Derived from the Latin “recipere” (meaning “to receive” or “to take”) “receipt” and “recipe” books have a long history. Originally, both terms were used interchangeably and referred to instructions for the preparation of medicinal mixtures. It wasn’t until the mid-1700s that the terms began to be applied to instructions for food preparation and it would take until the early 20th century for the term “recipe” to fully replace the term “receipt”. The popularity of both handwritten and published recipe books in the United States reached its height in the 18th and 19th centuries. This newfound popularity is attributed to both increased literacy and mobility in the population, as well as a growth in the immigrant population which encouraged the writing down of traditional and family recipes.

This single manuscript page was originally inserted in a full handwritten recipe book attributed to Annie K. Southwick and dated almost 10 years earlier in March 1875.