Philathea Cook Book

A church class in Worcester, Massachusetts pooled its recipes in 1922 — and signed every one of them.

About the Book

1922Published
The Philathea Class, Trinity M.E. ChurchAuthor
205Recipes

The Philathea Class of Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, Worcester, Massachusetts, published this cookbook in December 1922 to raise money, in the way church societies had been doing for fifty years.

What makes it worth keeping is the signatures. Almost every recipe carries the name of the woman who gave it — Mrs. Hiram B. Gibbs, Inez B. Curtis, Mrs. Albert H. Taylor — so the book is also a roll of a particular congregation in a particular year.

The committee's preface asks readers to notice the advertisements, since “the firms herein deserve our generous patronage, as they have made this publication possible.” Those advertisements are a record of the businesses of Worcester in 1922.

This site reproduces the complete text of the original 1922 edition, digitized page by page from the original printing. The book is in the public domain.

Rights & ReuseThe complete text of Philathea Cook Book (1922) is in the public domain in the United States — like all works published before 1928 — and is free to read, download, quote, teach from, and reuse. This digital edition (its transcription, restored images, and site design) is © 2026 PhotoOpAI, and any editorial commentary we add is clearly marked as ours; the underlying public-domain text carries no such restriction.