An Albany Cookbook from the 1960’s

While clearing out some boxes of old junk, I came across this vintage cookbook.  It may have been printed in the mid-1960’s or early 1970’s, and it was produced by an organization called the Albany County Home Bureau.

Okay, this caught my attention.

The spiral-bound cookbook featured dozens of recipes from Capital District homemakers and members of the Albany County Home Bureau – an organization whose units included branches in Colonie, Slingerlands, New Scotland and the Helderbergs; and was an organization with branch names like “Busy Finger,” “Myosotis” and “Handicrafters.”

And a fair amount of digging later, I found out some information about this cookbook.

This cookbook contained recipes provided by members of the Albany County Home Bureau, an organization dedicated to providing new information to homemakers and housewives on household economics and management.  Home Bureau was established in 1956, and at the time of the publication of this cookbook, Home Bureau was a member of Associated Country Women for the World. The funds raised from the sale of this cookbook were placed in an interest-bearing account, which would in turn be sent to the Associated Country Women of the World, as part of their “Pennies for Friendship” charity.

The Home Bureau was one of several dozen such organizations established throughout New York State.  One of the organization’s biggest supporters, Cornell professor Ruby Green Smith, produced something called a “Home Bureau Creed,” a decorative sign suitable for kitchens and pantries statewide.  The full text of the sign, authored  by Ms. Smith, is included below.

To maintain the highest ideals of home life; to count children the most important of crops; to so mother them that their bodies may be sound, their minds clear, their spirits happy, and their characters generous:

To place service above comfort; to let loyalty to high purpose silence discordant notes; to let neighborliness supplant hatreds; to be discouraged never:

To lose self in generous enthusiasms; to extend to the less fortunate a helping hand; to believe one’s community may become the best of communities; and to cooperate with others for the common ends of a more abundant home and community life;

This is the offer of the Home Bureau to the homemaker of today.

As many as 500,000 “Home Bureau Creed” signs were printed and distributed.  I wonder if some of them are still hanging in houses today.

Back to the cookbook.

Apparently it was produced in conjunction with the Women’s Clubs Publishing Co. of Chicago, whose organization produced fundraising cookbooks, civic directories and membership directories for any organization.  Several Capital District businesses sponsored the book, including such companies as National Commercial Bank and Trust Company, Albany Public Markets, the United Artists chain of movie theaters and drive-ins, Dora Dee’s Fitness Salon, Argus Travel at Stuyvesant Plaza, and The Heavenly Inn on New Scotland Road in Slingerlands.

After the final batch of recipes, the cookbook contains such important information as an oven temperature chart, a timetable for boiling vegetables, a conversion chart from standard to metric measurements, an ingredient substitution list, crockery cooking instructions, and a list of herb plants that can be added for flavor and fragrance.  All packed in a little booklet, just perfect for storage next to the flour canisters.

So… you want to see this cookbook?

Well, if you scroll back up to the top of this blog post…

and you click the picture of the cookbook…

you can see the entire book in PDF format.

And if you want to find out more about Home Bureau and their “Pennies for Friendship” charitable works, you can visit the Rensselaer County Home Bureau at this link; or the state chapter of Home Bureau at this link.