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The Manuscript Cookbook collection includes 125 cookbooks with culinary recipes and home remedies dating from the early 16th century to the late 20th century. The cookbooks originate from various countries, such as Austria (1), Denmark (1), England (25), France (1), Germany (7), Ireland (3), Mexico (5), Palestine (1), Slovakia (1), Switzerland (2), and the United States (42). The books vary in size and shape and are almost exclusively handwritten. Although most are written in English, other languages include German (10), French (2), Danish (1), and Hebrew (1).

The Correspondence Series (1834, 1845-1966) consists of twelve boxes and four sub-series.
The first sub-series are correspondence between family members and friends between the years 1834, and 1845 and 1966. It consists of nine boxes and twenty additional file folders in box 10.
The second sub-series is Education and made up of one file folder. Correspondence in this sub-series contains “pressure notes” to Olive and Mary Page when they attended Mt. Holyoke-Female Seminary wanting the twins to change their religious beliefs.
The third sub-series is Medical and is comprised of 33 file folders that contains correspondence that deal with Dr. William H. Page’s medical practice.
The fourth sub-series, Military, contains two file folders of World War I letters to Olive Page between 1918 and 1919.
The Art Series (1851-1852) consists of one cartoon that was created by Daniel Page when he was sent home from the Phillips Exeter Academy “because he did not know enough to enter the academy.”
The Cookery Series (ca. 1910-1920, undated) includes Mary Page Hastings undated manuscript cookbook. This cookbook includes recipes for cream pies, feed for 40 hens and washing fluid. Also in this series is a score card when Olive Page Rogers judged butter contests between 1910 and 1920.
The Education Series (1844-1929, undated) consists of school transcripts for Daniel Page from Phillips Exeter Academy, Florence Page from Newark Art School of Fine & Industrial Arts and Kingman Page from Bowdoin College. Essays by Mary Page, Nina Page, and William Page are included.
The Family Series (1817, 1943-195[2], undated) consists of eighteen file folders. These folders include genealogical information, garden records, church membership, wedding gifts, funerals, marriages and school medical examination.
The Financial Series (1821-1948) is housed in fourteen file folders contains ledger books with minutes and legal information, receipts for payments to teachers, individual accounts, and financial documents pertaining to organizations and society pins. A flat box includes an account book for pigs/hogs, horses, cattle, hens, sheep, wall paper for the Portland Street House, feed supplies, clothing, utilities, labor expenses, etc.
The Legal Series (1789-1947, undated) is comprised of real estate documents, deeds, a law suit that Alice Page filed against Daniel Page and Benjamin Page in the 1840s, and wills and estates.
The Literary Series (1823-1923, undated) consists of essays by William H. Page, Poetry by Beatrice Page, Mary Page Hastings and Minnie Hastings and Valentines to William Page and Huldah Page.
The Medical Series (1840s-1885) is made up of documents from William H. Page’s medical practice. Items included are record books of patients, records of military recruits examined by Page at Boston during the Civil War, prescriptions, cures, and documents Page’s eye injury.
The Military Series (1861-1863) contains a discharge record book of Civil War soldiers from Massachusetts and New Hampshire. This book provides the rank, company, regiment, state, residence, date of discharge, volume number and page number.
Printed Material (1839-1927) includes advertisement, announcements, annual reports, booklets about agriculture, medical, mining, silver ware and travel; a New Testament Bible belonging to Daniel Page; broadsides; calling card; invitations, and newspaper clippings.
Diaries Series (1854-1988) consists of 26 diaries. The most prominent diaries in the collection were written by Nina E. Page, daughter of Dr. William H. Page, from 1911 to 1942.
Memo Notebooks Series (1874-1881; 1909; 1973; undated) is comprised of two Page family address books (1909 and 1973), an undated events book, and an autograph book.
Correspondence Series, Alphabetical, 1972-2004 and undated consists of correspondence to Carolyn Page and Roy Zarucchi and their business The Nightshade Press.
Correspondence Series, Chronological, 1834-1946 and undated is made up of handwritten correspondence between Page Family members. These letters were not included in the original collection as Carolyn Page was using them for research. This series also includes correspondence, 1847-1878 and undated, that are typewritten because they had been transcribed onto a CD.
Subject, 1851-2002 and undated, is comprised of information relating to some of the Page family members and information pertaining to The Nightshade Press such as press releases, poetry book reviews, and some authors who wrote for the journal.
The Financial Series, 1850-1947, is made up of Account and Note Books and financial information kept by Victor E. Page and Olive Page Rogers. These accounts include prices of food, clothing and other household items purchased as well as crops and livestock bought and sold.
Legal Documents II, 1822-1912, consists of real estate records and deed, marriage records, wills, and estate records. The most interesting items in this series are the wills and estate documents of Benjamin and Huldah Page.
Literary Works II consists of an incomplete manuscript by Carolyn Page titled Homesteading in Desperate Times. It was to be a book about the twins, Mary and Olive Page. Mary married and moved to Missouri, while Olive taught school in Boston. Often Mary wrote home asking Olive to send her old clothes so that she could sew clothes for her children.
Printed Material II, 1839-2000, includes articles, books published by The Nightshade Press, book reviews, hymn lyrics, The Nightshade Press journals from 1989 to 2000.
The Photograph Series consist of three (3) photographs: Daniel and Maggie Page, Dannie, Lilli and Nettie, and an unidentified person.
The Media Series consists of one Compact Disk (CD, undated). This CD contains Page Family correspondence that has been transcribed. Researchers should try to match the transcribed letter to the original handwritten if all possible for accuracy.
The Art Series II, 1930 and undated, consists of artwork by Carolyn Page, Anne Croom, Wilma Fulkerson, Ray Gengenbach, Florence Page Woodes, and Roy Zarucchi.
The Oversize Series, 1865-1889, 1986 and undated, is made up of three Physician Record books belonging to Dr. William H. Page and to Nina A. Page and some art work by Anne Croom, Ray Gengenback, Joe McLendon and Carolyn Page.
The Artifacts Series, 1889-1890, 1915 and undated includes a birthday card, calling card case, a medical prescription pad, two wallets – one black and one brown, and a wooden letter box. There are also empty envelopes in this series that did not have correspondence attached.

The Correspondence Series consists of 16 boxes. Twelve boxes are organized in chronological order while two boxes are arranged in alphabetical order and two boxes are transcribed copies of the original letters and are organized in chronological order.
The Subject Series is contained in one box and the contents are arranged in alphabetical orders. This series include information such as the Abijah and Lucy Adams Cady Family, custom forms, land deeds, merchandise lists, and information on the town of Tyingham, Massachusetts.
The Printed Materials are housed in five boxes. Four of the boxes contain almanacs dating from 1779 to 1869. Some of the almanacs included are the 1847 Brother Jonathan’s Almanac, The Cultivator’s Almanac and Cabinet of Agricultural Knowledge of 1840, the 1851-1855 and 1863-1864 Middlebrook’s New England Almanacs, The Old Farmer’s Almanac of 1852 and 1869, and the 1787 copy of the Weatherwise’s Town and Country Almanack.
Other items in the Printed Materials include N. P. Willis’ book, Sacred Poems dated 1851, newspaper clippings reference to Market Prices of 1836-1869, and the Farmer and Mechanic Newspaper and the Niles’ Weekly Register.
The Oversize Series consists of letters by Catherine Pinneo dated 1838 to 1839, a 1954 Agriculture Census Questionnaire, the Farm Field Stockman journals, and three newspapers: Current Events, The Scientific American, and The Youth’s Company.