The New England Test Kitchen. Interior View

New York: the photographer; John D. Chase, Optician, 1864. Albumen silver print stereograph (8.5 x 17.5 cm.). Two prints mounted on card. The photographer is identified in a copyright registration statement. "The New England Kitchen", in The Brooklyn & Long Island Sanitary Fair, February 22, 1864, pages 72-78 states that this demonstration kitchen, not of contemporary cooking methods, but of old fashioned hearth cooking, was a hit with the crowds at the fair and a significant financial success. An experiment in cooking education by example, The New England Kitchen was aimed at weaning immigrants off of their food traditions and toward a "New England diet" (see Laura Shapiro's excellent Perfection Salad, pages 147 ff. Apparently the plans for the New England Kitchen began before the fair plans been begun. The image offered here, labeled "Interior View" was one of a series of twelve photographs taken by W.E. James of 247 Fulton Steet. We have located no sets of the photographs in any institution collection.