Presentation Review – Anje Merkies’ Early Canadian Cookbooks

Anje has a fantastic idea for a website. One single data base for the university’s cook book collection will be a fantastic resource for researchers and for students to refine their searches and discover new material. Education, research, and engagement are Anje’s three main goals with her website and I think, after seeing what she has developed thus far for her website, that she is on the right track. Providing short write ups for the material posted was a great idea to give people visiting the website an idea of what they will be looking at, especially in light of the chapbooks presentation in which the issue of titles not corresponding to content was raised. I think using tags may also be a helpful way of informing people as to what they will encounter in each cook book. It was mentioned in class before I had a chance to say it myself, but I agree that, in terms of the timeline included on this site that historical context would be helpful at filling in empty space and would expand its usability as well to those who may not be as familiar with historical topics. On Blog Post #7, Anje mentions creating a map. I think this would be a really interesting addition to her site as it would allow users to visualize the sources of the various cook books on the site. If a map were included in the site some local context could be given as well which could help users understand the origins of the cook books and perhaps a better knowledge of their producers as well.

Ultimately, I think that Anje has a very useful idea with a lot of potential. As a student who has done research with the University of Guelph’s cook book collection in the past, I can say through experience that I would have appreciated a website like this. I look forward to seeing the finished product!