The Cooking Library of Marian Wolfe at the Flying W Ranch

When Marian Wolfe passed away in 2001, her husband Russ Wolfe decided that the cookbook collection would be an interesting addition to Flying W Ranch. The cookbooks could be perused by visitors and serve as a testament to Marian's creativity and spirit. To house the materials, a quaint single room structure was built, in the style of an old-fashioned school house. It was called Marian's Cooking Library" (right).

From the perspective of my research into information phenomena in the hobby of cooking, this is a real curiosity: a freestanding folk culinary library generated throughout a lifetime by a single cook, that is now open to the public (via admission to the Flying W Ranch). Until stumbling upon this site, I had not seen it noted in the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) guide to U.S. culinary collections [PDF file] or other culinary bibliographic handbooks. Since it is no longer possible to study this collection in its original context of Marian's life and home, I am interested in its features and use today.
Marian's Cooking Library occupies about 350 square feet. It is located at the center of the ranch, amidst other small structures. A jewelry shop, mock post-office, and rug-weaving hut are adjacent. The library is open from 4:30-7:30 daily which is when guests to the Ranch are touring its grounds prior to the dinner and musical performance. The library is geared for browsing and has no borrowing policy or catalog. A Flying W staff person welcomes visitors to the library and answers questions.

The collection is kept along one wall, arranged in wooden floor to ceiling bookshelves (seen on the left edge of this picture, and below). The white and tan wainscoting was designed to match Marian's home kitchen. There are several small writing desks with chairs that encourage visitors to sit down, browse through cookbooks, and copy recipes. The desk hold pencils and notepads that say, A favorite recipe from Marian's Cooking Library. A photocopier is available along a back wall for .10 per copy. One corner of the space contains Marian's spice collection (visible at left). Her original cooking-related imagery, utensils, and appliances serve as homey decor.
THE COLLECTION

The main body of the collection is shown at right. There are 13 bookshelves with five or six shelves each. The first nine bookshelves contain individual cookbooks and some cookbook series. The last four bookcases hold culinary magazines (shown below). Interspersed throughout are published boxed recipe kits, each with hundreds of recipes. The resources are all popular in nature -- not academic or professional. (The only non-culinary items in the library are old copies of National Geographic, visible along the bottom of the picture.)

The major categories of cookbooks grouped together on the shelves are: general, cooking methods, organizations & fund raising (cookbooks), wine, hors d'oeuvres, restaurant, desserts, veggies, soups & sauces, fish & shellfish, game & poultry, high-altitude, Creole & Southern, French, oriental, barbecue, international, Italian, entertaining & special occasions, Mexican, beef, diet & health, breakfast (eggs & grains), fruits, cities & states, Christmas.