Digital Gallery
We invite you
Examine collection materials, mostly from the 18th century, that describe connections between food, botany, health, and housekeeping.
The National Library of Medicine holds a number of cookbooks published in England during the time the Washingtons entertained guests at Mount Vernon, as well as American, English, and other period books on medicinal plants and cures, beneficial beverages, and principles of healthy (and unhealthy) living. Featured here, as part of Fire and Freedom, is a selection of these rich and diverse materials. Explore them to learn about the connections between food, botany, health, and housekeeping in England and colonial America.
