Juliette Spurling Spurling 1

Archival Policy and Implementation

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5/1/23

The Boston Cooking School Museum of Recipe History

Appraisal Policy and Implementation Plan

Archival Appraisal Policy

Context and Mission

The Boston Cooking School was established in 1879 by Sarah Emery Hooper as a two

year vocational program. The institution was established out of the Women’s Education

Association of Boston, and was intended to serve disadvantaged women.1 The school’s

popularity lent itself to history as many important developments in recipe formation and

documentation occurred because of women at this institution. Most notably, the development of

standardized measurements was initially developed by instructor Mary J. Lincoln, and was

refined and perfected by Fannie Farmer- who is the author of The Boston Cooking-School Cook

Book. It is in this book that the culinary world receives the first specifically-dictated

standardized measurements for recipes. The lives and work of these women are fascinating, and

their work heavily impacted cooking instruction, practice and documentation in the US and

abroad.

As such, the mission of The Boston Cooking School Museum of Recipe History is to

preserve and protect the memory of these women, the institution they served, and the work they

left behind.

1
“History of the Boston Cooking School Established 1879 : Manuscript / This Account Written
by S.E. Hooper. - Manuscripts -.” Accessed May 1, 2023.
https://cdm.bostonathenaeum.org/digital/collection/p15482coll5/id/653/.
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Goals

Pursuant to this mission, The Boston Cooking School Museum of Recipe History is

dedicated to collecting and preserving materials related to the institution of the Boston Cooking

School, the women who worked there, and the work that directly precedes, was created by, or

was inspired by the Boston Cooking School staff. Materials that are pursuant to this goal include

but are not limited to:

● Items pertaining to faculty, staff, students of The Boston Cooking School.

○ Including but not limited to:

■ Personal effects, publications, lesson plans, notes, memorabilia, pictures,

etc. that can be related to the Cooking School.

● Items relating to women and the culinary space.

● Items relating to women and Boston 1879- Present.

● Records concerning the creation, maintenance, or dissolution of the school.

● Items that concern important moments in culinary/ recipe history.

● Other topics that connect to The Boston Cooking School.

Appraisal Criteria

Acquisitions are assessed upon receipt by a BCSMRH archivist. The process will be

documented thoroughly by the archivist to ensure it may be reviewed in future- if necessary.

Acquisition will be determined by (but not limited to): Format, potential for the material to

enhance collections, physical condition of the material, costs to catalog, conserve, or store, etc.
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The following stipulations are to be followed:

● Staff will evaluate items offered for donation based on their content and condition.

● Staff will determine if an item is already present in the archive.

● Prospective donors will submit an inventory or description of the items prior to their

examination by staff.

● Prospective donors will identify copyright holders of the materials or show they have

made a good faith search to identify them.

The collecting policy may alter as appropriate in response to internal and external

influences. Any decisions regarding this will be made by the Archival Director.

Appraisal Process

Each piece brought to The Museum for donation consideration will be assessed by a

member of the archival staff. Each step will be documented by the archivist for review. The

archival director has final discretion on archival acquisition.

The process should be documented as follows:

1. The archivist determines whether the item meets the collecting standards outlined in the

“Goals” portion of this document.

a. If the item does not meet this criteria explicitly it may be denied acquisition.

i. This may be appealed to the Archival Director

2. The archivist will assess whether the item is already present in the collection.
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a. Items can also be declined based on pre-existing access to an online copy if there

is a lack of resources to properly care for the physical copy.

3. The archivist will determine the item’s condition.

a. The archivist will perform an analysis for the item’s consumption of preservation,

space, cost, and time resources.

i. If the item is determined to be unable to be preserved and cared for by our

institution, it will be declined.

4. The archivist will send the documentation to the Archival Director for Final Approval.

5. After a piece has been approved and accessioned, the piece will be taken to storage and

labeled with appropriate abbreviation and dated using the month/ day/ year format. Each

item will also be assigned a call number and added to a finding aid

a. If a finding aid is not presently applicable, a new one will be created.

Retention and Disposal Timeline

When an item is acquired by the BCSMRH it is usually the case that items will be

retained and preserved in perpetuity. However, The Museum retains the right to regularly review

its collections and make exceptions using criteria consistent with its acquisition criteria.

