Waldo Canyon Fire Update
Sadly, the Flying W Ranch was destroyed in the Waldo Canyon Fire on June 26, 2012. I just received news that the only structure on the Ranch to survive the fire was Marian's Cooking Library. How incredible!
A Case Study of Culinary Information:
Marian's Cooking Library at the
Flying W Ranch in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA
Flying W Ranch is a working cattle ranch and tourist attraction at the foot of Pike's Peak in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Each year, thousands of people go to the ranch to stroll through its vintage western main street, eat a "cowboy dinner," and hear the musical act "Flying W Wranglers." When visiting family in Colorado Springs in July of 2005, I went to the Flying W Ranch and was surprised to find a unique culinary information resource: Marian's Cooking Library. At a later date, I conducted a case study of this library utilizing standard ethnographic techniques.
The founder and matriarch of the Flying W Ranch, Marian L. Wolfe (1926-2001) was a passionate cook. According to daughter Terry Wolfe, her mom cooked as a creative outlet, set a beautiful table, and hosted wonderful holiday meals. Over a lifetime Marian amassed a collection of more than 3,000 documentary items related to cooking (cookbooks, magazines, and recipe cards). Many of these were obtained through cookbook-of-the-month clubs or purchased as a souvenir from travels. Terry says that her mother gathered cookbooks because she loved them as objects, not because they were necessarily used for cooking projects. Whereas some people read novels for pleasure, Terry reports that her mother religiously read cookbooks. The substantial collection was kept in her kitchen until it was moved to a spare bedroom (home office) when her children went to college.
When Marian Wolfe passed away in 2001, her husband Russ Wolfe decided that the cookbook collection would be an interesting addition to Flying W Ranch. The cookbooks could be perused by visitors and serve as a testament to Marian's creativity and spirit. To house the materials, a quaint single room structure was built, in the style of an old-fashioned school house. It was called "Marian's Cooking Library" (below).
The founder and matriarch of the Flying W Ranch, Marian L. Wolfe (1926-2001) was a passionate cook. According to daughter Terry Wolfe, her mom cooked as a creative outlet, set a beautiful table, and hosted wonderful holiday meals. Over a lifetime Marian amassed a collection of more than 3,000 documentary items related to cooking (cookbooks, magazines, and recipe cards). Many of these were obtained through cookbook-of-the-month clubs or purchased as a souvenir from travels. Terry says that her mother gathered cookbooks because she loved them as objects, not because they were necessarily used for cooking projects. Whereas some people read novels for pleasure, Terry reports that her mother religiously read cookbooks. The substantial collection was kept in her kitchen until it was moved to a spare bedroom (home office) when her children went to college.
When Marian Wolfe passed away in 2001, her husband Russ Wolfe decided that the cookbook collection would be an interesting addition to Flying W Ranch. The cookbooks could be perused by visitors and serve as a testament to Marian's creativity and spirit. To house the materials, a quaint single room structure was built, in the style of an old-fashioned school house. It was called "Marian's Cooking Library" (below).
Marian's Cooking Library
From the perspective of my research into information phenomena in the hobby of cooking, this is a real curiosity: a freestanding folk culinary library generated throughout a lifetime by a single cook, that is now open to the public (via admission to the Flying W Ranch). Until stumbling upon this site, I had not seen it noted in the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) guide to U.S. culinary collections, or other culinary bibliographic handbooks. Since it is no longer possible to study this collection in its original context of Marian's life and home, I am interested in its features and use today.
Marian's Cooking Library occupies about 350 square feet. It is located at the center of the ranch, amidst other small structures. A jewelry shop, mock post-office, and rug-weaving hut are adjacent. The library is open from 4:30-7:30 daily which is when guests to the Ranch are touring its grounds prior to the dinner and musical performance. The library is geared for browsing and has no borrowing policy or catalog. A Flying W Ranch staff person welcomes visitors to the library and answers questions.
