Miss Beecher's Domestic Receipt Book

Catharine Esther Beecher was born in 1800, the daughter of Lyman Beecher, an outspoken minister and co-founder of the American Temperance Society. Her younger sister was Harriet Beecher Stowe, well-known abolitionist and author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Disappointed in the limited curriculum available to young women during her own school years, Catharine became a teacher in 1821 and a strong advocate for women’s education. In 1823 she opened a private girls’ school, the Hartford Female Seminary, in Hartford, CT. Harriet graduated from the Seminary and later helped her sister there. In 1841 Catharine published A Treatise on Domestic Economy for the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School, which addressed the underestimated value of women’s roles in society. This volume, Miss Beecher’s Domestic Receipt Book, originally published in 1846, is a supplement to that earlier work and includes a wide variety of recipes. Catharine believed in the importance of good nutrition and physical education for young women.