The Digital Recipe Book Project

1

HR 650

The Digital Recipe Book Project

Dr. Lisa Smith

MeetingsContact Me

Seminars: Th., 9:00-11:00 (TC1.9)Email:

--Except weeks 30-32 (5N.3.11)Twitter: @historybeagle

Labs: Weeks 5, 9 and 11 (PC Lab R, TC2.11)

Office Hours:Th. 11:00-12:00; F 12:00-13:00Office: 5NW.7.10

Alchemist with his family; Joseph Clayton-Bentley, 1661.

Credit: Wellcome Library, London

What is this module?

In this module, we’ll consider the political, economic, and cultural significance of early modern households through the lens of recipes and recipe books. Early modern households were busy places, with servants, lodgers, extended family and visitors coming and going, forging connections with other families. Households were centres of production in which family members worked alongside each other and knowledge was shared beyond its threshold. Central themes will include domestic management, gender, life cycle, relationships, patronage, and practical knowledge.

In term 1, we have an exciting opportunity to collaborateand discuss recipes and transcribing with three groups: my second-year module, Dr. Amy Tigner’s students at the University of Texas Arlington and Dr. Marissa Nicosia and her student at Penn State Abington University. We will also take part in a virtual transcribathon of a seventeenth-century recipe book with participants from across the world!Over the year, you will develop a portfolio of online work by participating in a collaborative digital research project: transcribing part of a seventeenth-century recipe book and developing an online exhibition of contextual material. To this end, some weeks will focus on developing the group project and learning about digital tools.

Techie side of things sound complicated? Don’t worry—you’ll be fine if you know how to use Word or e-mail!(And if you are uncomfortable for any reason with having a public persona online, please speak with me so we can make accommodations.)

What will I learn?

• To understand the creation, function and transmission of manuscript recipe books in early modern Europe.
• To think about the household as a fundamental structure in early modern Europe.
• To collaborate with others in undertaking a close and detailed reading of a primary source.
• To develop familiarity with digital tools in presenting history.

What will I have done by the end of the module?

• Written for specialist and general audiences on social media and other online outlets.
• Used digital tools for research and presentation.
• Situated and analysed early modern beliefs within a wider historical context through participation in seminar discussions and module assignments.
• Enhance critical reading, writing and research skills by preparing for seminar discussions and completing the required coursework.
• Worked as part of a team to develop and complete a project to deadline.
• Produced a portfolio of digital work that can be listedon your CV (e.g. as scholarly work, public engagement, or online writing).

How will I be assessed?

Assignment / Length / Weighting / Due Date
Blog posts / 4 x 800 words / 20%
(5% per entry) / November 25, February 3, March 10, May 12
Transcription and tagging /

1. 2 pages
2. 8 pages
3. 10 pages

(2 pages=1 folio) / 20% (trans.)
10% (tags) /

1. October 28
2. December 5
3. February 3

Online Exhibition: Text / 2000 words / 25% /

• Draft version, in-class discussion: April 24
• Final version: May 5

Online Exhibition: Presentation of Website / Website / 20% /

• Draft version, in-class discussion: April 24
• Final version: May 12

Online Participation / Regular commenting on other people’s blog posts. / 5% / N/A (though obviously all commenting should be done by May 15).

Full details of the assignments will be posted on Moodle. The online exhibition text needs to be submitted through FASER, where feedback will be provided. The other assignments are to be submitted on the appropriate digital platforms.

How do we submit our coursework?

Please note that your coursework, apart from the online exhibition text, will need to be submitted online on the relevant platform (blog, Dromio or exhibition site).The online exhibition text must also be submitted online through FASER. Feedback will be provided by email or in seminars.

Weekly Topics and Readings

TERM ONE

2. Introduction to the Project (October 13)

A) An Overview of the Project and Recipe Scholarship

Early Modern Recipes Online Collective, .

The Recipes Project,

Look through several of the blog posts at each site, as well as the EMROC project pages and teaching section.Consider:

1. What kind of work do these projects reflect?
2. What kinds of scholars using recipe books?
3. How are scholars using these sources?
4. What can we gain from studying recipes and recipe books?

B) Student Project Management

Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo, ‘Making Group Contracts’,

Clement, T., Reside, D., et al. Off the Tracks: Laying New Lines for Digital Humanities

Scholars .

--Read the Introduction and Part 1A on Collaboration, pp. 1-10.

Di Pressi, H., Gorman, S., et al. A Student Collaborators’ Bill of Rights,

.

