Fall 2007 Project

This semester I've been assigned to the Chef Louis Szathmary Culinary Arts Collection, housed in the Special Collections division of the U of I libraries (Szathmary was an influential Hungarian-American chef, writer, and culinary instructor, who amassed a large collection of food-related materials). This is a good fit for me, because I'm what you might call a foodie. Within the larger collection, there is a sub-collection of vintage recipe pamphlets and cookbooks which are slated for inclusion in the U of I Digital Library. The pamphlets were published by manufacturers, food growers, and other organizations to promote and educate consumers about various products, such as pre-packaged convenience foods or appliances. (to get an idea of what I'm talking about, here are some examples). My job, among other things, is to figure out the scope of the digitization effort and work on designing the collection's website.