Collections by Name | Collections by Region

Foodways Collection

The MSU Museum houses an extraordinary collection of historical cooking and eating equipment, dating as early as the 18th century. The items, obtained through donations and special purchase, are the result of over fifty years of collecting. Contemporary additions to the foodways collection consist of materials obtained through field research and include interviews with cooks primarily in Michigan, photographs, and field reports beginning in 1986 to the present day. The MSU Museum and the MSU Library have initiated a major project, "Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project," funded by a grant from Institute for Museums and Library Services, to provide digital access to selected holdings in the Museum and to the Library's major historical cookbook collection.

Donors and Fieldworkers

Dr. Yvonne Lockwood, Dr. William Lockwood, Dr. Janet Gilmore, Dr. James Leary, LuAnne Kozma

Exhibitions

Michigan Eats: Regional Culture Through Food

Publications

William G.Lockwood. "Michigan Food and Foodways." In Michigan Folklife Annual, edited by Yvonne R. Lockwood and Marsha MacDowell, pp. 15-23. East Lansing: Michigan State University Museum, 1999.

Lebanese bakers display their wares, Detroit, 1989

Preparation of "tree cake"

Hungarian "csiga" or noodlemaker