Emily-Sarah Lineback
Visiting the Moravian Archives in Old Salem was a trip back in time for Emily-Sarah Lineback ’92. She spent months in the archives, which date to 1753 and are among the oldest in the country, researching her 2003 book “Preserving the Past: Salem Moravians’ Receipts & Rituals.”
She often arrived in a rush, but the setting was unhurried with the tick of the grandfather clock and the view out the windows of a cemetery and ancient oak trees. Then there were the documents themselves, the “receipt books” kept by Moravian women, collections of recipes, household formulas, rules of etiquette, medicinal remedies and more. Paper was scarce, so these fragile booklets often had scraps of paper with new information pasted over old pages. Pages still carried a dusting of flour or the marks of other ingredients.
As she wrote in her 112-page book’s preface, “Recipes are a time machine into the heritage of a place and people, showing what grew in and around the area, what items were accessible, and what dishes were usual. As someone said, recipes put flesh on the bare bones of an era.”
Needless to say, these 18th and 19th century recipes also put flesh on generations of Moravians. Emily-Sarah, whose parents and grandparents are Moravian, was intrigued by the cooking techniques and the language she found. A recipe for butter crackers calls for the dough to be pounded with an ax. Instructions for making apple sauce or apple butter direct cooks: “Take new cider from the press, boil it down in a brass or belmetal kettle till the skum has done rising … pare your apples, let them be neither sweet nor sour, but tender.”
Because some of the terms are no longer commonly used or because their meaning has changed, she included a glossary for words like “hartshorn,” deer antlers that were shaved and used like modern gelatin. The glossary explains that “cake” included cookies and bread.
Even when deciphering the writing and the language was a challenge, the extraordinary abilities of the original authors were clear, Emily-Sarah says. These women had the strength to tend wood stoves and the finesse to make delicate pastries. At a time when relatively few women were literate, they considered reading, writing and critical thinking to be part of their Christian duty.
“I really got wrapped up in these women from generations ago,” she says. “This project became a portal for them and for me.”
Emily-Sarah continues to tell stories through Whitline Ink, the Boonville creative studio she started with her husband, K. Scott Whitaker ’96. The company offers clients expertise in publishing, photography, public relations and marketing.
Part of the proceeds from sales of the book supports the preservation of the Moravian Archives. Learn more about the book at www.carolinapress.com.
