Food & Drink History Resources @Virginia Tech (and Beyond): Home Remedies/Folk or Traditional Medicine/Patent Medicines
Special Collections in the University Libraries can help with your food & drink history research, including books, manuscript collections, ephemera & digital items. This LibGuide also includes resources you can find at other institutions.
In addition to suggested resources below, you may also want to view our "Cocktail History in America" LibGuide. On the "General Histories & Specific Topics" page, there is also a small section on "Bitters & Patent Medicines." Our resource guide for introductory Appalachian Studies courses also contains a section on food: Food & Foodways (incl. traditional medicine, farming, & agriculture). In addition, the library's catalog can help you locate additional patent medicine-sponsored almanacs or cookbooks (we have included only a few examples below).
Special Collections Culinary Links
From Knox Gelatine: Desserts, Salads, Candies and Frozen Dishes, c.1936
- History of Food & Drink Manuscript Collections
- Digitized Manuscript Collections
- Digitized Books
- What's Cookin' @Special Collections (blog)
- About the History of Food & Drink collecting area
- History of Food & Drink LibGuide
- Infant, Child, & Family Nutrition Resources LibGuide
- Cocktail History in America LibGuide
Suggested Books & Publications
- Almanac: Dr. Morse's Indian Root Pills RM671 .C65 Spec Small
- Ayer's American Almanac AY81.P3 A94 Spec Small
- The Blanchard System. Concentrated Nerve and Brain-Building and Semi-Digested Foods: for the Prevention and Cure of Disease, particularly of the Nervous System and Digestive Organs RM258 .B43 1875z Spec Small
- Burdock Blood Bitters: Alamanac and Key Health RM671.B87 M5 1888 Spec Small
- The Care of Baby RJ61 .C35 1919 Spec Small
- The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digbie, Kt. Opened: Whereby is Discovered Several Ways for Making of Metheglin, Sider, Cherry-wWine, &c., together with Excellent Directions for Cookery: as also for preserving, conserving, candying, &c. TP520 .D5 1967 Spec Large
- Reprint of publication from 1669
- The Compleat Housewife, or, Accomplish'd Gentlewoman's Companion: Being a Collection of Upwards of Five Hundred of the Most Approved Receipts in Cookery with Copper Plates Curiously Engraven for the Regular Disposition or Placing the Various Dishes and Courses. And also Bills of Fare for Every Month of the Year. To Which is Added, a Collection of Above Two Hundred Family Receipts of Medicines TX705 .S535 1734 Spec Large
- The Cow-Bot & Com-Cel-Sar RA776.5 .W45 1912 Spec Small
- Diets for the Sick RM671 .R44 1900z Spec Small
- Domestic Economy Revived: In a Series of Recipes, Adapted to the Cure of Diseases Common to the People of the United States: Together with Remedies Made Use of by Celebrated Indian Physicians, in Cases Heretofore Considered Incurable. Also, a Few Sketches Worthy the Attention of the Farmer, the Mechanic, and the Housewife TX153 .P55 1820 Spec Small
- Dr. Chases's Recipes, or, Information for Everybody: An Invaluable Collection of About Eight Hundred Practical Recipes... TX153 .C49 1866 Spec Small
- This item has been digitized and is available online: https://digitalsc.lib.vt.edu/HFDBooks/TX153.C49_1866
- Dr. Fenner's Peoples Remedies for the Family Cook Book RM671.D7 F46 1903 Spec Large
- Dr. Miles Candy Book TX791 .D76 1900 Spec Small
- Dr. Miles Cook Book TX715 .D7 1920z Spec Small
- Dr. O. Phelps Brown's Shakespearian Annual Almanac PR2885 .D63 Spec Small
- Dr. S. J. Sears' Domestic Receipt Book RM388 .S42 1868 Spec Small
- This item has been digitized and is available online: http://digitalsc.lib.vt.edu/HFDBooks/RM388_S42_1868
- Five Thousand Receipts in All the Useful and Domestic Arts, Constituting a Complete and Universal Practical Library, and Operative Cyclopaedia by Colin Mackenzie TX153 .M15 1827 Spec Large
- This item has been digitized and is available online: http://digitalsc.lib.vt.edu/HFDBooks/TX153.M15_1827
- Food and Health RM671.L98 F6 Spec Small
- Additional cataloged publications by the Lydia E. Pinkham Medicine Company
- Additional pamphlets by the company are also located in the Culinary Pamphlet Collection (Ms2011-002)
- Hamlin's Wizard Oil Linament RM671.H36 H36 1900 Spec Small
- The Household Guide or Domestic Cyclopedia: Home Remedies for Man and Beast ...RC81 .J47 1895 Spec Small AND RC81 .D38 1891 Spec Small
- Morning, Noon, Night: Almanac AY81.P3 M67 Spec Large
- Nostrums and Quackery: Articles on the Nostrum Evil and Quackery Reprinted...R730 .A52 1912bx Spec Large
