Project Title:  Recipe Pamphlets in the Chef Louis Szathmáry Collection of Culinary Arts

 

Department/organizational unit(s):  Digital Library Services

 

Mentor Name(s):  Nicole Saylor

Brief project description:  Chef Louis Szathmáry was, among other things, an imaginative and dedicated book collector who assembled a mass of material documenting the history of food preparation.  His collection includes more than 8,000 books – but also several thousand pamphlets, nearly all American and dating from about 1880 to 1940, produced by food distributors and kitchen equipment manufacturers. Most advertise new products and describe ways of using them: whether the product was the banana or the peanut, the electric stove or the aluminum pan, consumers had to learn how to use it.  Most of the pamphlets are illustrated, often printed in multiple colors, and are inviting graphic advertising. Like most advertising, these pamphlets were ephemeral publications produced with little expectation that they would be long kept or collected.  Some are fairly rare, and large collections are uncommon. 

This project would research the pamphlet collection and the history of food production to determine whether it would be sensible to present the entire collection digitally or more sensible to focus on some parts – foods rather than equipment, for example, or just 1880-1930 – or perhaps to digitize one part with the intention of eventually putting it all online. One part will be selected for digitization, and the fellow will develop a corresponding web site, creating its architecture and determining metadata fields.   

 

Examples of key activities:

• Examining the collection to identify and prioritize items for the collection
• Creating project plans for the online collection
• Work with Preservation on any preservation and scanning considerations
• Digitization
• Metadata creation
• Web page content and design work

 

Number of students that can be accommodated: 1 person

 

Duration: Fall 07 only

 

Training:

Prerequisite skills: Basic computer skills

Acquired skills: Working knowledge of CONTENTdm, PhotoshopCS, and Adobe Contribute software; collection development skills; experience using Dublin Core; digitizing photograph and paper documents; HTML/web design skills, research and writing skills

 

Software/Hardware Involved:  CONTENTdm, PhotoshopCS, Contribute 4.0

 

Tangible end product, if any:  Online digital collection