upon completion of the second installment.


Perhaps the most popular collaborator, HablotDickens-212 Knight Browne worked with Dickens for over 23 years. He adopted the nickname Phiz to complement Dickens’ Boz.

H. K. Browne“No other illustrator ever created the true Dickens characters with the precise and correct quantum of exaggeration.”

– G.K. Chesterton on H.K. Browne

 

Charles Dickens changed the face of literary history, revolutionized popular fiction and fame, and left behind immortal masterworks that still resonate with a world of readers.

Dickens-1111Celebrate his 200th birthday by dropping by Special Collections in Ellis Library to read the stories as Dickens so meticulously intended. We have many of his greatest works, some beautifully bound, dating from the beginning of the author’s literary career. Experience what created this pop sensation first-hand!

 

Dickens @ MU Special Collections!

home Events and Exhibits, Special Collections and Archives Friday Food: The Art of Cookery by Hannah Glasse

Friday Food: The Art of Cookery by Hannah Glasse

glasse002_lg In March,Special Collections, Archives and Rare Books will be participating in Food Sense, the 2012 Life Sciences and Society Symposium, with an exhibition of books on science and nutrition.  We also maintain a collection of rare and historic cookbooks dating from the seventeenth through the twentieth century.  To highlight these rich holdings, we’ll be sharing a recipe each week through March 16, the symposium weekend.

This week’s feature is Hannah Glasse.  Born in 1708, Glasse eloped at age 16.  By the time she was 40, she found herself living in not-so-genteel poverty as a widow with ten children.  Glasse turned to writing cookbooks to support her family, publishing The Art of Cookery in 1747.  Although The Art of Cookery was very successful, Glasse still ended up in debtor’s prison.  To add insult to injury, the public didn’t think that such a successful cookbook could have been written by a woman.  The cookbook was thought to have been written by Dr. John Hill, using Hannah Glasse as a penname, until the 1930s.

Hannah Glasse’s Recipe for Pound Cakeglasse003_lg

Take a pound of butter, beat it in an earthen pan with your hand one way, till it is like a fine thick cream, then have ready twelve eggs, but half the whites; beat them well, and beat them up with the butter, a pound of flour beat in it, a pound of sugar, and a few carraways. Beat it all well together for an hour with your hand, or a great wooden spoon, butter a pan and put it in, and then bake it an hour in a quick oven. For change, you may put in a pound of currants, clean washed and picked.

See the full text at the Hathi Trust or Find a 1774 edition in Special Collections

Student Spotlight: Jen Para

Jen ParaJennifer Para is a freshman from Rogers, Arkansas, majoring in business. As part of Julie Christenson's section on the ancient world, part of the honors humanities sequence, Jen and her classmates worked with rare and historic materials in Special Collections, including ancient materials and fifteenth- and sixteenth-century editions of the classics. Jen shares her insights and reactions below.

 

 

phaer1_smGlancing through rare books at Ellis Library, a certain leather bound novel with a delicate design imprinted into the spine catches your eye. The marbled paper cover reminds you of exquisite stones with white and gold specks reflecting the bouncing sun, meshed together in a pond of blood. Touching the book, you are surprised at its smoothness, and you wonder why the book does not fall apart at your caress. On the book’s spine you notice gold lettering revealing the title of the book: Aeneidos. This epic poem is a 1583 copy of Phaer and Twyne’s translation of Virgil’s Aeneid.

Flipping through the book, you observe old English type and strain your eyes to read it.  You come to the beginning of a chapter with an intricate black border in which an “Argument” gives a summery of the chapter. As you look through the epic poem, you see no page numbers, only words at the bottom of each page. Curious, you ask the librarian. She informs you that the printing process included folding the papers together, using the first and last words of a page to ensure the correct order.

At the end of each chapter there seems to be a Latin copyright, and you also notice small printed notes in the margins. Between books twelve and thirphaer3_smteen you find the authors’ letter to their readers. Phaer and Twyne intended their translation of the Aeneid to be read by “maisters and students of universities,” who “will not bee too much offended,” by their raw translation, and “pray they will correct the errors escaped in the printing.”

Curious about Phaer and Twyne, you begin researching for more information. Thomas Phaer, a native to Pembrokeshire, translated The Aeneid into one of the oldest meters in English, the fourteener. According to scholars, it was a good attempt, but not attractive. Unfortunately, Phear died while translating the tenth book. Not wanting to leave the work unfinished, Thomas Twyne edited and finished the last two and a half books in 1573.

