Proceeds from sale benefit libraries
In 1900 the ladies of the Jefferson Culture Club published a cookbook to raise money for a new library. Now, 114 years later, Janice Harbaugh, doing business as Raspberry Ridge Publishing, is doing the same. Harbaugh has a different spin on the project, though. She didn’t collect recipes like many women’s groups do. She republished the vintage cookbook and is selling it, with all proceeds to be distributed annually to Greene County libraries.
The Culture Club cookbook is available at Greene Bean Coffee in Jefferson, by calling Harbaugh at 515-669-6984, or on Amazon.
The Culture Club cookbook isn’t Harbaugh’s first republication. Since 2011, she’s done 35 books. “There are a lot of books out there that need to be preserved. They’re rare. They’re going to be lost if somebody doesn’t reprint them, especially local history things,” she said.
Harbaugh is in the growing group of people who grew up in the area, left, and then returned. She grew up in Herndon in the 1950s, spent 40 years working in education and counseling, and moved to Jefferson in 2009. She’s fifth-generation in Greene County – she has Taylor ancestors buried in the Taylor-Winkleman pioneer cemetery, the Jefferson cemetery and Pleasant Hill. “I’ve been immersing myself in local history for a couple of years,” she said.
Harbaugh said she found a 1900 copy of the cookbook in a local shop. “I knew right away I hadn’t seen it before, so I knew it was probably going to be lost if I didn’t buy it and reprint it,” she said.
The ladies of the Culture Club maximized the fundraising impact of their cookbook by selling advertisements to local businesses. It’s easy to surmise that advertisers paid the cost of publishing so sales proceeds could benefit the library. “When I looked through it, I thought the advertisements are priceless,” she said. “It’s a history book, too, because it has the advertisements and the people who contributed the recipe.”
As was the custom, all the contributors of recipes are listed as Mrs. Someone: Mrs J.F. Head, Mrs D. Milligan, Mrs Victor Lovejoy, Mrs Sherman Culbertson. Mrs Mary Wynkoop bucked the custom, listing her first name with her recipe for chocolate pie. Lulu Barrett also named herself. The recipes don’t list oven temperatures or times. The seven cake recipes listed on one particular page would require a total of 38 eggs to prepare. Mrs. G.S. Turrill’s recipe for fruit cake requires a dozen eggs.
The ads are as interesting as the recipes, as they show Jefferson with one foot in the 19th Century and one in the 20th Century. James Thornton advertised his harnesses (made in Jefferson), robes and fly nets. The Wright brothers advertised their Chestnut Street Livery Stable right above an ad for Union ‘Bus Line. Some ads list two digit telephone numbers. A small ad lists Emigration Excursions. “I am running Land Seekers Excursions on the first and third Tuesdays of each month to Minnesota, the Dakotas and Oklahoma. Call or write me for prices or rates.” J.F. Hassett did not provide an address in the ad. “It gives you a sense of what life was back then reading the ads,” Harbaugh said.
Harbaugh is happy to support the libraries with the proceeds from the cookbook. “I spent so many hours at the Jefferson public library in the 1950s, sitting in the stacks on the floor back in the corner. I’d read Agatha Christie and I have so many good memories of that. It just seemed like that would be a fun thing to do,” she said about donating the proceeds.
Harbaugh explained that anything published before 1923 is in the public domain. She sees republishing as a way to preserve books in the context in which they were originally printed. Other titles of local interest include Huebinger’s Map and Guide for the Panora Speedway (1912), and the Huebinger Iowa Pocket Guide, which includes 1910 roadmaps of every county in Iowa. The World War at a Glance (1918) is filled with statistics and facts about the war, which was only later called World War One. The book was published with blank pages at the back for journal entries. The copy Harbaugh republished includes journal entries by a soldier in Rippey; she hasn’t been able to identify the soldier.
The World War One book lists the pay of every grade of soldier, submarine records, and food conservation regulations for civilians. Civilians were asked to have “one meatless day (Tuesday) in every week and one meatless meal in every day.” Civilians were also asked to make Tuesday and Saturday “porkless” days. Monday and Wednesday were to be “wheatless” days.
Harbaugh has also written and published original works including a guide for the movie “The Sorceror’s Apprentice” for use in cinematherapy and the Raccoon River Valley Trail Book for Kids, a puzzle book and journal for youngsters using the bike trail.
All of Raspberry Ridge Publishing’s titles are available on Amazon.
The Culture Club cookbook will be available at Greene Bean Coffee while there is interest. Other republished books of local interest will be available there in coming months. Watch for information about the “Historic Book of the Month” at Greene Bean Coffee.
