Manuscript Location

Smith College, Mortimer Rare Book Room, Neilson Library

Place of Origin

United States

Date of Composition

1826

Description

Likely of American origin, this bound volume (with many blank pages) contains pressed botanical specimens of a medicinal nature with some indication of their usage. It also includes cooking and baking recipes; instructions for preserving foods (keeping eggs for 12 months, onion pickles, "medlar jelly"); and recipes for household products (to polish mahogany, "to keep arms or any polished metal from rust"). There are also recipes for fruit wines (orange, raspberry, grape) and gin and other spirits. Some recipes cite their sources. Loose pages contain recipes for various aliments ("promoting the growth of hair," "for a bad cough," and "to make a tincture for cuts and bruises"). These loose sheets are in different hands and were clearly accumulated over a number of years.