Foodways in the American South: Archival Collections

To search across description for archival collections called Finding Aids, start with Search the Special Collections. In the second box on the page, Search Archival Collections, put in phrases (in quotation marks) and terms like "recipes."

Bill Smith T-Shirt and Cookbook Collection, 1950s-2014  

The Bill Smith T-Shirt and Cookbook Collection features six boxes of cookbooks collected by Bill Smith (1949- ), former chef at Crook’s Corner restaurant in Carrboro, N.C. The cookbooks, acquired by Wilson Special Collections Library from the Chapel Hill Public Library, are products of various churches, parent-teacher associations, and women’s organizations across the South. They are primarily from the 1950s-1970s.  

Calvin J. Cowles Papers, 1773-1941 (bulk 1875-1907) 

The Calvin J. Cowles Papers hold information relating to Calvin Cowles (1821-1907), a merchant of Wilkes County, North Carolina who specialized in herb and root trading. Folder 569 contains a digitized recipe book from 1846 that belonged to Cowles' wife, Martha Cowles. 

 C.B. Mallet Papers, 1829-1954

The C.B. Mallet Papers chiefly document the professional life of Charles Beatty Mallet (1816-1872), a white businessman from Fayetteville, N.C. Mallet was associated with multiple industries across North Carolina including the railroad, coal mining, and textile industries. These papers contain a recipe book from 1841 from an unknown creator. The cookbook also contains notes on various household tasks and describes the cost of ingredients.  

Cures and Recipes, 19th century

This small collection contains digitized loose recipes and a volume of miscellaneous recipes for cakes and other desserts. It also contains receipts for food and formulae for making medicines. 

Franklin C. Robbins Papers, 1701-2002 (bulk 1820s-1890s) 

The Franklin C. Robbins Papers contain information relating to the life of Franklin Robbins (1833-1936), a white lawyer from Trinity, North Carolina. Folder 5 contains two handwritten recipe books. 

Harden Family Papers, 1845-1971 

The Harden Family Papers document the professional and personal life of Junius Hill Harden (1859-1944), a white industrialist from Alamance County, N.C. This collection contains three folders of small cookbooks and homemaking guides primarily from the 1900s-1910s.  

Henry C. Lay Papers, 1842-1929 

The Henry C. Lay Papers include correspondence, news clippings, and other personal materials primarily created by Henry C. Lay (1823-1885) throughout his career as an Episcopal bishop. The collection contains a recipe book belonging to his wife, Eliza Atkinson Lay, from 1915. Notable recipes include buttermilk cake, pickles, grape jelly, and blackberry wine. Lay’s recipe book is digitized and available online in the linked finding aid.  

Jesse E. Oxendine Papers, 1860s-2015 

The Jesse E. Oxendine Papers record the life of Jesse E. Oxendine (1926-2017), a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. Most of the material relates to Oxendine’s service in World War II and his role in Pembroke, N.C. history. Additionally, this collection contains a cookbook from the 1860s-1870s that features recipes and “home concoctions.”  

Mildred Council Papers, 1990s-2010s  

The Mildred Council Papers document the personal and professional life of Mildred Council, or "Mama Dip" (1929-2018), the owner and founder of Mama Dip’s Kitchen in Chapel Hill, N.C. Her papers feature drafts of her cookbooks as well as various other cookbooks, loose recipes, and documentation of media appearances. 

Montford McGehee Papers, 1827-1890 

The Montford McGehee Papers contain information chiefly regarding Monford McGehee (1822-1895), the North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture, 1880-1887. Folders 3 and 4 contain undated recipes and an 1882 recipe book that belonged to Annie Skinner, a female relative of McGehee. 

Weil Family Papers, 1860s-1983 

This collection contains material relating to the Weil family, who were entrepreneurs in Goldsboro, N.C. among other things. Folder 32 contains digitized recipe books from various collectors. 

William Alexander Hoke Papers, 1750-1925 

This collection documents the life of William Alexander Hoke (1821-1888) of Lincolnton, N.C., an enslaver and Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. Folder 238 contains a scrapbook of handwritten recipes and clippings, circa 1860s-1890s. 

Creighton Lee Calhoun Papers on Southern Apples, 1970s-2010

This collection features the research files, photographs, and correspondence of Creighton Lee Calhoun (1934-2020), an heirloom southern apple collector from North Carolina. Calhoun's papers document more than thirty years of curated research on unique varieties of southern apples that he aimed to help sustain and cultivate in the region. 

Herman Bell Interview with Jim Milligan, Christiana Milligan, and Nettie Whaley, 1967  

This collection contains a digitized conversation between Herman Bell, Jim Milligan, Christiana Milligan, and Nettie Whaley that took place on Edisto Island, South Carolina in 1967. Bell, a white professor of Linguistics at UNC-Chapel Hill, interviewed three Black residents of Edisto Island on topics such as food, fishing, and education. The interview is conducted primarily in Gullah, a traditional Sea Island dialect.  

Marcie Cohen Ferris Papers, 1960s-2018 

The Marcie Cohen Ferris Papers include photographs, audio cassettes, and papers related to research on Southern foodways. Highlights of the collection include research files, oral histories, and professional files related to Ferris’ work on the Southern Jewish experience and culinary tradition. Ferris (1957- ) is a professor emeritus of American Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill and a faculty editor of Southern Cultures Magazine.  

R. Stanley Woodward Collection, 1932-2014 

The R. Stanley Woodward Collection includes videotapes, papers, and photographs related to R. Stanley Woodward’s documentary films on Southern culinary specialties, folklore, and foodways. Some of the films featured, along with their related materials, include Brunswick Stew: Georgia Named Her; Georgia Claims Her (1999, 2005), It’s Grits! (1980), Southern Stews: A Taste of the South (2002), and Carolina Hash: A Taste of South Carolina (2008). 

Often referred to as manuscripts, as archives tend to be unpublished material.

Also referred to as "papers" or "records," although archives are not just written documents, there is usually a variety of format, including audio/visual.

Created and collected by people or organizations and provide insight into day-to-day living and working.

Since 1973, the Southern Oral History Program has worked to preserve the voices of the South.

Rural South

The South is a place and an experience that motivates identity and historical change. These interviews, 2014-, explore social, economic, and political life of the rural south, with a particular focus on foodways, racial discrimination, and segregated spaces. This project was born out of Dr. Malinda Maynor Lowery's research on southern foodways (drawing from her involvement with the documentary television series A Chef's Life, which airs nationally on PBS and focuses on locally-produced foods, farmers, and kitchen labor in eastern North Carolina) and Lumbee history and communities, and Dr. Seth Kotch's work on making visible the sometimes invisible forces of structural discrimination in African American rural communities. These interviews merge geography with gender, race, labor, and the environment to understand rural spaces and places in North Carolina and beyond and change over time in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Special Research Projects: Work and Cook and Eat: Lumbee Foodways of Robeson County, N.C.

Interviews, conducted in 2014 by Sara Wood in Robeson County, N.C., as part of a project called "Lumbee Indians of NC: Work and Cook and Eat" with the Southern Foodways Alliance. The interviews focus on Lumbee men and women who work in or are affiliated with foodways in North Carolina. They reveal Lumbee identity through traditions, stories, experiences, and food. As interviewees recount the beginnings, daily operations, and ends of their own businesses, they touch on the ways in which food affects family and community within the Lumbee culture.