You look through the book once again. This copy is not an original nor a textbook; there are no handwritten notes anywhere. But in book ten, phaer2_smyou see calligraphy and make out words “Hugh Bateman”, “Thomas Payne”, “1767 London”, “Dronfield”. Partaking in more research, you find record of several Hugh Batemans at Dronfield.

You come to the conclusion that this epic-poem, due to its lack of use and penmanship practicing, was most likely a “coffee-table book”. Its gorgeous cover could capture the eyes of any person, but its translation made it very difficult to read. You picture in your mind this epic poem, sitting on a rosewood desk, collecting dust, until a man opens it up to dab ink off his quill. Closing the book, you sigh, knowing you are only partaking in guesswork. You wonder what conversations it has overheard, who read its pages, and how it ended up at the Ellis Library at the University of Missouri. If only books could talk.

Have an outstanding student you'd like to nominate for the Spotlight?  Email SpecialCollections@missouri.edu.

home Cycle of Success, Special Collections and Archives Teaching spotlight: Julie Christenson

Teaching spotlight: Julie Christenson

This semester, Special Collections will be turning the spotlight on our patrons each month by highlighting teaching and student work inspired by the collections.  This post kicks off the semester and focuses on the teaching of Julie Christenson.  Julie visited Special Collections with her section of Humanities 2111H (The Ancient World; part of the Honors Humanities Sequence).  We corresponded with her via email to get her thoughts on Special Collections and undergraduate instruction.

SC: Can you give us some information about yourself?
I am a graduate student instructor in the English department. I am writing my dissertation on the poetics of commemoration in medieval England. I am interested in the poetic strategies of texts designed to commemorate events and figures.

SC: How did you incorporate Special Collections into your teaching last semester?IMG_6305_sm
My students came for two visits. On their first visit, Kelli Hansen introduced several pieces from the collections that were relevant to the texts my students were studying. For their second visit, each student worked with one of the pieces that had been introduced during the previous session. They used their observations as the basis of a 2–3 page manuscript analysis.

SC: What outcomes resulted from your class visits? What were the effects on your students?
I think it’s good for students to realize that classical and medieval literature served a vital function within much different material, social, and aesthetic frameworks. There is just no comparison to experiencing a one-of-a-kind book, seeing the hole in the parchment where the animal had been bitten by a mosquito, to seeing the pages darkened from generations of hands turning the pages.

IMG_6304_smSC: What advice would you give to faculty or instructors interested in using Special Collections in their courses?
I understand the hesitation to take time out of our already cluttered schedules to what might seem like a frill, but my advice is to squeeze in a visit. It will enhance the work you do everyday in the classroom. Your students will be able to forge an experiential connection with the periods you are studying. That experiential basis convinces and inspires in a way that complements the work we do in the classroom.

Stay tuned – tomorrow we'll be sharing some of the student work that resulted from Julie Christenson's class visit.

Yule smile

Just as we have left behind the Thanksgiving festivities and a Christmas dinner is not far away, we might think of table manners. Most know which fork is used for salad, which for dessert, what glass to use for champagne and what for hot mulled wine, and our children have been instructed what is done at the table and what is not… But it is interesting to see how much in common we have with the mediaeval children who were taught how to behave at the table, or rather how not to misbehave, because learning good manners was considered “better than playing the fiddle, thought that’s no harm”.

Before meals:

Wash your face and hands

Be dressed properly

Make a low curtsy or bow to your parents and wish the food may do them good

Let your betters sit before you

Say Grace before the meal, then wait a while before eating

See others served first

Take salt with your knife

Cut your bread, keep your knife sharp

 

At the table:

Keep your fingers and nails clean

Wipe your mouth before drinking

Behave properly

Sit upright

Remember: silence hurts no one, and is fitted for a child at table

 

Don’t:

Pick your teeth, or spit

Don’t fill your spoon too full

Don’t smack your lips, or gnaw the bones

Don’t scratch yourself at the table

Don’t clean your mouth or nose with the tablecloth

Don’t put your elbows on the table

Don’t belch as if you had a bean in your throat

Don’t jabber or stuff yourself

Don’t speak with your mouth full

Don’t laugh too much

After the meal don’t leave your seat before others

 

Adapted from:

The Lytylle Childrenes Lytil Boke, or Edyllys Be; from The Schoole of Vertue, and Booke of Good Nourture for Children by F. Seager; from The Young Children’s Book, printed  from the Ashmolean MS 61 (Bodleian Library) about 1500 AD, and from The Boke of Curtasye, from Sloane MS (The British Museum), about 1460 AD.

