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America's Kitchens

Front Cover
2 Reviews
Tilbury House Pub, Oct 31, 2008 - Cooking - 197 pages
It is amazing what this one room—at times a harried workspace and at others the sentimental heart of the home—has meant to people over the course of more than four centuries. America's Kitchens tells the story of this important room and features New England hearths, detached kitchens on southern plantations, Spanish colonial kitchens of the Southwest, elaborate nineteenth-century kitchens in the Midwest, and middle-class open-plan homes of 1950s suburbia. The book traces technological developments such as the introduction of the cast-iron cookstove, the efficiency of the Hoosier cabinet, and the impact of the frozen food industry to suggest how these innovations have transformed kitchen work and changed women's lives. Innovatively designed and lavishly illustrated with historic drawings, photographs, and a fascinating array of ephemera from Historic New England's diverse collections, America's Kitchens describes what it was like to live with and work in kitchens that had none of the conveniences we take for granted. At the same time, the book analyzes the profound place of the kitchen in our own lives today.

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Review: America's Kitchens

User Review  - Laurel - Goodreads

Well researched and heavily illustrated. Written by scholars for a general audience so is a fun and educational read. Broad geographic (Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest) and temporal scope means it ... Read full review

Review: America's Kitchens

User Review  - Emily - Goodreads

I'm currently researching the role and meaning of the 21st Century American trophy kitchen and LOVED this book. Meticulously researched and full of amazing photos, drawings, and other items of ... Read full review

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About the author (2008)

A curator for more than twenty years at Historic New England, Nancy Carlisle works with some of the most important historic kitchens in the country and has written and lectured widely on the material culture of domestic life. Melinda Talbot Nasardinov, a former assistant curator at Historic New England, is a graduate of the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture and writes about American decorative arts and the history of domestic life. This book follows The Camera's Coast in a series of books featuring Historic New England's collections.

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