- Rare Books
- Where can I go for information about my rare cookbook?
- Where can I go to buy, sell or find the values of rare books?
- Museum Objects
- I would like to be able to view the museum objects in person. Can I do that?
- I would like to examine the cookbooks from this collection in person. Can I do that?
- The Collection
- Why didn't you include this very significant book in your collection?
- Is the collection accepting book donations? Will my donation be digitized?
- Recipes
Q. Where can I go for information about my rare cookbook?
A. "Your Old Books," a guide to rare books and book values, from the American Library Association
Q. Where can I go to buy, sell or find the values of rare books?
A. You may find several links that are of help to you on The Library of Congress list of "Books and Booksellers".
Q. I would like to be able to view the museum objects in person. Can I do that?
A. The Museum Objects presented on this web site are from the Michigan State University Museum Collection. The Museum is open Monday through Friday from 9am until 5pm, Saturday from 10am until 5pm and Sunday from 1pm until 5pm. Not all museum items are on display at all times. If you wish to view a specific item you may wish to contact the museum at (517) 355-2370 prior to visiting to confirm whether or not the item is presently being displayed.
Q. I would like to examine the cookbooks from this collection in person. Can I do that?
A. The digital cook books contained in the Feeding America collection were all scanned from items which are held by the Special Collections department of the Michigan State University Library.
The Special Collections Reading Room is open Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Additionally, during the academic year when classes are in session, the room is open:
Wednesday 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Sunday, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Special Collections materials may be used by Michigan State University faculty, staff, and students, and by other qualified persons. Appropriate identification (MSU I. D. or driver’s license) may be requested. For more information on viewing these materials, please contact Special Collections at (517) 432-6123 ext. 100.
Q. Why didn't you include this very significant book in your collection?
A. The Feeding of America digital collection is only a small sampling of the 7,000 cookery related items held by the Special Collections department of the Michigan State University Library. While we at the Digital and Multimedia Center would like to have been able to digitize a larger portion of this collection, the time and resources that this would require are not presently available to us. Instead, we have digitized what we feel is an excellent representation of the wealth of cookery literature available in our collection.
If the book you are looking for is not represented by our online collection, it is possible that it it is held in our cookery collection but was not digitized. You can search the MSU Library Online Card Catalog at http://magic.msu.edu/ to see if the book you seek is available in our Special Collections reading room.
As our digitization efforts were limited to items held in our own collections, if we do not posses a book, we are unable to digitize it and offer it online.
Q. Is the collection accepting book donations? Will my donation be digitized?
A. If you are interested in donating materials to the MSU Special Collections Cookery collection, please contact Peter Berg at the Special Collections Reading room. (517) 432-6123 ext. 100.
The question of digitizing donated items can only be addressed on a case by case basis.
A. There are several ways to locate recipes using our site.
The first place you may choose to look is the list of recipes which were featured by the Detroit Free Press. This list consists of the authentic historical recipes which the Freep adapted for modern tastes.
Another way to find recipes is by looking at the book information pages. When browsing the collection, click on a title to learn more about it. Many of the book descriptions contain links to some of the recipes found in that volume.
If you are looking for recipes which were not featured by the press or in the book description, you will want to use the Search the Collection option.
On the Search page, select an "Advanced" search and under "Search Limits" select "recipes". From here you may use the search criteria to narrow down your search. For example, if you wanted to find a chocolate cake recipe, enter "chocolate cake" into the "with all the words" search criteria box. For more information on using the search function of this site, please see our Search Help document which is available in HTML or PDF format.
Q. How do I narrow down my search to find recipes from a specific region of America?
A. Using our search engine it is possible to locate recipes from a specific region of America by going through the following steps:
- Go to the Search the Collection page and select an "Advanced Search".
- Under "Search Limits" select "Recipes" and then select "Region of America".
- Use the pull down menu to select a region which you would like to submit.
- You may then customize your search using the other search criteria and limits.