The Landmarks Club Cook Book

The Landmarks Clubs was founded in 1897 by a group of prominent Angelinos, whose intention was to help preserve Southern California historic structures. The Club’s founder and president, Charles Fletcher Lummis, was an instrumental and eccentric Los Angeles figure who walked to LA from Ohio (and wrote about it in a column for the LA Times). He also founded The Southwest Museum and served as City Librarian. 

 

This cookbook was produced as a fundraiser for The Landmarks Club, with the specific intention to maintain Southern California’s Franciscan Missions (pictured in the opening pages of the book). 

 

In addition to recipes contributed by Angelinos, Lummis opens the book with English-language translations of recipes sourced from “old time” California, New Mexico, Mexico and Peru. While Lummis sometimes fetishizes “foreign” customs, he was a prescient champion of locally-sourced ingredients and showed respect for the palate and techniques of non-white cultures. He writes in the cookbook’s introduction; 

 

“It is the stupid traveler who mocks the ancient wisdom of the country as to what in that country should be eaten… if we incline to turn up our noses at Indians as instructors in eating, we may remember that they taught us potatos of both sorts - for not only the sweet but the “Irish” potato were exclusive natives of America and were never heard of in the Old World unitl the Spanish aquired them in the New - our corn, sago, succatash, chocolate, cocoa, tapioca, peanuts, Lima beans, and a great many other foodstuffs… for perfect chocolate, go to Mexico; while a Guatama Indian would be ashamed to offer anyone what a majority of us would call a cup of coffee.”

 

The other recipes submitted by Landmarks Club members and friends range in cultural heritage. Some examples include Almond Soup, Cherry or Apple Omelet, Risotto A La Milanese, Okra, and Veal Olive Pie. 

 

Newsclipping via The Los Angeles Times

I have cooked from this book! 

 

While Charles Lummis wrote this book’s introduction and sections on early Californian, Mexican and Peruvian cookery, the bulk of the recipes were compiled by Mrs. J.G. Mossin and Harriet Child Wadleigh, who was City Librarian of Los Angeles from 1897-1900. The two women gathered an intriguing group of contributors - including the eccentric Justine Ingersoll, whose rose and fig salad I prepared (and is pictured). Ingersoll published an entire collection of salad recipes, entitled “My Salad Days,” in 1896. 

 

I also baked a recipe for a silky and sweet lemon pie from Wadleigh herself (pictured). During her tenure as City Librarian, Wadleigh introduced open shelving to the library, making LA one of the first systems in the US to offer accessible browsing. However, she is perhaps best remembered for her public fight with the Library’s Board. After Wadleigh was dismissed for unsubstantiated reasons, she refused to resign her post and continued going into work each day. The other librarians and much of the city seemed to take her side, as the fight played out over newspaper columns. Wadleigh remained for another year and eventually stepped down on her own terms. She continued her civic leadership through involvement in various women’s clubs (including as a charter member of the Friday Morning Club and the Women's Athletic Club, whose cookbooks also appear in the Community Cookbook Archive). Another picture in this slideshow depicts Wadleigh and others registering women to vote in 1911. 

 

Two years after The Landmarks Club Cook Book was published, Lummis himself became City Librarian, despite no prior library experience (and to the disgruntlement of a few of the dynamic women who held the position before him). Despite some missteps, Lummis was instrumental in building the Library’s special collections. 

 

This cookbook also lists Tess Kelso, LA City Librarian from 1889-1895, as an “Honorary Lifetime Member” of the Landmarks Club.

 

As a result, though it was produced to help preserve California Missions, The Landmarks Club Cook Book provides an intimate glimpse into a different Southern California landmark as well: the Los Angeles Public Library and those who helped form it. 

 

Indeed, libraries, like the Missions, were important sites in Southern California’s history. From the Los Angeles Times:

 

”Long before Los Angeles had colleges or universities or an art museum, or a water system, or a deep-water port, even before it had a direct railroad connection to the east, Los Angeles had a library. As early as 1844, when the city was still a Mexican pueblo, a group of citizens calling themselves Los Amigos del Pais, the Friends of the Country, secured a small lot from the ayuntamiento, or town council, and built a library-recreation hall on North Main Street near what is now Olvera Street… ” 

 

In 1878, a later iteration of the Library officially passed into City management, and the Central Library Branch was dedicated in its current Downtown location in 1926.

 

 

 

HARRIET CHILD WADLEIGH

Friday Morning Club Juniors Cook Book 

The Friday Mourning Club Cook Book

Landmarks Club Cook Book 

The Old Vanity Fair Tea Room Recipes gathered from far and near

 

CHARLES LUMMIS

Landmarks Club Cook Book 

Southwest Cooks! The Tradition of Native American Cuisines

LIBRARY SOCIETIES AND LITERARY COOKBOOKS

Around The World, Around Our Town: Recipes from San Pedro 

Around The World, Around Our Town: Recipes from San Pedro Book 2

Cabrini Family Cook Book, The

Danties That Are Bread In a Book: Shakespeare Club Cook Book 

Desserticide aka Desserts Worth Dying For

Landmarks Club Cook Book 

A Taste of California

 

LA HISTORY

Around The World, Around Our Town: Recipes from San Pedro 

Around The World, Around Our Town: Recipes from San Pedro Book 2

Artesia Historical Society Cook Book: Recipes and History Never Get Old 

Burbank Historical Society Centennial Cook Book

Landmarks Club Cook Book 

Our Pioneer Heritage Cook Book 

Pomona Centennial Cookbook: 1888-1988

Recipes of The Ranchos

San Dimas Hometown Recipes

 

NATIVE AMERICAN COOKING

American Indian Intertribal Cookbook

Artistic Tastes: Favorite Recipes of Native American Artists

Cooking the Native Way 

Landmarks Club Cook Book 

Southwest Cooks! The Tradition of Native American Cuisines

 

You will be able to download this entire book, soon! Each cookbook is being digitized by hand. If you have particular interest in the one above, please reach out via the Contact Page so this book can be given priority.