LIZZIE KANDER AND THE SETTLEMENT COOK BOOK

LIZZIE KANDER AND THE SETTLEMENT COOK BOOK“When I’m president ”When Lizzie Kander gave this speech at her 1878 high school graduation, womencouldn’t even vote (they would not win that right until the passage of the NineteenthAmendment in 1920). But who better than Lizzie, with her dauntless spirit, tobring together the German and Eastern European Jewish groups, founding acommunity organization that united the Jews of Milwaukee. The famousSettlement Cook Book remains the crowning jewel of her charitable legacy.Lizzie’s is an inspiring tale about the importance of philanthropy, community,and good food.LIZZIE’S EARLY LIFELizzie Black Kander was born on May 28, 1858, to John and Mary Black. TheBlacks owned a dry goods store in Milwaukee. Lizzie enjoyed a household fullof siblings, including two brothers and three sisters. A young Lizzie got achance to meet Ulysses S. Grant, the general for the Northern army andfuture U.S. president. She fearlessly rushed up to greet him while her sister,frightened by the general’s outstretched arms, backed away.Lizzie’s ambition and initiative were demonstrated early. Lizzie was one of thefirst female pupils of the Fifth Ward School in the south side of Milwaukee. Aftercompleting 8th grade, she took a difficult test so she could go to East Side HighSchool. Lizzie excelled at her subjects and was voted valedictorian of her class andgot to speak at graduation. Her speech satirized the political climate, urgingeveryone to pay attention to the problems faced by the poor.THE KEEP CLEAN MISSIONAfter high school, Lizzie looked for meaningful volunteer work. Her family waswealthy, so she did not have to help support them; it was uncommon for girls to go tocollege at the time. Being a volunteer was the opportunity open to her until shemarried and started her own household. Lizzie was energetic in her volunteeringpursuits, joining the Ladies Relief Sewing Society. In 1881 Lizzie marriedSimon Kander, a businessman who was also committed to charitable efforts.Lizzie was concerned with the problems faced by Milwaukee’s poor, many ofwhom were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. These immigrants fledpersecution and poverty, seeking a better life in America. As a truant officer,she worked with children of immigrant families to discover why they missedschool. She was concerned with the immigrants’ cramped and dirty tenements.Given Lizzie’s education , it was important to her that children attend school. In1885, Lizzie organized the “Keep Clean Mission,” intended to help theimmigrants keep clean, attend school, and hone working skills, adoptingAmerican habits in the process.Understandably, many immigrants were upset by the thought that they were dirtyand needed outside assistance to keep clean. Lizzie’s organization changed its name tothe “Milwaukee Jewish Mission.” The mission’s classes—including sewing andwoodcarving—attracted hordes of eager children. Faithful to the idea of the first mission, Lizzie installed a publicbathhouse in their location next to the Schlitz beer brewing plant, which provided a hot shower for a penny.