Items have been placed on a retention schedule to be evaluated every 10 years. As our

collection is a niche one (and our staff modest), most items will be held for the duration of the

museum’s existence, providing that excessive resources are not being utilized for its upkeep.

In circumstances where a decision has been taken to withdraw material, it is likely that a

recommendation will be made to transfer items to a more appropriate collection or repository, or

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where appropriate, to sell or exchange. Any items deaccessioned from the collections will be

clearly marked as withdrawn.

All decisions regarding de-accessioning and disposal will be made by the Archival Director.

Archival Retention Evaluation

Retention of an item is evaluated based on the 10 year schedule outlined above. Retention

is assessed and documented using the criteria for acquisition/ appraisal with the addition of usage

rates. All decisions regarding de-accessioning and disposal will be made by the Archival

Director.

Archival Room Rules

To view any materials held by the museum and archives, one must submit a request to the

Archival Director. It is at the Archival Director’s sole discretion to allow or disallow certain

items based on factors such as their material state/ preservation status. Should permission be

granted to view an item, the rules are as follows:

● No food or drink allowed in the archival room.

○ There is a water fountain in the main lobby for patron use.

● Only pencil, paper, and computers- cameras covered- are allowed in the archival room.

○ All items are digitized for patron reference at a later date.

● No items may be removed from the archival room’s viewing space.

● No marking, cutting, folding or altering of any kind may be done to materials.

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Conclusion

The Boston Cooking School was founded to elevate and enlighten the lives of those that

attended. In the same way, The Boston Cooking School Museum of Recipe History hopes to

share in that mission by preserving and protecting the memory of these women, the institution

they served, and the work they left behind for future generations to learn from and engage with

their memory.

This policy was approved and implemented in May 2023 and will be reviewed

bi-annually to ensure it meets current standards of practice. Changes must be approved by the

Archival Director and a committee of archival staff.

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Implementation of Policy

The policy outlined above is a mixture of the University of Liverpool and The University

of Alabama’s Archival style. While the University of Liverpool is incredibly detailed and

lengthy2, The University of Alabama’s Special Collections documentation was short and

concise3. The policy outlined by the University of Liverpool has separations for collections,

appraisal, acquisition, etc. I chose to unite the two universities’ styles into a combo of sorts that

is more specific like the British University, but more concise like the American.

My main goal for the policy was for it to be clear and informative. I did not want it to be

overly long winded, so it needed to have a concise structure. I also wanted to ensure that there

was clear instruction and expectation for the archival staff. Of course you can’t include the

specific documentation strategies and maintain the concise nature I was going for, so an

additional document would be needed for archival staff to reference so that the documentation is

consistent across the board.

Training for the archival staff would therefore be based on the appraisal policy document;

as well as, the supplemental archival documentation and tools. Archival staff would adhere to the

policies and procedures outlined by these guiding documents.

2
Hawksworth, Lisa. “Library: Special Collections & Archives <img
Src="https://Libapps-Eu.S3.Amazonaws.Com/Customers/393/Images/Archive-Accred-Weblogos
maller.Jpg" Alt="logo ‘ Align=’Right">: SC&A Collection Development and Management
Policy.” Accessed May 1, 2023.
https://libguides.liverpool.ac.uk/library/sca/collectiondevelopment.
3
“Special Collections Collection Policy – The University of Alabama Libraries – The University
of Alabama Libraries.” Accessed May 1, 2023.
https://www.lib.ua.edu/about/libraries-policies/special-collections-collection-policy-ua-libraries/.
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As outlined in the appraisal policy, much of the work that the archival staff is responsible

for is required to have a documentation component. This aids administration in many ways; in

addition to, providing proper custodial records for future archivists. The policies outlined would

be enforced by the Archival Director. The Archival Director’s approval is the final step in many

of the policies outlined in the document above. As such, the Archival Director stays a constant

responsible party within the appraisal system and is available to give guidance and discipline

where necessary.

