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COLLECTION Identifier: A/R438

Cookbook of Charles Rethoret, 1912

Overview

Cookbook featuring recipes, restaurant menus, etc., of French chef Charles Rethoret who emigrated to the United States in the early 20th century.

Dates

  • Creation: 1912

Language of Materials

Materials in French and English.

Access Restrictions:

Access. Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright. Copyright in the cookbook created by Charles Rethoret is held by the President and Fellows of Harvard College for the Schlesinger Library or whomever. Copyright in other papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns.

Copying. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.

Extent

1 folder

The collection consists of one volume that contains a listing of menus, mainly in French, with descriptions of various dishes including hors d'oeuvres, eggs, soups, sauces, fish, shellfish, vegetables, rice, pasta, sweet and savory pastry, chicken, duck, beef, veal, mutton, lamb, pork, offal, foie gras, rabbit, and frog. Some include tips on techniques, but they do not include measurements or cooking instructions. The volume also contains a listing of a number of American restaurants with listings of their menus, the cost of dinner, and the number of diners for individual evenings, including the Hotel Majestic (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Portage Hotel (Akron, Ohio), Keelers Restaurant (Albany, New York), Magnolia Springs Hotel (Florida), Ritz Carlton (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Aristocratic Club (Baltimore, Maryland), Rochester Country Club, Excelsior Trust Company, Aldine Hotel, Wanamaker, and Rittenhouse. Rethoret may have worked at some or all of these restaurants. Later additions to the volume includes clippings of recipes from newspapers and magazines, as well as typed recipes.

BIOGRAPHY

Charles Rethoret was likely a chef from Strasbourg, France. It is likely that he emigrated to the United States in the early twentieth century since his cookbook lists a number of American restaurants with listings of their menus, the cost of dinner, and the number of diners for individual evenings. It appears that he went on to become proprietor of Charley's Hotel Rapids in Analomink, Pennsylvania, at some time in the 1930s.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Accession number: 91-B31

The cookbook of Charles Rethoret was given to the Schlesinger Library by Julia Child in June 1991.

Processing Information

Processed: June 1991

By: Anne Engelhart

Updated and additional description added: November 2020

By: Mark Vassar

The Schlesinger Library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit.  Finding aids may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.

Author
Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
Language of description
eng
Sponsor
Processing of this collection was made possible by the Elsie Rodd Fund in the Schlesinger Library.
EAD ID
sch01784

Repository Details

Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository

The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.

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