As we celebrate Constitution Day on September 17, we recall that the framers of the U.S. Constitution worked together in a spirit of compromise despite differing views. In Williams’ Chapin Library are the original manuscript objections to the then proposed foundation of our federal government by one of the great… Continue reading »
When I was a kid, I spent my summers both on an island in Puget Sound with my grandfather and in Indian Falls, New York with my grandmother. Every summer we celebrated Grandma Lee’s birthday with a lemon tart or lemon meringue. Ever since, lemon desserts have been entangled in my July memories. Even today, my favorite dessert is lemon panna cotta. So, for this project, I chose the lemon cream recipe from The Improved Housewife, 1853. Continue reading »
We made crepes nearly every week when I was growing up, but my family's recipe is much simpler than this one -- just eggs, milk, and flour. I was intrigued to see how the texture and taste would be affected by the low proportion of flour to other ingredients, and by the addition of spice, citrus, and a ton of dairy fat (half a pound of butter plus a pint of cream!). Continue reading »
In the inaugural episode of our new podcast Time and Again, student Euguene Amankwah features some of these interviews in order to revisit the dynamic events of the takeover of Hopkins Hall. He finds that some of the demands originally presented fifty-one years ago remain pertinent to student life today. Continue reading »
Curry has been the spice I’ve experimented with a lot lately, and the author’s surname of “Homespun” intrigued me since I’ve become a bit of a “home body” while working from home these last few months. It felt like this cookbook was calling my name. The recipe was thankfully very simple, and my goal was to be as authentic as possible in preparing this dish, and I pretty much followed the directions as cited. Continue reading »
Kander’s (gluten-free) potato flour cake is dense and sweet, with a touch of lemon flavor, good for dessert or breakfast in small slices. The batter is stiff, so that the beaten egg whites can’t really be folded in “very carefully”. I interpreted a “moderate oven” as 350 degrees, and baked in a greased 9-inch springform pan; 40 minutes was enough. I used large eggs, though 1901 eggs might have been smaller (not U.S. graded until 1943). Continue reading »
Access Services Assistant Julie Henderson didn't shy away from the puits d'amour recipe in Maria Eliza Ketelby Rundell's American Domestic Cookery (1819). Continue reading »
“Women at Williams: the College’s Road to Coeducation,” an exhibit curated by Archivist Sylvia Brown, seeks to uncover the history of the College’s sometimes mixed response to educating women, and sets this against strides made nationally in women’s and other social issues. While we can't welcome you to view the exhibit in person, you can check out the timeline developed for this exhibit online. Continue reading »
This Fine Temperance Beverage was pretty chunky...lots of lemon pulp, chunks of pineapple, and raspberry seeds. It was also SO SWEET. I've heard that temperance beverages were made very sweet to tempt folks away from alcohol, but this did not make me want to stop drinking. Not being a teetotaler myself, I decided to add some "demon alcohol" as suggested in the recipe below the temperance beverage, and do a taste test. Continue reading »
I chose the "Eskimo cook book" to highlight indigenous contributions to our cookbook collection. This book was written by students of a day school in Shishmaref, an Inupiaq town on an island in the Chukchi Sea. The children compiled recipes reflecting the unique combination of indigenous and European-influenced traditions of their town. Continue reading »