Image from Richard Pynson’s 1526 edition of The Canterbury Tales.

home Resources and Services, Special Collections and Archives Mnemonics for Finals Week: Memoria Technica by Richard Grey

Mnemonics for Finals Week: Memoria Technica by Richard Grey

If the silent, studying masses in Ellis Library are any indication, MU students are working diligently to improve their memories for final memoria0002_lgexams. Of course, Special Collections is always ready to help.  This week, we’re sharing a 280-year-old secret from the Rare Book Collection on the art of making things easier to remember.

Dr. Richard Grey (1696-1771) was a clergyman in the Church of England and had imaginative theories on education.  In 1730, he published the first edition of his Memoria Technica, or, a New Method of Artificial Memory, a treatise on mnemonics partially based on Quintilian’s De oratore.  Special Collections has the third edition, “corrected and improved,” published in 1737.

Grey’s artificial memory system is based on a table that equates letters with numbers.  Best to let him explain himself:

The first Thing to be done is to learn exactly the following Series of Vowels and Consonants which are to represent the numerical Figures so as to be able at Pleasure to form a Technical Word which shall stand for any Number or to resolve a Word already form’d into the Number which it stands for.

a 

 

 

1

b

e 

 

 

2

d

i 

 

 

3

t

o 

 

 

4

f

u 

 

 

5

l

au 

 

 

6

s

oi 

 

 

7

p

ei 

 

 

8

k

ou 

 

 

9

n

y 

 

 

0

z

In other words, once the learner had committed this table to memory, all he would have to do to remember, for instance, a date and a name, would be to replace the end of the name with the series of letters that corresponds to the date.  Grey offers up a series of historical eras to illustrate how the system works:

  A.D.
The Dioclesian Æra, or the Æra of martyrs [Diocleseko] 284
The Æra of the Hegira, or Flight of Mahomet [Mahomaudd] 622
The Æra of Yezdegird, or the Persian Æra [Yezsid] 632

memoria0003_lgThe words in brackets are the mnemonic devices, with the code at the end that represents the year in letters.  If a student were called upon in an exam to produce an entire chronology of world events (as students often were in the eighteenth century), he could simply remember what Grey calls the “Memorial Line”: Diocleseko Mahomaudd Yezsid.  Grey points out that the system is also adaptable to geography, astronomy, weights and measures, and the study of ancient coins.

Although Grey’s mnemonic devices may seem overly complicated to twenty-first-century memoria0004_lgreaders, his work was hugely popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.  Memoria Technica remained in print for over 130 years, and was in fact the only pre-1800 book on memory to remain in use for so long.

Learn More

Richard Grey, Memoria technica, or, A new method of artificial memory : applied to, and exemplified in chronology, history, geography, astronomy … London : Printed for John Stagg … and sold by A. Bettesworth and C. Hitch … F. Clay, and D. Brown …, 1737.  The third edition, corrected and improved.
MU Special Collections Rare BF383 .G8 1737

Richard Sharp, ‘Grey, Richard (1696–1771)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/11558, accessed 12 Dec 2011]

home Events and Exhibits, Special Collections and Archives New exhibit commemorates 400 years of the King James Bible

New exhibit commemorates 400 years of the King James Bible

400 years ago, scholars from all over Britain came together and produced one of the best, most beloved, and controversial pieces of literature the world has ever seen.  The King James Bible soon became the de facto Bible for countless of evangelists, missionaries, as well as politicians, literary giants, economists, and philosophers, and lest we forget, America’s Founding Fathers.  This exhibit traces the history of the King James Bible, its precursors and the works that have been inspired by it.

Historic bibles and pages from the King James Bible will be on exhibit in the Ellis Library Colonnade through December 2011.  The exhibit is accompanied by a display of religious texts from around the world, ranging from America’s Book of Mormon to India’s Bhagavad Gita to China’s Tao Teh King.

Exhibit curated by Rebecca Vogler and Amy Jones, Special Collections assistants and SISLT graduate students

home Events and Exhibits, Special Collections and Archives New Exhibit – World War II Posters: Women Called to Action

New Exhibit – World War II Posters: Women Called to Action

As many men went abroad to serve in the war, large numbers of women were left behind.  However, women played an integral part in the WWII victory.  War posters on display from the Special Collections Department of Ellis Library illustrate how women were called upon to help win the war both at home and in foreign lands.

World War II Posters will be on display in the Ellis Library Colonnade November 3rd-December 2nd, 2011.

Exhibit curated by Karen Witt, Special Collections Reference Librarian.