Manuscript Location

University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Kislak Center for Special Collections - Manuscripts

Place of Origin

United States ➔ Ohio ➔ Randolph Township

Date of Composition

recipes likely 1860s-1870s

Description

The first ten leaves of this volume comprise payment records for School District No. 2 in Randolph Township, Portage County, Ohio, for the years 1839 to 1851. Among the names included in these records are those of the township treasurer, the district treasurer, five teachers, and maintenance workers Samuel Austin, Hiram Austin, and David Austin.

The remainder of the volume consists of recipes and household accounts of the Austin family. The majority of the recipes are for cakes, including delicate cake, feather cake, dried apple cake, fruit cake, jelly cake, railroad cake, old colony cake, and silver cake. Other recipes outline food colorings, puddings, gingerbread, and crackers. In addition to recipes, there is a list of  household expenditures for the years 1871 and 1873, titled "What we used for the year." This list covers groceries, dry goods, and sundries and gives their cost. There is also a list of income, titled "Eggs that I sold." The household finances and many of the recipes were written by Alvira Austin (b. 1846). Her signature, as well as the signatures of Bessie, Ida, and Samuel Austin, appear in the volume.