Artifact of the Month: November 2018

Community Cookbooks

A community cookbook allows Ketchikan residents to gather and celebrate local history from the comfort of home with loved ones and friends. For decades, social organizations, religious groups, businesses, even the Alaska Marine Highway put out cookbooks featuring some of our most beloved local recipes and signature dishes. Who could forget Kay Gundersen's famous peanut butter pie or the buttery halibut served in school lunches?

Community cookbooks are much more than a catalog of recipes. First and foremost, many were fundraising tools for community organizations. Writing a recipe could be empowering recognition especially for women in our history, acknowledging culinary skill and giving voice to one's own style and techniques. Cookbooks are also powerful memory keepers that reflect who we are as a community, tastes and values during particular time periods, and are shaped by the ingredients available on a remote island and the rich bounty of our backyard.

At the Friends of the Library's October book sale, museum staff was thrilled to acquire many new cookbooks for the collection. Spanning different time periods and organizations, the cookbooks represent our unique local "flavor" with keen insight into the past. With the Holidays right around the corner, let's fix a plate and raise a glass to local history.

Ketchikan Museums, KM 2018.2.46.9-13