The primary author of this book was Eliza Anne (Spragins) Clark (1821-1897), who compiled the book around 1852 to 1862, it is presumed in Halifax County, Virginia. However, the book also contains several hands other than the principal author’s. The book is written in a 32-page sewn oblong notebook measuring 7 1/4 by 4 1/2 inches. It does not have a cover.
The book’s culinary recipes cover coffee, gumbo, soft ginger bread, tomato jelly, dressing damsons, tomato sauce, charlotte russe, citron pudding, molasses cakes, and preserving oranges. The book also includes inventories for household goods such as clothing and kitchenware (pages 1-11); recipes for bread and candles (written in a different hand, in ink, beginning on page 12); a recipe for black fabric dye (page 25); a “Receipt for Dyptheria,” dated 1862, which outlines a tea to soothe the throat (written upside down on page 31); an inventory of fowl (page 34); lists of men, women, and children, with their names and clothing inventories (page 44); and a cough remedy. There are penciled children’s doodles throughout, some of which are scrawled over written pages, making them somewhat difficult to read. A newspaper clipping for “The Hog Cholera - A Preventative,” credited to the Wilmington (North Carolina) Star, has been pasted into the book
Loose sheets of recipes, in various hands, are collected with this book. One sheet contains a recipe for tomato sauce, along with a request that the recipient of the recipe (Cousin Bec) send her recipe for tomato pickle. The cure for diphtheria that is written on page 31 of the book has been copied on another sheet as a recipe “for the sore throat.” Other sheets include recipes for Mountain Cake and Green Tomato Pickle, the latter addressed to a Mrs. Clark on the back, with the note, “This is the receipt but we put some sugar in, which I think makes it better.” The note is interesting. Until the mid-nineteenth century, sugar was never added to pickles. By the end of the century, green tomato pickles were almost always sweetened, as were many other pickles.
Various printed clippings, with recipes for Raspberry Vinegar, To Destroy Flies, Sponge Cake, Molasses from Figs, and Curing Hams, among other things, are also collected with this book, as are clipped advertisements for events, books, and tools. Also included are a clipping from an almanac, dated 1852, and a clipping with recipes for curing ham, with “Richmond, December 26, 1861” on the back.
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