Beginning at the Beginning

I've managed to sort out the box of old recipes and cookbooks. I seem to have parts of

• "The Butterick Cook Book" ( haven't found the date yet),
• "The Women of Unifarm Cook Book" (date?),
• something called "Recipes for Modern Homemakers",
• "The Galt Cook Book",
• a small, unnamed cook book,
• a "Blue Ribbon Cook Book for Everyday Use In Western Homes" from 1905,
• a "Watkins Cook Book" missing its first few pages.

There is also a whole raft of small pamphlet style cook books from various companies, such as

• Jell-o,
• Magic Baking Powder,
• Robin Hood Mills,
• Chatelaine,
• Alberta Sugar,
• Lea and Perrins,
• California Fruit Growers,
• Fleischman's Yeast,
• Paulin's, Five Roses,
• Rogers' Golden Syrup,
• Cow Brand Baking Soda, and so forth.

These date anywhere from 1905 to 1965 (when they have dates on them).

The first task will be to set up a catalogue format and make a list or catalogue of everything I have. I think I had better join the Culinary Historians of Ontario, so I can get some help identifying some of the books with missing sections and dates.

The individual, hand-written recipes (which are in both my mother's and at least one of my grandmothers' writing) and newspaper clippings will a different challenge. I will need to catalogue them as well, but the format will be a bit different. A great deal of creativity was involved in finding paper on which to write recipes, using not only recipe cards and the backs of envelopes but even extending so far as using the back of a sympathy card and back of a doctor's prescription. Some of the newspaper clippings have very interesting bits of information of the back of the clipping. All of this will have to be documented, somehow.

I need a plan.