Robinson, P. ‘The Principles of the Textual Communities Project’, Textual Communities

/wiki/Main/The+Principles+of+the+Textual+Communities+Project .

After thinking about the project, wider recipe scholarship, and the statements on collaborators, consider:

1. What should credit look like in our project, whether for transcribing or online writing?
2. What rights should you have over your work on this project?
3. What should our classroom behaviour/project community look like?
4. How should we achieve consensus on the project design?
5. What are the responsibilities of the individual AND the group, both in terms of the classroom and the project?

3. What is a Recipe? (October 20)

Nappi, C. ‘Bolatu’s Pharmacy: Theriac in Early Modern China’, Early Science and Medicine

14 (2009): 737-764.

Pomata, G. ‘The Recipe and the Case: Epistemic Genres and the Dynamics of Cognitive

Practices’, in K. Greyerz, S. Flubacher, et al. Wissenschaftgeschichte und Geschichte

des Wissensim Dialog – Connecting Science and Knowledge (Gottingen: V&R

Unipress, 2013), 131-154.

Saffitz, C. ‘Constructing the Politics of Cookery: Authorial Strategy and Domestic Politics

in English Cookery Books, 1655-1670’, Cuizine: The Journal of Canadian Food

Cultures 4,2 (2013): .

Woolley, H. A Supplement to the Queen-Like Closet… (London, 1674), pp. 6-10, 125-129,

149-151.

Consider: what is a recipe? What isn’t a recipe? What functions does a recipe or recipe book serve? To what extent does context make a difference?

4. Paleography Lab (October 27)

In this lab, we will practice early modern palaeography.The links below to online tutorials will prove helpful throughout this module.

Consider: what sorts of materials do the online courses provide that will be helpful? What are the basic transcription conventions? Why is palaeography and transcription useful? What can you learn from the process of transcription? What problems do you encounter?

To read

Apothecary Symbols,

Breen, B.

English Handwriting 1500-1700: an online course,

Paleography: reading old handwriting, 1500-1800. A practical online tutorial,

5. XML Lab (November 3)

In this lab, we will look at the rationale of Extensible Mark-Up Language, as well as some basic textual encoding. Don’t forget the room change this week!

Consider: what is the purpose of using Extensible Mark-Up Language? What are its advantages and disadvantages?

To read

‘A Gentle Introduction to XML’, TEI Guidelines

Birnbaum, D.J. ‘What is XML and why should humanists care? An even gentler

introduction to XML’, Digital Humanities

Robinson, P. ‘Default Transcription Guidelines’, Textual Communities

Assignment

By the start of the week, please sign up for a Google account (if you don’t have one) and send me the email address. I will invite you to join Textual Communities and assign you tasks for completion during the lab. Please make sure that you have accepted my invitation and looked at the site BEFORE our lab.

6. EMROC Transcribathon: November 9, 14:00-17:00, 5N.7.21

There will be no regular class sessions this week, as I will be in Washington, D.C. for a research meeting. But there will be a recipe-related lecture in advance of the Transcribathon, which will be streamed live on November 8 and available afterwards.

On November 9, my research group (Early Modern Recipes Online Collective) will be hosting an international Virtual Transcribathon of an early modern manuscript recipe book. Drop by during the group session, which is also open to my second-year students and interested postgraduates, or try your hand at transcribing at any point during the day from your own computer. The Virtual Transcribathon will officially be running from 9:00 to 5:00 EST.

To prepare for the event, you will find it helpful to review the materials at: But I will be available to chat via Skype or Twitter on the day, too!

7. Household Management and Record Keeping (November 17)

Blair, A. Too Much to Know: Managing Scholarly Information before the Modern Age (New

Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2010), chapter 2.

Johnson Family Recipe Book, Wellcome Library, London, MS 3082 ff. 27v-28r,

36r-36v, 65r-66r, 69v.

Leong, E. ‘‘Herbals she peruseth’: reading medicine in early modern England’,

Renaissance Studies 28, 4 (2014): 556-578.

Transcription of Newdigate Family Records.

Whittle, J. and E. Griffiths, Consumption and Gender in the Early Seventeenth-Century

Household: The World of Alice Le Strange (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012),

chapter 2.

Consider: how did people keep track of information? What information was considered important within the household? Where do recipes (printed or manuscript) fit within the context of household record-keeping?

8. Gender and Domestic Knowledge (November 24)

Archer, J. ‘Women and Chymistry in Early Modern England: The Manuscript Receipt

Book (c. 1616) of Sarah Wigges’, pp. 191-216 in K. Long, ed. Gender and Scientific

Discourse in Early Modern Culture (Farnham & Burlington: Ashgate, 2010).

