ISCI 766 Final Project - Collection Development Policy

“Lowcountry Kitchen Archive”

I. Statement of purpose

Based in Charleston SC, the Lowcountry Kitchen Archive is an open source digital repository for vintage & community cookbooks, recipe collections, oral histories, menus, photos, and ephemera from the Lowcountry region of the Southeastern US, 18th - 20th C. The purpose of this collection is to preserve regional memory of ingredients, techniques, and recipes,with special focus on home kitchens.

“Community cookbooks” are identified as those self-published by churches or organizations in efforts to raise funds for various causes indicative of historical events affecting domestic laborers, from women’s suffrage and liberation movements to wartime food shortages and larger shifts in industry/technology. Such work simultaneously forms the foundation of the American capitalist economy and yet renders its force of largely unpaid, underrepresented female and/or minority members invisible. We seek to illuminate the daily lives and cultural contributions of those whose collaborative records remain in circulation, even as their identities have been obscured.

II. Types of programs supported by the collection

A. Research

We acknowledge the wealth of agricultural and culinary knowledge which rests in the ancestors of enslaved African Americanswho continue to live throughout the Sea Islands of the Carolina, Georgia and Northern Florida coasts. In partnering with Gullah Geechee identified organizations, like Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor and Gullah/Geechee Nation, our aim is to provide digital storage and record of oral interviews, as well as reference and shared resources, according to needs and preferences, without any permanent changes in possession and/or impact to original ownership. This collection is inextricably linked to history, geography, and various cultures across the region, thus we prioritize working with community actors to increase visibility and collaborate on best methods for public interaction and pathways for communication.

More broadly, Lowcountry Kitchen Archive endeavors to fill an apparent void in Lowcountry Digital Library holdings, which are limited to personal recipe collections from the SC Historical Society (e.g. Eliza Pinckney and Anna M. S. Wells), and oral interviews (e.g. Emily Meggett and John Martin Taylor). Oral interviews could be expanded to include specialized technical knowledge from Lowcountry chefs (like B. J. Dennis) as well as ingredient sourcing information (Crabbing with Tia Clark). The strategic focus on the kitchen as a site of overlapping and interwoven evidence of life lends context to existing collections which have been preserved for the Lowcountry Digital Library by supporting repositories: historical societies, art and civic museums from Beaufort to Barbados, churches, college, libraries and archives.[1]

B. Exhibits

Hosted by the College of Charleston, the Lowcountry Digital Library is supported by Special Collections, including Jewish Studies and the LBGTQ Archive, as well Avery Research Center for African-American History and Culture, partnered with the International African American Museum. Like many Lowcountry Digital Library affiliates, the Historic Charleston Foundation, which owns and preserves downtown buildings as museums, is reputed for its creative forms of outreach, incorporating artists and writers into programming in order to expand the audience and conversation around site-specific history. Food studies would be a welcome and significant enhancement to educational efforts in these areas.

Academic and public libraries throughout the Lowcountry, specifically in Charleston, will continue to be valuable resources in terms of support for research and exhibits. As stated, visibility of the collection is paramount, due to misinformation surrounding marginalized groups. We recognize systematic erasure in statewide educational and public environments, contributing to a lack of public knowledge. Through exhibition, we hope to support critical reflection and stewardship, while preventing future loss.

C. Community outreach

Aside from existing patrons, outreach to the Food & Beverage community is critical to understanding, maintaining, and continuing the rich culinary traditions of the region. While restaurants are not the primary focus of this collection, they are nonetheless an important link to the conversation around trends in cooking and entertaining. Aside from acting as a resource for restaurant workers, there is also potential for Lowcountry Kitchen Archive to work with nonprofit organizations addressing lack of food (e.g. Feed the Need and Lowcountry Food Bank) and overall health within the F&B industry (e.g. Southern Smoke).

Additionally, the Southern Foodways Alliance is a regional initiative with an active area contingent, promoting the documentation of food culture with emphasis on professional contribution. The Lowcountry Kitchen Archive asserts that the practice of reparative collection requires examination of the links between past harm and current inequity, in order to comprehend more fully the existing state of food systems as a complex whole.