- A Pocket-companion, Containing Things Necessary to be Known by All that Values Their Health and Happiness: being a Plain Way of Nature's Own Prescribing, to Cure Most Diseases in Men, Women and Children, by Kitchen-Physick Only... RM215 .T8 1692 Spec Small
- Rawleigh's Good Health Guide, Almanac and Cookbook AY81.H7 R3 Spec Large
- Romany Remedies and Recipes RS127 .P5 1935 Spec Small
- You are Lucky!: Take This Home RM671.D56 Y68 1890 Spec Small
Suggested Manuscript Collections
- "Book for Receipts" Recipe Book, 1731 (Ms2008-024)The "Book for Receipts" is a recipe book written in England in 1731. At least two owners added to this work (the names of owners remain unknown) because the handwriting changes in the last third of text. Some recipe contributors are named, such as: Lady Westmorland, Mrs. Catherine Sanderson, Mrs. Allston, Mrs. Gilbert, and Sr. Orlando Gees. Recipes focus largely on delicacies-not on staple meals-and home remedies. Categories of recipes include: pickles and preserves, cakes, biscuits, jellies, creams, and beverages (wines). One noteworthy example of a home remedy entitled "The famous American Receipt for the Rheumatism" appears in the volume and, according to the author, "is very famous in America; a Hundred Pounds have been given for the Receipt." Recipes also indicate the availability of foodstuff in the eighteenth century-as seen through the use of several pounds of good "Jamaican Sugar".
This item has been digitized and is available online: http://digitalsc.lib.vt.edu/HFDMss/Ms2008_024_BookReceipts - "Nye's Genuine Eye Water" Label, n.d. (Ms2015-018)This item is a bottle label for "Nye's Genuine Eye Water", prepared by A. H. Nye of Emory, Virginia. The label states directions for proper use and storage of the product. Label also has a depiction of the product bottle on the left side of the paper.
- Cocktail Ephemera Collection, c.1870s-2000s (Ms2013-027)The Cocktail Ephemera Collection is a collection that was created in 2013. The collection consists of materials in a variety of formats (i.e., postcards, pamphlets, and adverstising ephemera) relating to the history of the cocktails, dating from the about the 1870s to the present.
- Culinary Ephemera Collection, c.1900s-2000s (Ms2013-028)The Culinary Ephemera Collection was established in 2013. The collection consists of materials in a variety of formats (postcards, menus, children's activities, advertising pamphlets, and more) that relate to food, nutrition, and medicine, dating from the early 19th century to the present.
- Culinary Pamphlet Collection, c.1870s-1990s (Ms2011-002)The collection includes small publications and pamphlets created and distributed by culinary, appliance, and food-related companies from about the 1870s to the 1990s. Most pamphlets contain advertisements, recipes, product information, testimonials, or some combination of all four.
- Daisy Starbird Manuscript Cookbook, c.1905 (Ms2011-003)The collection contains a manuscript cookbook containing recipes, home remedies, and crochet instructions written in several different hands. A majority of the recipes are for desserts (for example, "Pork Cake," "Golf Balls," and "Hop Toads"), but there are also some for soups, puddings, and sauces. Like many recipe books, there are notes for home remedies. There are several different hands, one of whom may be Mrs. Hanson, to whom several of the receipts are attributed. Other contributors include Mrs. M. Shaw, Mrs. Rogers, Nellie Darrah, and Miss Lancaster. The signature on the inside cover reads "Daisy B. Starbird, Feb. 5, 1903 in Brunswick, Maine."
- Dr. Thomas' Eclectric Oil Trade Card [c.1875-1940?] (Ms2009-064)Dr. Thomas' Eclectric Oil was first produced by Dr. S.N. Thomas of Phelps, New York in the late 1840s. While the Eclectric Oil was quite popular in the local markets of the time, the popularity of the product significantly increased when Dr. S.N. Thomas sold the formula to Excelsior Botanical Company in the 1880s. Dr. Thomas' Eclectric Oil became both a domestic and international sensation, and advertisements for the "cure-all" medication can easily be located in family health periodicals published in the late 1800s. This particular trade card was distributed by James H.S. Aumann, M.D.–a druggist and chemist in Wytheville, Virginia. This item has also been digitized and is available online: http://digitalsc.lib.vt.edu/HFDMss/Ms2009_064_DrThomas
- Earl Palmer Appalachian Photograph and Artifact Collection (Ms1989-025)This collection includes some small artifacts in Box 7, housed in Viriginia Tech Special Collections. The majority of the artifacts have been transferred to Solitude (on campus), but are listed on the finding aid.