Baker, H. ‘Some Observations concerning the Virtue of the Jelly of Black Currants, in

Curing Inflammations in the Throat’, Philosophical Transactions 41 (1739): 655-

660.

Gibson, John and Joan. ‘A Book of Medicines’, Wellcome Library, London, MS 311.

Leong, E. ‘Collecting Knowledge for the Family: Recipes, Gender and Practical

Knowledge in the Early Modern English Household’, Centaurus 55, 2 (2013): 81-

103.

Markham, G. The English House-Wife (London, 1653), Table of Contents, pp. 1-4, 49-51.

-----. The English Husbandman (London, 1635), Table of Contents, pp. 1-9.

Smith, L.W. ‘The relative duties of a man: domestic medicine in England and France, ca.

1685-1740’, Journal of Family History 31, 3 (2006): 237-256.

Reading tips: Scan the Gibson book. Look for indications of ownership and examine the sources/attribution or other marks that might suggest gender.

Consider: If we were looking for signs of gendered knowledge in recipe books, how should we go about it? To what extent was (domestic) knowledge gendered (reality and practice)? What should the ideal housewife and househusband be able to do?

9. Mini-transcribathon(December 1)

Instead of our regular seminar, we will have an in-class transcribathon. This will give us a chance to get to know our group project recipe book even better through competitive and teamwork transcription activities. Don’t forget this week’s room change, as we’re meeting in a computer lab!

10. Recording Daily Life(December 8)

Hale, Mrs., ed. The Letters of Mme de Sévigné to her daughter and friends (Boston:

Roberts Brothers, 1878), pp. 99-103, 137-139, 152-153, 165-167, 179-183, 183-

187, 188-193, 275-279, 302-304.

Hockliffe, E., ed. The Diary of the Rev. Ralph Josselin, 1616-1683 (London: Camden

Society, 1908), excerpts.

LeJacq, S. ‘The Bounds of Domestic Healing: Medical Recipes, Storytelling and Surgery in

Early Modern England’, Social History of Medicine 26, 3 (2013): 451-468.

Rankin, A. ‘Duchess, heal thyself: Elisabeth of Rochlitz and the patient's perspective in

early modern Germany’, Bulletin of the History of Medicine 82, 1 (2008): 109-144.

St. John, J. Recipe Book, 1680, Wellcome Library, London, MS 4338, ff. 17r, 36v-37r, 46r,

47r, 49r, 59r, 72r

Consider: Where did illness and remedies/recipes fit within the records of daily life? What glimpses of daily life do we see in recipe books?

11. Omeka, Padlet and Google Sites Lab (December 15)

We will be meeting once again in a computer lab to look at websites (Omeka, Padlet, Google Sites and Wordpress) as possibilities for exhibiting our contextual material.We will divide into four groups and each group will explore the pros and cons of one tool, before presenting the results to the class.

To read

Cohen, D. and R. Rosenzweig, Digital History: A Guide to Gathering, Preserving and

Presenting the Past on the Web (

• See especially the chapter on ‘Designing for the History Web’.

Hall, M. ‘The Virtue of Virtual Exhibitions’, The Innovative Instructor Blog

(

-----. ‘Padlet – a Web and Mobile App with Possibilities’, The Innovative Instructor Blog

(

Omeka (

Omeka Gym (

TERM TWO

16. Project Planning and Contract Revisited (January 19)

During this class, we will take stock of the project to date and make decisions on the next step: designing the online exhibition. Students will have a chance to decide on what information they want to present, who will be responsible for what task/project, and what exhibition tool is best suited to their aims.

To read

‘Advice for Contributors’, The Recipes Project

(

Bamji, A. ‘Food in the Early Modern Period’, You are what you ate

(

Cohen, D. and R. Rosenzweig, Digital History: A Guide to Gathering, Preserving and

Presenting the Past on the Web (

• See especially the chapters on ‘Designing for the History Web’, ‘Building an Audience’ and ‘Collecting History Online’.

Gardner, J. and J. Scott, Recipes for Domesticity: Cookery, Household Management, and the

Notion of Expertise (

Laroche, R., Beyond Home Remedy: Women, Medicine, and Science

(

Assignment

To prepare for class, in addition to the above readings, students should revisit the readings and discussion from week 2 and 11. (Students may also find it helpful to explore some of the other online tools we looked at.)

Students should come prepared to discuss what they think the project should look like and what their contributions might be. Keep in mind what similar projects have been done, what recipe-related blogs are out there, and what good website design looks like.

