Funeral Home Advertisement for Newark, New Jersey

Here, the second advertisement on the page, is a possible lead on a funeral home that existed in 1917 in Newark, New Jersey. Notice that the advertisement provide the name of the mortician's father. This might indicate his father was the previous mortician. Which may also show that the funeral home was in existence for a longer period of time.

This advertisement is found in The Community Cook Book. Compiled and Published by the Women's Auxiliary of the First Presbyterian Church. South Orange, New Jersey. 1917.

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Advertisers Index from The Community Cook Book. South Orange, New Jersey

As I have written previously, many community cookbooks have advertisements scattered among the recipes.  This was a win-win situation for both the group who was publishing the cookbook and the business advertising. This is also great for genealogists and researchers since that provides information that includes people's names and occupations. So genealogists should do more than use community cookbooks to look for their female ancestor's names. They should also be seeking out these cookbooks to learn more about the community, especially if their ancestor was a business owner. Community cookbooks are a great source for social history when you are learning more about an ancestor's community and time period.

I received in the mail today one of my latest community cookbook acquisitions. The Community Cook Book. Compiled and Published by the Women's Auxiliary of the First Presbyterian Church. South Orange, New Jersey (1917) not only includes many advertisements but it also has an alphabetical index to the advertisers.  (Too bad there isn't an index to the recipe contributors as well).

This cookbook is without its original cover which may have included the owner's name on the inside.  But I do like how the owner inscribed the top of the title page with the names of two women and the words "recipes-good".

The First Presbyterian Church in South Orange, New Jersey who compiled and published this cookbook is still in existence. You can see their website here.

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Cookbook Advertising Directed at Women 1912

One of the great aspects of community cookbooks is that they often include advertisements from community businesses. These advertisements helped pay for the printing of the cookbook. In the example below, the bank decided to target women in their advertisement, which was smart since they were the ones who used the cookbooks.  The bank was probably also seeing the potential in new customers.

From the Hathi Trust Digital Library, http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uiuo.ark:/13960/t86h4hv6v

I wonder how many banks today have a furnished rest room?

Of genealogical value in this ad are the names of the bank's officers at the bottom.

This advertisement and others are from the Christopher House Guild Cook Book, Compiled by the Christopher House Guild of the First Presbyterian Church, Evanston, Illinois (1912).

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