When it's part of the collection overseen by Barbara Haber. Haber is curator of books for the Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Mass., which houses the largest American women's history collection on record. With help from people like Haber, cookbooks have been elevated to the level of memoirs or diaries as serious research tools. Haber, who grew up on Milwaukee's west side, has no trouble conveying her zeal for the growing field of food history and its academic value. Because it's so mundane, it has been rendered invisible by thinkers until now.
People have a lot of feelings about food and what they're eating.
There's so much going on today and so many attitudes about food. Haber started in this position in 1968, fresh out of library school. At that time, the value of cookbooks as historical tools was just beginning to be considered. And the brand new field of women's studies was gathering steam. She is proud of the culinary collections acquired by the library under her direction.