The policy document listed above is outlined to be reassessed every two years. Upon

implementation; however, I think it would be prudent to assess the effectiveness after the 3 and 6

month time period. At the 3 month period, it is mainly about seeing how the staff and patrons are

getting acquainted with the system; as well as, noting changes in resource consumption. At the 6

month mark, archival staff would be allowed to motion for amendments in order to streamline

the best practice.

Measurements for this policy’s success would include cost-benefit assessment of the

institution's time, space, finances, etc. that are being consumed under the aforementioned

policies. It would also be an important time to go over donor and user relations to the policies.

How the policies affect patrons- such as the appeal process for donated items that were initially

denied- are important to evaluate during this time period. (It is also a time to note that that

process is not specifically outlined in the document above and could/ should be amended to

include this vital piece of information.)

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The Archival Director (AD) is responsible for following up with archival staff to ensure

that they are following the proper procedures and guidelines provided. Within the probationary

period of the 3 and 6 month review, the AD should be sure in any one on one or team meetings to

check in with how the staff are adjusting to the new policy and highlight any areas for growth. At

the 6 month mark, the AD will begin an audit of the existing collections that have been updated

to ensure that the new system is being carried out to its fullest potential.

Final Thoughts:

For this policy assignment I tried to come up with a topic for an archive that I feel

passionately about and that I felt was under-represented. I chose the Boston School of Cooking

because of a paper that I wrote last year about recipe history. Because of that paper, I fell in love

with the concept of curating a culinary memory through recipe documentation.

In that assignment I learned about the women of the Boston School of Cooking and their

incredible contributions to the culinary world of working women. Fannie Farmer wrote the book

The Boston School of Cooking CookBook, and is credited with the standardization of level

recipe measurements.4 However, her predecessor who laid the groundwork for her, Mary J.

Lincoln, is arguably just as influential. Lincoln’s cooking instruction manuals- created for

4
Cowan, Mary Morton. “Fannie Farmer: Mother of Level Measurements..: Cobblestone.”
Cobblestone 41, no. 2 (February 2020): 22–25.
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cooking schools- were overwhelmingly popular in both the US and the UK.5 These are the most

notable examples within the school itself, but there is a rich history there to be uncovered.

The returning theme I came to when writing this policy was that I wanted to ensure the

exploration of the memory of not only the recipe as a physical object and cultural idea, but also

the story of these women and the time in which they lived. I wanted to be sure to include

elements in the policy that would allow curators to acquire materials related to the societal

aspects of the school and its community.

In addition to the social implications, I genuinely feel that there is not enough scholarly

research about the written recipe and its history- especially since I could not find a compiled

anthology of a comprehensive history on the written culinary memory. As such, I wanted to

create a place where the culinary memory could be explored and researched.

5
“History of the Boston Cooking School Established 1879 : Manuscript / This Account Written
by S.E. Hooper. - Manuscripts -.” Accessed May 1, 2023.
https://cdm.bostonathenaeum.org/digital/collection/p15482coll5/id/653/.
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Bibliography

Cowan, Mary Morton. “Fannie Farmer: Mother of Level Measurements..: Cobblestone.”

Cobblestone 41, no. 2 (February 2020): 22–25.
Hawksworth, Lisa. “Library: Special Collections & Archives <img
Src="https://Libapps-Eu.S3.Amazonaws.Com/Customers/393/Images/Archive-Accred-
Weblogosmaller.Jpg" Alt="logo ‘ Align=’Right">: SC&A Collection Development and
Management Policy.” Accessed May 1, 2023.
https://libguides.liverpool.ac.uk/library/sca/collectiondevelopment.
“History of the Boston Cooking School Established 1879 : Manuscript / This Account
Written by S.E. Hooper. - Manuscripts -.” Accessed May 1, 2023.
https://cdm.bostonathenaeum.org/digital/collection/p15482coll5/id/653/.
“Mary Johnson Bailey Lincoln.” In Wikipedia, May 23, 2022.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mary_Johnson_Bailey_Lincoln&oldid=108
9317640.
“Special Collections Collection Policy – The University of Alabama Libraries – The
University of Alabama Libraries.” Accessed May 1, 2023.
https://www.lib.ua.edu/about/libraries-policies/special-collections-collection-policy-ua-l
ibraries/.