The Free Library of Philadelphia wants to help home cooks ensure that recipes like Grandma’s pie, family favorite casseroles, and legendary rye bread are preserved for posterity.
On June 15, the Library Rare Books Department at Parkway Central Branch will host “Caring for Your Family Recipes,” an event about how to preserve family recipes and prevent them from becoming damaged over time, such as breaking red wine glasses. . Participants will bring recipe cards and family cookbooks and will receive tips from experts on how to preserve the information contained in these references, as well as the physical documents in which the recipes are written. It is recommended that you obtain This event is part of the library’s larger exhibit on the cultural presence and history of food.
Two experts from the Center for Art and Historic Artifacts Preservation, an organization of conservators who restore and preserve Rittenhouse’s books, photographs, and documents, will share their knowledge. Those with recipes can receive general tips or consult privately about heirlooms.
“Family recipes clearly connect us to the past and to each other, but they also express ourselves through that relationship,” said Karin Suni, curator of rare books at the Free Library. “The way to pass them forward is to hold them.”
Caring for Your Family Recipes is free to join and you’ll learn the best places to store cookbooks and recipe cards, whether to put them in plastic sleeves, the best types of plastic to store paper, and other helpful tips .
“Obviously, not everyone can have the kind of constant temperature and humidity that the rare books department has,” Suni said. “But sometimes to make fragile things last, you don’t necessarily have to do that for a long time.” “
There will also be a recipe exchange, and the first 50 attendees will receive a free cookbook from the exhibit.
The event is part of the “We Are What We Eat” exhibition, on display until the end of August, which uses cookbooks, recipes and artwork from the library’s collection to illustrate the intersectionality of food, culture and self-expression. ing. There will also be activities to teach children about healthy eating and an exhibition of cookbooks dating back to 1730. Suni said she wanted to show how food can bring people together.
“Food is so universal that everyone has a relationship with it, whether good, bad or mundane…” Suni said. “This show looks at all these materials from the collection and really depicts how food creates connections and expresses relationships.”
Recipes to cherish family
Saturday June 15th
3pm | Free
Parkway Central Library Rare Books Department
1901 Vine Street