D. Publications

Proposed publication is based on the website application of a digital collage program, where users can combine itemized Lowcountry Kitchen Archive entries with embedded video, social media links, uploaded images, text, etc. Enabling researchers to incorporate collection items with other web-based materials allows for the creative mapping of food studies on an individual basis. With consent, these submissions could be curated by the staff and displayed in blog format, embodying the collaborative “Do It Yourself” spirit of zines popularized before the turn of the millennium. Although a print version of this feature would require additional staff and resources not currently available, it should nonetheless be considered a goal for future outreach.

III. Clientele served by the collection

Resource sharing between historical organizations, educational institutions and community groups/members will be prioritized as means for expanding the collection and preserving significant contributions. The digital repository and exhibits are free to access by the public, and engagement through oral or or material donation is highly encouraged. While Charleston is the original location of the Lowcountry Kitchen Archive, Savannah GA should also be considered as a potential future hub based on the shared heritage of these two cities.

IV. Priorities and limitations of the collection

Lowcountry Kitchen Archive compiles a diverse collection of primary and secondary sources documenting underrepresented foodways throughout the Carolina coastal region and Sea Islands of the American Southeast. Accessible in a single digital repository, sources include vintage & community cookbooks, recipe collections, oral histories, menus, photos, and ephemera from the 18th - 20th C. While relevant utensils, linens, and service ware may be appended, fragile and/or larger items (e.g. glass or porcelain) are likely to be excluded due to the hazards of transfer and storage space limitations.

Community cookbooks generally appear first in the mid-19th C. and reached their zenith in the mid-20th C. The most notable versions of the form in the Lowcountry are decidedly the Charleston Receipts collections produced by the area Junior League from 1950 to present. Desiderata includes a full range of these titles, beginning with the prototypical “Charleston Recipes” from 1949.Examples of other less widely distributed titles are “Country Cookin’” (1970) and “Santee Supper” (1979). We actively seek recipe compilations collected and distributed by churches (regardless of denomination) and organizations throughout the area, however modest their production range.

Any record of shared recipes and/or home kitchen ephemera from as early as colonial America would be considered not only pertinent but highly informative in the scope of this archive. Although we must necessarily deprioritize the collection of mainstream cookbook authors, we nonetheless value the grassroots anthropological research of Gullah Geechee writers like Vertamae Smart Grosvenor and more recent publications by Emily Meggett and Matthew Raiford.

V. Cooperative agreements affecting the collecting policy

VI. Resource sharing policy

Cooperative agreements and resource sharing with Gullah Geechee organizations and all Lowcountry Digital Library institutions shall defer to their respective policies, and ongoing collaboration on best practices and procedures. Lowcountry Kitchen Archive is committed to participatory acquisitions and open access digitization of existing collections, without impact to ownership or permanent changes in possession,as well as to the facilitation of oral interviews. While accession, description, and related metadata will ultimately be the responsibility of our staff, such reference will be established with as much contribution from all stated affiliates as possible. This effort encompasses attention to Gullah Geechee dialect and the establishment of a tagging folksonomy where available, with diverse users in mind.

VII. Deaccessioning policy

Our primary concern around deaccessioning digital material is the careful consideration of harm versus benefit on a community scale. While sensitive materials may be subject to a content warning, there may also be grounds for removal based on the availability of a revised version. Regardless of the outcome, these decisions shall be made with ultimate deference to the individuals most susceptible to injury caused by any unethical digitization of media. Furthermore, should any situation(s) arise where existing collection items may be repatriated to the original or rightful owners, the Lowcountry Kitchen Archive will lend full weight of its power to these efforts.

VIII. Procedures affecting the collecting policy

IX. Procedures for reviewing the policy and its implementation

This policy is a current, updated version of our guidelines for collection development.[2] It is subject to change based on ongoing dialogue with stated partners or contributions which demand reconsideration of terms, and will be reviewed on an annual basis regardless of these conditions.

[1] For website links, refer to the list HERE.

[2] Adapted from Elaine B. Smyth’s “Practical Guide to Writing a Collection Development Policy,” provided by Professor Michael Weisenburg for the University of South Carolina iSchool, located on Blackboard HERE

[Submitted 10 December 2023]