Mrs. Hale’s Cookbook

The real experience of mothering existed somewhere between the letters and advise literature. Rebecca Wylie’s copy of Mrs. Hale’s New Book of Cookery and Complete Housekeeper exemplifies this blending. The recipe and remedy advice book, written by Sarah Josepha Hale, survives in shabby, worn condition with staining and scorching covering every page and both the front and back covers no longer attached. A handwritten receipt for “Mrs. Murphy’s cake” fills the back cover. Other recipes, clipped from newspapers and magazines, some published long after the publishing date of the book, remain nestled between the pages of Mrs. Hale’s recommendations. Another handwritten insert, covered in excessive scribbling, appears to have been penned by a young, unruly artist.  Rebecca Wylie’s book reflects a blending of the knowledge of piers and “experts”, the messy and the perfected, the goals of mothering and the real lives of mothers.

For more information contact the Wylie House Museum and for more information about the collections at the museum visit Wylie House Museum: Collections Overview.