Featured Archival Collections
Craig Claiborne papers. American chef, journalist, critic, and author Craig Claiborne (1920-2000) modernized the field of culinary writing in the 1960s and 1970s -- adapting the Michelin four-star system to his restaurant reviews, championing Asian, Mexican, and regional American cuisines, and writing and editing over twenty cookbooks. His career is chronicled in his manuscripts, letters, photographs, audio, and other materials.
Euell Gibbons papers. The 1962 book Stalking the Wild Asparagus by American writer Euell Gibbons (1911-1975) was a foundational text for the wild foraging, natural diet, and back-to-nature movements of the 1960s; Gibbons followed up with the cookbooks Stalking the Blue-Eye Scallop (1964) and Stalking the Healthful Herbs (1966). These and his other writings are documented in his manuscripts, letters, journals, publications, scrapbooks, and other materials.
Gael Greene papers. American author and critic Gael Greene (1937-2022) was known for her witty, unsparing restaurant reviews for New York magazine from 1968 to 2000; she was also known for carefully disguising her identity wherever she dined. Her food writings and criticism -- as well as her novels and other non-fiction, and her extensive menu collection -- are recorded in her manuscripts, letters, research, photographs, and other materials.
Peter and Fanny Todd Mitchell papers. Manuscripts, scrapbooks, photographs, and other materials from American authors Fanny Todd Mitchell (1897-1978) and Peter Todd Mitchell (1924-1988), including material for their cookbooks and their many pieces for Gourmet magazine.
Jacques Pépin papers. Among the long and prestigious career achievements of French chef, author, and television personality Jacques Pépin (1935- ) he may be best known to American audiences for his work as a popular TV chef, both solo and co-hosting with Julia Child. Chefs Child and Pépin also collaborated to create a culinary certificate program at Boston University's Metropolitan College, the forerunner of the current Master of Arts in Gastronomy degree. The various facets of his careers in cuisine, writing, and media are represented in his manuscripts, letters, audio and video recordings, photographs, artwork, and other materials.
Going Further: Additional Archival Collections
John Bainbridge papers. American journalist and author John Bainbridge (1912-1992), best known for his New Yorker pieces, wrote the "London Journal" column for Gourmet magazine for twenty years. His manuscripts, letters, research material, photographs, and other materials document these writings as well as his various popular biographies, histories, and other non-fiction.
Barbara N. Byfield papers. American author and illustrator Barbara N. Byfield (1930-1988) was best known for her self-illustrated children's books. Her manuscripts, letters, artwork, and other materials include page proofs, letters, and other items regarding The After Cookbook and The Eating in Bed Cookbook (1962), the latter a book of novelty recipes designed to be literally consumed in bed.
Richard Condon papers. American author Richard Condon (1915-1996) wrote novels, screenplays, and other works in various genres, always with a satirical edge; his best known work is the "paranoid" political thriller The Manchurian Candidate (1959). His manuscripts, letters, research files, photographs, and other materials include drafts and other items regarding his cookbooks The Mexican Stove: What to Put On It and In It, written with his daughter Wendy Bennett (1973); and Ole Mole!: Great Recipes in the Classic Mexican Tradition (1988).
Esther Kellner papers. Manuscript for the 1971 book Moonshine: Its History and Folklore, from American author Esther Kellner (1908-1998).
Bruce Palmer Papers. Drafts for his 1972 book Wine-Making at Home, by American author Bruce Palmer (1932-2014).
Santha Rama Rau papers. Indian-born American author Santha Rama Rau (1923-2009) was a novelist, playwright, and memoirist, best known for her 1960 play adaptation of E. M. Forster's A Passage to India. Her manuscripts, letters, publications, research, and other materials include drafts of her 1969 book Cooking of India, a groundbreaking combination of recipes, memoir, cultural history, travel writing, and photography.
Gladys Taber papers. A versatile and prolific writer, American author Gladys Taber (1899-1980) published over 50 books, including fiction, nonfiction, cookbooks, children's books, plays, and poetry -- usually dealing with various aspects of her domestic life at Stillmeadow, her 1690 farmhouse in Southbury, Connecticut. Her manuscripts, letters, photographs, and other materials include drafts of Stillmeadow Cookbook (1965) and My Own Cook Book: From Stillmeadow and Cape Cod (1972).
Sue Bailey Thurman papers. The manuscripts, letters, research files, other materials from Black American historian, editor, author, and feminist Sue Bailey Thurman (1903-1996) include drafts of her 1958 books The Historical Cookbook of the American Negro, published by the National Council of Negro Women; and The International Cuisine Cookbook.
Going Further: Material in Archival Collections
Julia Child (1912-2004). Letters from the American chef and television personality who revolutionized American cuisine. In the Marian Christy, Craig Claiborne, and Gael Greene Papers.
Lillian Hellman and Peter S. Feibleman. Proofs for their 1984 book Eating Together: Recipes' Recollections, a combination of recipes and memoir, from playwright Lillian Hellman (1905-1984) and novelist Peter S. Feibleman (1930-2015). In the Natalie Robins Papers.