Consider: what are you trying to achieve as a group and as an individual? Who is your audience? How can you attract, maintain and build an audience? What sorts of contextual information and analysis should be usefully included on the site? Where can you find copyright clear images? What makes good writing/display on the scholarly web?

17. Recipes for Love (January 26)

Anonymous, Wellcome MS 4171, translated excerpts.

Aristotle’s Master-piece Completed, in Two Parts (London, 1697), pp. 91-94.

Evans, J. ‘‘Gentle Purges corrected with hot Spices, whether they work or not, do vehemently

provoke Venery’: Menstrual Provocation and Procreation in Early Modern England’,

Social History of Medicine 25, 1 (2012):2-19.

Marten, J.A Treatise of all the Degrees and Symptoms of the Venereal Disease, in both

Sexes, 6th ed. (London, 1708), p. 430.

Smith, L.W. ‘Imagining Women’s Fertility before Technology’, Journal of Medical

Humanities 31 (2010): 69-79.

Winston, M. ‘Medicine, Marriage, and Human Degeneration in the French Enlightenment’,

Eighteenth-Century Studies 38, 2 (2005): 263-281.

Woolley, H. A Supplement to the Queen-Like Closet… (London, 1674), pp. 135-148.

Turner, D. A Discourse Concerning Gleets (London, 1729), pp. 27-30.

Venette, N. The Mysteries of Conjugal Love Reveal’d (London, 1707), pp. 119-125.

Consider: What made for a happy early modern family? Why did they spend so much effort imagining a successful marriage, in particular?

18. Family Strategy (February 2)

Heal, F. ‘Food Gifts, the Household and the Politics of Exchange in Early Modern

England’, Past and Present 199 (2008): 41-70.

Herbert, A. Female Alliances: Gender, Identity and Friendship in Early Modern Britain

(New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2014), pp. 78-116.

Stanhope, P. Volume 1. Wellcome Library, London, WMS 761.

Search the Sloane Letters database for food items and gifts (

Reading Tips: In the Stanhope, focus especially on image 3 and then ff. 6r-21v, which is the ‘A’ section. Look for attributions and statements of efficacy, which can usually be found in the rubric (title) or near the end. But also look at named family members listed on the image 3 (and any other contributors found nearby), who can be found according to the book’s section and pagination.

Consider: Who were the people named in the recipe book? What does this tell us about the family’s networks? If we were so inclined, how might we go about visualising this information (and why might a researcher want to)? Why did the family collect these particular recipes? Were there any particular kinds of recipes that they seemed to collect? How did letter-writers use food and gifts to cement relationships with Sir Hans Sloane? Why were food and recipes so central to these networks?

19. Food(February 9)

Bickham, T. ‘Eating the Empire: Intersections of Food, Cookery and Imperialism in

Eighteenth-Century Britain’, Past and Present 198 (2008): 71-109.

Cookbook, Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, V.a.19, p. 83.

Cookery and Medicinal Receipts of the Granville Family, Folger Shakespeare Library,

Washington, MS V.a.430, p. 95.

Glasse, H. The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (London, 1748), To the Reader and

chapter 1.

Harrison, W. Descriptions of Britain and England (London, 1577), chapter 6.

Jenner, M. ‘Tasting Lichfield, Touching China: Sir John Floyer’s Senses’, The Historical

Journal 53, 3 (2010): 647-670.

Packe, S. Cookbook of Susanna Packe, 1674. Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington,

MS V.a.15, f. 131r.

Consider: Where do they source their foodstuffs? Does this change over our period? How did people eat? What did they eat? How did they prepare their foods? Are recipe books representative of what people did?

20. Medicine beyond the home (February 16)

Crawshaw, J.S. ‘Families, medical secrets and public health in early modern Venice’,

Renaissance Studies 28, 4 (2014): 597-618.

Halkett, A. The Autobiography of Anne, Lady Halkett, ed J. G. Nichols (Westminster:

Camden Society, 1875), excerpts.

Hare, J. Letter to H. Sloane, 27 August 1702, Sloane MS 4034, f. 31, British Library,

London.

Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley. Letter to Sarah Chiswell, 1 April 1717.

Rankin, A. Panaceia's Daughters: Noblewomen as Healers in Early Modern Germany

(Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2013), chapter three.

Woolley, H. A Supplement to the Queen-Like Closet… (London, 1674), ‘To the Reader’ and

pp. 1, 10-17.

Consider: What sorts of medical activities were women involved with beyond the home? What role did the family play in this knowledge? To what extent was ‘household medicine’ a public activity?