ANN ARBOR—Celebrating the 200th anniversary of the American cookbook, the University of Michigan’s Clements Library will present “American Cookery: The Bicentennial 1796-1996,” an exhibition of cookbooks published in the United States ranging from one of the few surviving copies of the first American cookbook, Amelia Simmons’ “American Cookery” of 1796, to the earliest African American cookbook, and books by leading culinary authorities of the past two centuries.

The exhibition will open Aug. 15 and continue through Nov. 1 at the Clements, open noon-4:45 p.m. Monday-Friday. Admission is free.

The exhibit, curated by Jan Longone, a nationally renowned culinary historian and founder of the Wine and Food Library, an antiquarian book shop, features books from Longone’s personal collection and the Clements’ extensive holdings on American history. The exhibition offers an opportunity to view one American-published cookbook for each of the 200 years, presenting an overview of the richness, diversity and bibliographical treasure house of material available from America’s culinary past.

Among the items in the display is the first edition of “The Joy of Cooking,” little known 19th century American cooking magazines, the cookbook written for America’s centennial celebration in Philadelphia in 1876, early charitable cookbooks, first editions of works by Julia Child, early ethnic and immigrant contributions, books on the role of servants, great restaurants and inns, regional cookbooks, books on etiquette and manners, a copy of “New England Breakfast Breads” and “The Carolina Housewife,” and a cookbook from the Pan-Pacific Exhibition held in San Francisco in 1915.

“The diversity that has always characterized American society will be on display,” says Longone. “All the major events in American history are captured in these cookbooks—war, recessions, the Depression, changing roles of women and children, the westward expansion, immigration, increasing industrialization and the production of food, and the introduction of new foods, techniques and equipment. Add to this list the role of advertising in food consumption, the change of American society from the farm to the city, Prohibition, protest movements, charitable and welfare policy, etiquette and manners, dining customs and holiday celebrations and you have just part of the story cookbooks have to tell about America and its people.”

Today thousands of cookbooks featuring a wide variety of specialties are available from American publishing houses. Yet, this has not always been true. “America came late to cookbook publishing,” says Longone. “Although we have records that settlers carried cookbooks with them to the New World and imported cookbooks, especially from England, and kept manuscript receipt books, cooks in the original colonies had been preparing meals for about 150 years before the first cookbook was printed in America.”

Amelia Simmons’ book “American Cookery, or The Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry and Vegetables, and the Best Modes of Making Pastes, Puffs, Pies, Tarts, Puddings, Custards and Preserves, and All Kinds of Cakes,…Adapted To This Country and All Grades of Life” is the first book known to recognize and use truly American products such as corn meal. It was her book that first suggested cranberry sauce as an accompaniment to roast turkey. The history of the American cookbook reveals that the eating preferences of Americans as early as 1836 were influenced by economy and frugality, management and organization, all tempered with a preoccupation with baking sweets and desserts. Vegetarianism, temperance and health issues emerged in the 1830s and 1840s.

At the same time regional cookbooks were being written, including Philomelia Hardin’s “Everybody’s Cook and Receipt Book: But More Particularly Designed for Buckeyes, Hoosiers, Wolverines, Corncrackers, Suckers, and All Epicures Who Wish to Live with the Present Times.”

In the 1870s, promotional literature made its debut in the form of large quantities of small pamphlet cookbooks issued by the growing number of national food and kitchen equipment companies. Also included were cookbooks coming from the influential cooking schools started in New York City, Boston and Philadelphia. National magazines and almanacs became extremely popular in the late 19th century with that popularity extending into the 20th century and into today’s market.

The large waves of immigrants entering the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries brought recipes from the old country , foreign language books and books on the cuisines of other cultures including Chinese, Jewish, Polish, German, Italian and Swedish. World War I, the Depression and World War II led to a revival of the economy cookbooks with advice about using corn, margarine, little meat and other less expensive products at home so that the men at the front might have wheat flour, butter and beef.

The Clements’ cookbook exhibit, with examples of regional and ethnic cooking, is part of a national bicentennial celebration of the American cookbook and the centennial celebration of the first edition of “The Fanny Farmer Boston Cooking School Cookbook.”