cookbooks at the library of congress

i find cookbooks fascinating. and i just discovered that the library of congress has tons of original cookbooks! i'm all excited. i have a trip planned to washington dc this coming may. i have never been to washington before.

As the editor of Marie Martinelo's 1892 New York Cook Book reminds us, "The fashions of the cuisine, like those of the dress, are subject to changes." Nowhere is that so clear as in the Library's incomparable collection of cookbooks.

Their current exhibition called American Treasures of the Library of Congress contains many first edition and rare cookbooks. The Domestic Arts part of the exhibit contains original recipes for meals eaten by Thomas Jefferson himself, the first Yiddish cookbook and labels from classic american products.

This video featuring Julia Child is an except of the documentary "Memory & Imagination: New Pathways to the Library of Congress". Julia is describing some of the cookbooks featured in the Library of Congress.