Marian's Cooking Library occupies about 350 square feet. It is located at the center of the ranch, amidst other small structures. A jewelry shop, mock post-office, and rug-weaving hut are adjacent. The library is open from 4:30-7:30 daily which is when guests to the Ranch are touring its grounds prior to the dinner and musical performance. The library is geared for browsing and has no borrowing policy or catalog. A Flying W Ranch staff person welcomes visitors to the library and answers questions.
|
The collection is kept along one wall and it is arranged in wooden floor to ceiling bookshelves (seen on the left edge of this picture, and below). The white and tan wainscoting was designed to match Marian's home kitchen. There are several small writing desks with chairs that encourage visitors to sit down, browse through cookbooks, and copy recipes. The desk hold pencils and notepads that say, A favorite recipe from Marian's Cooking Library. A photocopier is available along a back wall for .10 per copy. One corner of the space contains Marian's spice collection (visible at left). Her original cooking-related imagery, utensils, and appliances serve as homey decor.
|
 |
 |
The CollectionThe main body of the collection is composed of cookbooks. There are 13 bookshelves with five or six shelves each. The first nine bookshelves contain individual cookbooks and some cookbook series. The last four bookcases hold culinary magazines (shown left). Interspersed throughout are published boxed recipe kits, each with hundreds of recipes. The resources are all popular in nature -- not academic or professional.
The major categories of cookbooks grouped together on the shelves are: general, cooking methods, organizations & fund raising (cookbooks), wine, hors d'oeuvres, restaurant, desserts, veggies, soups & sauces, fish & shellfish, game & poultry, high-altitude, Creole & Southern, French, oriental, barbecue, international, Italian, entertaining & special occasions, Mexican, beef, diet & health, breakfast (eggs & grains), fruits, cities & states, and Christmas. Marian was an avid subscriber to culinary magazines (shown at left). The popular cooking magazines in the library are: Saveur (1994-2000), Fine Cooking (1994-2001), Reminiscence (1997), Gourmet (1965-2001), Bon Appetit (1976-1986), Food & Wine (1995-2000), Cook's Illustrated (1994-1999), and Cook's Magazine (1983-1996). |
Organization
According to Terry Wolfe, when this collection was located in Marian's home, there was no organizational scheme. In fact, Terry noted that her mother was occasionally in a state of good-humored exasperation when seeking a favorite recipe somewhere in the materials. When the collection was moved to the Ranch library, Terry and Russ felt that some kind of organizational system was necessary for its effective use and enjoyment. Together, they sorted through the materials item by item and placed them into related piles which were later shifted to the bookshelves. A primary organizing principle in the library today is genre. Cookbooks, cookbook series, and boxed kits are separated from the culinary serials. A second organizing principle are about two dozen broad subject terms that establish groupings. Terry explained that during sorting these seemed obvious; no formal classification system was consulted. The terms vary in nature and include broad banners ("general"), producer ("organizations"), foodstuff ("beef"), cuisine ("French") or special context ("Christmas"). The bookcase shelves serve as a structuring device: the groupings tend to fit within one or a half shelf. The terms are posted horizontally on the bookshelf in a large font, with red arrows pointing down (to confirm the shelf they refer to). Within the subject categories there is no other shelf order except that authors are co-located. The culinary serials are likewise grouped together per shelf, in chronological order.
Stick-Up Indexing
Marian had a process for recording and bringing attention to recipes she had already cooked and enjoyed. She placed a stick-up note on the cover of the text and listed the recipe and its page number. This way, she could more easily skim the front of the text to locate favorite recipes, as compared to consulting the table of content, index, or memory. This systems functions as a novel, personal, selective, cover-of-the-book index (as compared to the standard back-of-the-book index). She applied this technique to culinary serials, too. Unbeknownst to Marian, her notes now serve as a recommender system or bibliography. New users of the collection can easily access some of the favored recipes within the text. I had not encountered an information access mechanism of this kind before.
Cow Country Gourmet: A Flying W StoryOver the course of her life, Marian gathered and executed thousands of recipes and from these culled a smaller collection of cherished favorites to be passed on to her three daughters and other loved ones. These best recipes were saved in her hand-written notebook. In 1976, she published this collection as Cow Country Gourmet: A Flying W Story. This cookbook contains an introduction and 15 chapters of recipes, from hors d'oeuvres to Christmas goodies (see Table of Contents). The recipes are no-nonsense fare from different cultures (American, Mexican, and French influences are apparent), and many bear reference to family and friends (i.e. "Grandma Irene's Roast Duck, Word for Word"). The cookbook is sold at the Ranch, among other places, and it is in its fifth printing.
|
 |