Civic Organization Cookbooks

To raise funds, civic organizations in Mississippi created and sold community cookbooks. Created primarily by women, the money raised supported the creation of parks and community centers, paid for school trips and library books, and made possible countless charitable efforts. Often local businesses purchased advertising to help launch the fundraising effort. These cookbooks demonstrate how communities came together to support city and town improvements.

Below you will find a small sample of some of the cookbooks found within the collection. Use the carousel to preview some of the pages within the cookbook and click the “explore” links to view the entire cookbooks.

Kissin’ Dont Last; Cookery Do.

From the Mississippi Hinds County Home Demonstration, the Kissin’ Don’t Last; Cookery Do cookbook features a collection of recipes ranging from sandwiches and salads to entrées with chicken, pork, turkey, and seafood. As always, sweets such as cakes, cookies, icings, pies, ice creams, and candy made up a large part of the cookbook.

Home demonstration clubs sponsored by county extension services introduced women, primarily in rural communities, to labor-saving home technologies and provided guidance on healthy and economical eating. Sharing recipes helped to promote community and provided culinary advice to new cooks. The sponsors of the cookbook believed that home life was centered around the kitchen and they wanted to share their love of good cooking by compiling their treasured, family recipes. Each recipe is accompanied by the name of the person who donated it and each section of the cookbook is accompanied by an illustration of a smiling child. Spread throughout the book are single page advertisements for businesses who helped pay for the book, such as an advertisement for “Pine-sol” and another for “Southern Restaurant.” Generally, Home Demonstration cookbooks were distributed free of charge and were not fundraisers.