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The White Ribbon Cook Book

Earlier this year I picked up a copy of The White Ribbon Cook Book, published by the Orono Women's Christian Temperance Union, June, 1924 in from local bookstore. Searching the web and all the usual suspects I couldn't find any references to this book anywhere. I did find several "White Ribbon Cook Books" of various locations and vintages, but none seemed entirely identical to this one.  I suspect that a subscription publisher compiled this cookbook and sold it over and over again to different groups as a fund raising tool, probably changing only title page. This version is bound with a light-grey cloth/cardboard cover, printed simply "WHITE RIBBON COOK BOOK" in blue on the front.

The copy I purchased is a beautiful document because it was clearly so very well "loved" (i.e. so heavily used.) It has stains and wear marks throughout. In addition, this copy includes an added handwritten recipe as well as a couple handwritten annotations (see pp 21, 23, and 35.)  Since attending Barbara K. Wheaton's Reading Historic Cookbooks: A Structured Approach seminar, my appreciation for such documents has increased considerably. I find this one charming.

I have scanned the book and provide it here in PDF form for other researchers. The book contains no copyright notice and was published before 1978. Therefore it is my understanding that it may be reprinted without restriction.  For ease of uploading & downloading, it is split into several files (somewhat arbitrarily.)

Scans:

Front and Back Covers

Pages 1-19

Pages 20-49

Pages 50-74

Pages 75-86

Pages 87-104 + table of contents

• I believe that the Orono WTCU is the Women's Christian Temperance Union of Orono, Maine.  However, the place name "Orono" shows up in other locales as well, including Minnesota.
• This is the first time I have ever attempted to scan in an entire fragile book. At the beginning I didn't really have my technique together, and I changed a couple of scanner settings as I went along. Thus, the quality of the scans improve as it goes along. The binding of the book was in poor condition when I got it, and has not been improved by this exercise, so I decided not to go back and re-scan the earlier pages. My apologies for the varying quality of the scans.
• The additions are the things that to me make this a more living document. On page 21, "Use hot coffee instead of water and eight cups of flour." I assume this refers to the recipe for "Pork Cake," as that is the only recipe on the page which calls for hot water and fails to indicate a quantity for flour.  I cant decide if the recipe sounds good or disgusting :-).  Page 23 includes the note "This is the one Amy use while here." Finally, the owner of the book added her own recipe for "Ora's cup cake," on page 35. I particularly like that she (?) calls for "Wesson" oil.