Connecting the Docs: True Stories from the Old North State

The Great North Carolina Baking Show

Let’s bake history! In this episode, we feature historical recipes from family culinary manuscripts dating to the mid-19^th century. Join us as we try cream cakes, blackberry cordial, pickle lily, and tomato catsup. We share our experiences testing these recipes, explore the history behind them, and discuss how culinary manuscripts can offer insights into the tastes and foodways of specific households in North Carolina. Transcripts of these recipes— along with a few suggestions to simplify or modernize them—and links to the full culinary manuscripts are available on our blog.

 

 

Culinary Manuscripts Available on North Carolina Digital Collections

 

• Polk Recipe Book One, 1866. Lucy Williams Polk Papers. Private Collections. State Archives of North Carolina. Call number PC.75.
• Polk Recipe Book Two, 1858. Lucy Williams Polk Papers. Private Collections. State Archives of North Carolina. Call number PC.75.
• Dodd Recipe Book, 1859. Lillian E. Dodd Collection. Private Collections. State Archives of North Carolina. Call number PC.150.
• Lewis’s Recipe Book, 1830. M. Lewis Recipe Book. Private Collections. State Archives of North Carolina. PC.1177.

 

Transcripts

Cream cakes from the Polk Recipe Book Two, 1858. Lucy Williams Polk Papers. Private Collections. State Archives of North Carolina. Call no. PC.75.

 

To Make Cream Cake

A quart of cream; four eggs sifted flour sufficient

for a thick batter; a small teaspoonful of pearlash,*

a spoonful of salt; beat four eggs very light and stir

them by degrees (a little at a time) into a quart of

cream & gradually enough of sifted flour to make

a thick batter put in the salt; dissolve the pearlash

in as much vinegar as will cover it and stir it

in the mixture. Bake it in muffin rings send them

up hot split them open & butter them. Sour cream

is better than sweet. The pearlash will remove the

acidity & the batter will be improved in lightness.

 

*Baking soda serves as a modern substitute for pearl ash.

Catsup from the Polk Recipe Book Two, 1858. Lucy Williams Polk Papers. Private Collections. State Archives of North Carolina. Call no. PC.75.

A Recipe for Making Catsup

Take one Gallon of Skinned Tomatoes 4 table

spoonsfull of Salt 2 do* of Black pepper, a

Half do of Allspice 3 pods of Read pepper

3 tablespoonsfull of Mustard ground very fine

& Simmer’d slowly in sharp vinegar for 3

Or 4 hours in a puter basin, & then bottle

it close,  those who like garlick after the

simmering is over and the ingredients cool

you may add 2 tablespoonfuls of the juice.

 

*Do (or ditto) refers to the unit of measure used with the previous ingredient.

 

Adaptations: Bell pepper may be substituted for the “read pepper” for a milder flavor. Minced garlic can be substituted for garlic juice.

 

Pickle lily from the Dodd Recipe Book, 1859. Lillian E. Dodd Collection. Private Collections. State Archives of North Carolina. Call no. PC.150.

 

To Make Pickle Lily

Scald some vinegar and season with

Salt, pepper, cloves, mace and allspice and

When highly seasoned and Cold, pour into

Jar. Drop into this vinegar as they ripen.

Small Cucumbers tender radish pods

Young beans and very small onions.

Cork close.

 

Adaptation: Use equal parts vinegar and water for a more balanced pickle.

 

Blackberry cordial from the Polk Recipe Book Two, 1858. Lucy Williams Polk Papers. Private Collections. State Archives of North Carolina. Call no. PC.75.

 

Blackberry Cordial

Gather your Blackberries & mash them up then

strain them through a sifter & put all the pulp

& seed out. Then to every quart put 1 pound of

Brown sugar stew it well together when dun

take three measures of syrup to 1 of Brandy then

bottle it. Put any kind of spice you like allspice

is generally used

 

Adaptation: For a clearer, less muddled cordial, simmer the blackberries and your desired spices for roughly 30 minutes to release the juices, then dissolve the sugar into the mixture and strain.

 

Welcome to our Front Porch: A History of Bynum‘s Community

This episode tells the story of Bynum, a former North Carolina mill town reinvented as a lively and welcoming artists’ colony. Residents Martha Collins, Ron Hatley, and Ted Williams tell stories about growing up in Bynum when the mill was still in operation. They discuss the conditions for millworkers and today’s environmental activism. They share their pride in Bynum Front Porch, a vibrant community hub and performance venue. “Artists are artists, so they’re a little eclectic to begin with. All of Bynum is eclectic if you look at it,” Ron Hatley says. “We’re living in a little bubble of happiness.”

