P. Burns and Co. was a large Prairie abattoir and packing-plant company. Established by Pat Burns in 1890 in Calgary, the company soon expanded to Vancouver and Edmonton, and changed its name to Burns and Co. in 1923. Though Burns and Co. specialized…
This book is a relic from a program to introduce hot lunch items in rural schools. The introduction notes that most children brought a cold lunch to school and ate it haphazardly throughout the day. “The average noon luncheon tends to promote…
As immigration to the Prairies exploded in the first decade of the twentieth century, railway companies like the CPR, CNR, and Grand Trunk Pacific competed to bring prospective farmers to Western Canada. This brochure, cleverly shaped like a…
Produced by the Social Credit Women’s Auxiliaries of Alberta, probably around 1947, this book features some Alberta notables, including “Veal Albertan,” “Alberta Stuffed Breast of Veal,” and “Baked Alberta Ham.” The recipe for…
The cover illustration for this brochure depicts a masculine cowboy surveying his domain, lush with crops, new farming equipment, and domestic bliss. Noting that as of 1913, only about 10 million of the 170 million acres of potential wheat land in…
This 1935 diary features a cover portrait of Lord Baden-Powell, who founded the Boy Scouts in 1907 largely as a response to his experiences in the Boer War. Emphasizing wilderness survival, early scouting guides included tips on tracking,…
Medicine Hat had a vibrant Jewish community: although it numbered only about forty families, their impact on city life was substantial. As S.M. Selchen wrote in the Canadian Jewish Chronicle in 1954, “This tiny Jewish island among a non-Jewish…
Much about Mrs. Mary Berkner’s life is elusive. A Saskatchewan farm woman, perhaps with Hungarian roots, Berkner’s goal was to encourage Depression-era women to produce delicious food while saving money and driving down the price of…
Children’s cookbooks tend to emphasize desserts, as is especially clear in the Kids Cookbook produced by the Calgary Public Library. Children submitted their favourite recipes in this juvenile community cookbook: the results include brownies,…
Sold at the modest price of one dollar, this cookbook was meant as a fundraiser for Edmonton’s first Scouts group. Although Scouts have a long tradition of camp cooking, this book contains household recipes, most likely provided by the boys’…