- English Receipt/Home Remedy Book, c.1830s-1840s? (Ms2013-013)This handwritten book contains recipes and home remedies, with the last few pages devoted to a description of quilting designs and a "list of plate in use" for 1838. The recipes consist largely of meat or fish dishes - including lobster salad - as well as puddings, desserts, and even ginger beer. Home remedies are listed side by side with the food recipes. Many of these recipes and remedies are attributed to various individuals and doctors. A few of the recipes contain dates, spanning from 1834-1840.
- Hertford Receipt Book, 1800-1833 (Ms2008-027)The Hertford Receipt Book is a recipe book written in Hertford, England (a county town of Hertfordshire) from 1800 to 1833. The recipes were documented by several people as handwriting changes throughout the volume. Some recipes are ascribed/attributed and dated. Attributions include: Miss Anne Morris, W. R. Price, Mrs. Whitmore, the Hertford Paper, and the Shrewsbury Paper among others. Recipes for home remedies and household necessities encompass a large portion of the manuscript, examples of which are: a "Receipt for Killing Rats," a formula for "Common Lead Coloured Paint," and "A Salve for Drawing Wounds." Edible recipes include: jellies, cakes, breads, meats, stews, and beverages (ales and wines).
- Home Remedies Manual, c.1921 (Ms2010-073)This collection consists of a small handwritten manual. It is bound in a single sheet of newspaper from New York that dates to 1921.
The manual's contents include recipes for illness remedies as well as those for household goods: Illness remedies for humans include those for sore eyes, dysentery, itching, feet corn, jaundice, and rheumatism. One Indian cure for "fever and ague" instructs how to boil various types of bark into a tea. For horse illnesses, home cures for such ailments as ringbone, blind staggers, strains, and yellow water are given. Household good recipes listed in this manual include those for making green paint, wood stain, and cherry varnish. - Household Management Ledger (Ms2012-085)The collection consists of a daybook containing recipes, home remedies, and household cleaning mixtures. Recipes include appetizers, entrees, and desserts; for example, rusks, corned beef, and sugar cake. Hard soap and "family grease soap" are some of the cleaning supplies described. Some examples of the home remedies are ointment, salve, salve for burns, and cures for a felon. Loose clippings found in the volume were removed to a separate folder.
- Milton A. and Marion Osborn Manuscript Receipt Book and Household Library Catalog, c.1870s-1880s (Ms2015-056)The collection consists of a hand-written receipt book and catalog of the household library, likely kept in the 1870s and 1880s. In addition, there are a few home remedies, some drawings and signatures (Willie Osborn), and what appear to be short journal entries. The book was owned and likely created by both Milton and Marion Osborn. Dates on the cover and inside suggest the Osborns started using the notebook in 1878. Publication dates for items in the catalog of the household library indicate it was added to until at least the mid-1880s. The majority of the book contains recipes for a variety of baked goods: cakes, pies, and puddings. However, it also includes recipes for pickling, homemade wine, and preserves, and home remedies. Other pages include partial journal entries, one referencing Jennie Shipley (a likely relation to Marion Shipley Osborn); a drawing of a house; and some signatures of Willie Osborn. In addition, there are 320 books numbered 91 to 411, which may have made up the Osborn's home library. Titles include both fiction and non-fiction.
- Overseer's Journal, 1853-1861 (Ms1994-010)The journal lists slave names and amount of crops (including cotton, peas, corn) each picked. It also lists when and which slaves were sick each day, how much money was obtained for a crop, home remedies for common illnesses, and the journey itinerary for a cargo ship.
- S. P. Hite Company Daybook, 1905-1909 (Ms1986-005)This collection consists of a single daybook maintained by S. P. Hite Company, a patent drug manufacturer and distributor operating in Roanoke, Virginia during the early 20th century. The entries, spanning October 31, 1905 to July 31, 1909, record sales of the company's various products, including Hite's Pain Cure (abbreviated in the daybook as "HPC"), cough syrup, liver pills, asthma and catarrh powders, and others. Among the customers named are grocers and druggists throughout Virginia and the greater mid-Atlantic region.
- Southwest Virginia Counties Collection, 1783-1878 (Ms2000-092)The collection includes letters from various members of the Godwin, Young, Trevey, Williams and other families of Botetourt, Rockbridge, and Roanoke Counties establishes the relationship between them. In addition to correspondence, the collection also contains deeds, promissory notes, invoices for goods and services, toll bridge fee receipt, a child's watercolor, 13 pen and ink drawings of weaver's coverlet designs with titles of designs included. The collection also contains five bound leather volumes include accounts and recipes.