You might think it’s obvious that the story of food, of cookbooks is central to understanding our culture and history. But it was not always so. Our storyteller today is Barbara Haber, a towering figure in making sure that “food,” and “women” and cooking were recognized as critical to the study of American Culture and American History. As curator of books at Harvard’s Schlesinger Library for more than 30 years, she collected more than 16,000 cookbooks plus the papers of notables like her friend, Julia Child, and argued (controversially!) for the recognition of Culinary History as a serious academic departments, now all over the country. . If you don’t yet know who Barbara Haber is, prepare to be amazed.

Photo Courtesy of Barbara Haber

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