SAN ANTONIO — The archives of the Special Collections Library at UTSA house more than 2,000 volumes of rare and unique books and manuscripts. While the collection is available to anyone in person, the library has been working to digitize its collection, making it freely available online.
The ongoing project is currently focused on the Mexican recipes collection, which consists of more than 100 handwritten ones. The oldest book dates back to 1789, and includes a recipe for gazpacho but without tomatoes.
Many of the dishes are still common today. Others are less so, like turtle soup, and even mayonnaise soup.
These recipes were written by a variety of people. Some by professional chefs writing down recipes for kitchen staff, others by grandmothers preserving the family recipes.
The Mexican recipe collection tells the story of how Mexican cuisine developed across regions and over centuries.
"You really get a window into peoples' lives," says Stephanie Noell, the librarian for Special Collections.
All of the library's digitized content, including the Mexican recipe collection, can be found on the library's homepage.
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