Telling Fuquay‘s Tobacco Story

This second episode of the season tells the story of the tobacco industry in Fuquay-Varina, a now booming suburb south of Raleigh. This story is told through the lenses of Morgan Johnson, a former intern at the State Archives and Fuquay native, and Fred Wagstaff, a 94-year-old from Fuquay who worked in the local tobacco fields and markets his whole life. An oral history interview conducted with Wagstaff recounts the entire history of the leaf that made Fuquay a "busy, bustling town," from his relatives who moved to the area in the early 1900s to escape the notorious Granville Wilt tobacco disease, to his own time as a ticket marker in the town's tobacco markets until their closure in the 1990s and early 2000s. The history of tobacco in Fuquay is a compelling reminder of the agricultural legacy in North Carolina's rural communities and the power of telling everyday stories through oral history.

Tales Around the Campfire | Episode 1, part 2, ”Ghostly Governor”

In this second part of episode one, we’ll move to the early 1970s and find a ghost haunting the halls of the Governor’s Mansion. Who reported this ghost to the public? It was none other than the sitting governor himself, Governor Bob Scott. Learn more about the supposed ghost of Governor Fowle, his haunted bed, and the responses from concerned people in North Carolina and across the world.

 

Tales Around the Campfire | Episode 1, part 1, ”Witches & Werewolves”

For the first episode of this season, we tell three of the spookiest stories from the collections held in the State Archives of North Carolina. We’ll first explore the earliest years of colonial North Carolina and find trials for witchcraft in old Albemarle County. You may expect to hear about wrongful convictions and superstition, but instead you’ll learn how the women charged with witchcraft in North Carolina fought back in court and won.

Then, we’ll move to Richmond County in 1799 to learn about a political figure so hated by his rivals that they believed he had succumbed to the bite of a “mad wolf.” Yes, an official petition send to the General Assembly claimed that their local candidate for Congress was a werewolf! But who was this figure that inspired such “wild” claims? The life of Duncan McFarlane was more eventful than even a werewolf petition could ever convey.

The Murder of Nell Cropsey | Episode 3, part 3, “Jim Wilcox: Guilty or Not?”

In episode 3, “Jim Wilcox Guilty or Not?” our archivists ponder the aftermath of the trials and the enduring mysteries surrounding the famous case.

Epilogue at the 25:00 mark: On Nov. 20, 2019, 118 years since Nell's disappearance, archivists Debbi Blake and Chris Meekins visited the Cropsey home in Elizabeth City, NC to see the related artifacts and visit the graves of some of the major players. Hear their impressions.

See the documents referenced in this episode at the State Archives of North Carolina's History For All the People blog.

The Murder of Nell Cropsey | Episode 2, part 2, "Charges and Trials"

In episode 2, “Charges and Trials”, archivists Debbi Blake and Chris Meekins outline the indictment and testimony in the trials of James Wilcox for the murder of Nell Cropsey. The first trial took place in March 1902 in Elizabeth City and the second in March 1903 in Hertford in Perquimans County.  Both verdicts were appealed to the Supreme Court.

See the documents referenced in this episode at the State Archives of North Carolina's History For All the People blog.

The Murder of Nell Cropsey | Episode 1, part 1, "Disappearance and Recovery"

The story of young Nell Cropsey is one that has been repeated throughout time.  A relationship ends and a woman disappears shortly thereafter.  Records maintained by the State Archives illustrate the tragedy as it unfolded in turn-of-the-20^th-century Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

In episode 1, “Disappearance and Recovery”, our archivists set the stage for the tragedy that unfolds late in the year 1901 when Nell Cropsey disappears from her home.  Her sister Olive, Olive’s suitor Roy Crawford, and Nell’s suitor Jim Wilcox were the last people known to see her alive.  Her body was found in the Pasquotank River in front of her home thirty-seven days later.

See the documents referenced in this episode at the State Archives of North Carolina's History For All the People blog.

"Animal Stories"

In this episode, archivists Debbie Blake, Ellen Brooks, Randon McCrea, and Chris Meekins delve into animal mayhem in the Old North State. Using government journals, maps, newspaper articles and more they explore the stories of animals wreaking havoc in the General Assembly, the streets of Charlotte, and on a porch near the Pee Dee River.

Special guests: Ask a Ranger podcast hosts, Ranger Crystal and Ranger Jess (Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/askaranger/ | Ask a Ranger podcast: https://www.ncparks.gov/ask-ranger).

See the documents mentioned in the episode at the State Archives of North Carolina's History For All the People blog.

Ghost Ship: The Mystery of the Carroll A. Deering | Episode 2, part 2, "A Great Maritime Mystery"

This episode continues the story of the Carroll A. Deering. Our archivists, Donna Kelly, Stuart Parks, and Chris Meekins explore how newspapers reported the event; how maps helped show the route taken by the ship; what was found onboard the ship; its eventual destruction once it could not be salvaged or refloated; an official worldwide investigation into the crew’s disappearance; numerous theories on the fate of the crew; and what became of the timbers that washed ashore.

See the newspaper articles and photographs referenced in this episode at the State Archives of North Carolina's History For All the People blog.