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Food & Drink History Resources @Virginia Tech (and Beyond): A Few Suggested Readings

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.

Suggested Readings and Reference Books

This is not a complete list of books, periodicals, or other materials on American and southern food and foodways, but it does include some suggested publications to consult that are available in Newman Library or Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA). We also recommend searching the library's holdings, consulting the library's reference staff, or visiting/contacting SCUA for additional help.

The links below will take you to the catalog record for the item. (Newman Library) indicates the book is part of the circulating collection. (Special Collections) indicates the book is only available for use in the Special Collections and University Archives reading room and does not circulate.

Cookery, Food, and Foodways: American (General)

  • Eden, Trudy. Cooking in America, 1590-1840. 2006. (Newman Library)
  • Elias, Megan J. Food in the United States, 1890-1945. 2009. (Newman Library)
  • Grover, Katheryn, ed. Dining in America, 1850-1900. 1987. (Newman Library)
  • McLean, Alice L. Cooking in America, 1840-1945. 2006. (Newman Library)
  • Oliver, Sandra L. Food in Colonial and Federal America. 2005. 
  • Smith, Andrew F. Drinking History: Fifteen Turning Points in the Making of American Beverages. 2013. (Newman Library)
  • Smith, Andrew F. Eating History: 30 Turning Points in the Making of American Cuisine. 2009. (Newman Library)
  • Smith, Andrew F. The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink. 2007. (Newman Library)
  • Smith, Andrew F. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. 2014. (Special Collections)
  • Williams, Susan. Food in the United States, 1820s-1890. 2006. (Newman Library)

Cookery, Food, and Foodways: Appalachian and Southern

  • Cornbread Nation series (The Southern Foodways Alliance). (Newman Library)
  • Crump, Nancy Carter. Hearthside Cooking: Early American Southern Cuisine Updated for Today's Hearth & Cookstove. 2008. (Special Collections)
  • Dabney, Joseph Earl. Smokehouse Ham, Spoonbread & Scuppernon Wine: The Folklore and Art and Southern Appalachian Cooking. 1998. (Newman Library and Special Collections)
  • Ferris, Marcie Cohen. The Edible South: The Power of Food and the Making of an American Region. 2014. (Special Collections)
  • Gravy Quarterly. Southern Foodways Alliance (SFA) journal. 2010-present available online. 
  • Hartley, Martha Roberts. The Frontier Table: A Treatise and Source Book on Western Virginia Foodways History, 1776-1860. 2014. (Newman Library)
  • Savor the South series (The University of North Carolina Press). (Special Collections)

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Kira Dietz
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Contact:
Special Collections and University Archives
University Libraries (0434)
560 Drillfield Drive
Newman Library, Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA 24061
540-231-3810
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