Primary Sources: American Women: Home & Family

"The Feeding America project has created an online collection of some of the most important and influential American cookbooks from the late 18th to early 20th century. The digital archive includes page images of 76 cookbooks from the MSU Library's collection as well as searchable full-text transcriptions. This site also features a glossary of cookery terms and multidimensional images of antique cooking implements from the collections of the MSU Museum. "

"... was a collaborative effort between the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections and the Human Development 455 course Archival Research: Exploring the History of Home Economics. The students did extensive hands-on research in the university archives, investigating the intellectual history of home economics." Cornell University

Bringing portions of and commentary on this most famous 19th century women's magazine to the Web.Description from site

The magazine was intended to entertain, inform and educate the women of America. In addition to extensive fashion descriptions and plates, the early issues included biographical sketches, articles about mineralogy, handcrafts, female costume, the dance, equestrienne procedures, health and hygiene, recipes and remedies and the like. Each issue also contained two pages of sheet music, written essentially for the pianoforte. Gradually the periodical matured into an important literary magazine containing extensive book reviews and works by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and many other celebrated 19th century authors who regularly furnished the magazine with essays, poetry and short stories. Godey’s Lady’s Book also was a vast reservoir of handsome illustrations which included hand-colored fashion plates, mezzotints, engravings, woodcuts and, ultimately, chromolithographs.

"...is a core electronic collection of books and journals in Home Economics and related disciplines. Titles published between 1850 and 1950 were selected and ranked by teams of scholars for their great historical importance. The first phase of this project focused on books published between 1850 and 1925 and a small number of journals. Future phases of the project will include books published between 1926 and 1950, as well as additional journals. The full text of these materials, as well as bibliographies and essays on the wide array of subjects relating to Home Economics, are all freely accessible on this site. This is the first time a collection of this scale and scope has been made available." Cornell University

"Provides information from the publisher of 19th-century women's magazine `Godey's Lady's Book,' on the duties and obligations of a housewife in conducting a home. Household economy; Arrangements in the house; Views concerning servants; Etiquette in the household; More information."

An online collection of books from the HathiTrust Digital Library. It covers "areas in American domestic and commercial life in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. Far more than just cookbooks, it contains a wide diversity of materials from the 16th to early 20th centuries - books, ephemera, menus, magazines, graphics, maps, manuscripts, diaries, letters, catalogues, advertisements, and reference works - and is increasingly recognized as a premier collection for the study of culinary Americana"
The original archive is located at the University of Michigan's Clements Library (http://www.clements.umich.edu/longone-archive.php)

"Everyone enjoys a home that is comfortable, livable, and attractive. These qualities are more easily obtained if everyone assumes his or her share of responsibility in the home.
The 4-H Club girl in this project assumes her share of these responsibilities in the home. She wears suitable clothing and uses good posture when doing her work. She plans with her mother so that she can have her share of the family responsibilites. Since a girl needs to learn to buy as well as make things, she will purchase any materials that she needs for her project. However, it is a good practice to use materials one has on hand if they will answer the purpose."

A popular books for ladies of the 19th century containing things such as poetry, engraving and articles. The Online Books Page provides links to various volumes available online.

"presents the images of over 420 separately published trial narratives from the Harvard Law School Library's extensive trial collections. Included are a number of trials of the wealthy and renowned such as an account of the adultery trial of Caroline, Queen Consort of George IV, the sodomy trial of Oscar Wilde, and the trial of Harry Thaw for the murder of Stanford White, the famous architect who was Evelyn Nesbit Thaw's lover. The larger part of the collection, however, consists of the stories of ordinary men and women thrust into the public eye when their marriages and love affairs went wrong or their relationships did not conform to social standards." Harvard University Library