At this time, sewing and cooking were very importantskills for girls. For Lizzie, being able to prepare a healthymeal on a budget was essential to a healthy home, a keyingredient for a healthy community. Lizzie’s cookingclasses focused on teaching the immigrant girls to prepareAmerican meals.THE SETTLEMENT HOUSEThe classes at Lizzie’s Mission grew, but the location didnot offer enough space. Lizzie raised enough money toestablish a new center. In 1900, the Mission joined effortswith the Sisterhood of Personal Service, another Jewishcharity, to form “The Settlement House,” known simply as“The Settlement.” This was not unique to Milwaukee;across the nation, settlement houses were established to“Americanize” immigrants. Lizzie never became thepresident of the United States, but she was the firstpresident of Milwaukee’s Settlement.The Settlement was an immediate hit. Its baths, with hotwater from the adjacent Jung Brewery, attracted manyimmigrants. The classes covered important life skills forchildren and adults, including sewing, cooking, dancing,dressmaking, and woodworking, bustling from 9 a.m. inthe morning to 11 p.m. at night.SETTLEMENT HOUSESReformers associated with the American SettlementMovement wanted to help poor people get better socialservices, such as housing, food, sanitation, andopportunities to participate in community events and clubs.Settlement workers believed that all economic and socialclasses were connected to each other. Reformers wereinterested in identifying the conditions that led to povertyand providing the poor with opportunities and skills to riseabove those conditions. The growth of cities led to problemswith overcrowding. Settlement houses provided basicservices to the nation’s poor and immigrants. By living andworking with the people they were trying to help, settlementworkers hoped to alleviate the effects of poverty andintegrate immigrants into American society. The facilitiesprovided services like meals, nurseries, kindergartens,English classes, and industrial and vocational skills. Somesettlements promoted theater and music. Settlementvolunteers and workers often lived within the facility itself.Jane Addams, born in Cedarville, Illinois, founded HullHouse in Chicago in 1889; it was one of the earliestsettlement houses in America. Addams became well knownfor her work at Hull House and was an active leader inpromoting social reform nationally. For her work withMilwaukee’s immigrants, Lizzie Kander was dubbed the“Jane Addams of Milwaukee.” The excerpts below are fromJane’s writings about her experiences:The memory of the first years at Hull-House ismore or less blurred with fatigue, for we could ofcourse become accustomed only gradually to theunending activity and to the confusion of a houseconstantly filling and refilling with groups ofpeople. The little children who came tokindergarten in the morning were followed bythe afternoon clubs of older children, and those inturn made way for the educational and socialorganizations of adults, occupying every room inthe house every evening. All one’s habits of livinghad to be readjusted, and any student’s tendencyto sit with a book by the fire was of necessitydefinitely abandoned.1It seemed to me that Hull-House ought to be ableto devise some educational enterprise, whichshould build a bridge between European andAmerican experiences in such wise as to givethem both more meaning and a sense of relation.Select Bibliography on Settlement HousesBarbuto, Domenica M. American Settlement Houses and“Lizzie Kander (known generally in the community asProgressive Social Reform: An Encyclopedia of the AmericanAunt Lizzie) taught English to new arrivals at theSettlement Movement. Phoenix: Oryx Press, 1999.Abraham Lincoln House. She would ask what theyintended to make for Sabbath dinner that week. TheDavis, Alan F. Spearheads for Reform: The Social Settlementsand the Progressive Movement 1890–1914. The Urban Life inpupils told what they would make. Gefilte Fish for aAmerica Series. New York: Oxford UniversityPress, 1967.first course; and what they used to make it and how.While they were telling what kind of fish they woulduse, Aunt Lizzie was writing that they put into the bowl with the fish; and all the time they were speaking teacherwas correcting any mistakes in pronouncements, or grammar.” Jean Gordon, on the role cooking classes played in learning English

THE SETTLEMENT COOK BOOKLizzie needed to find a reliable source of funding to support the popular activities provided by The Settlement. Apractical solution emerged from a solution to a problem inPROPER HOUSEHOLD CARELizzie’s cooking classes. The girls in her cooking classesdevoted too much time to copying down recipes; Lizzie feltIt was important to Lizzie that immigrant girls learn theit would be more productive to use class time for actualproper way to manage a household. The many editions of hercooking. She approached the Settlement Board with thecookbook included tips and directions for such commonideafor a cookbook, part textbook and part fundraiser.tasks as how to measure ingredients, set the table, wait onThey laughed at her “‘little venture,’”1 and refused to putthe table, clear the table, wash dishes, remove stains, build aup the money to fund the project. Lizzie sought the help offire, and sweep, dust, and air a room. How many of thesea local printer and his wife. In 1901, 1,000 copies of thetasks do your parents make you do?cookbook’s first edition were printed, under the full title,Read the excerpt below about setting the table. Do you haveThe Settlement Cook Book: The Way to A Man’s Heart.to set the table when your family entertains company? Doyou set it in the same way that Lizzie recommends?LAYING THE TABLE (see image to the right)General directions—Cover the table with a silencecloth of felting or Canton flannel. Over this spread aspotless tablecloth evenly, the middle crease dividingthe table exactly in half.Position of Host and Hostess—Position of the host, atthe head of the table near entrance door. Hostess at thefoot of the table opposite.Placing Knives, Forks and Spoons—Place the knife orknives at the right of each place, the sharp edge towardthe plate; the fork or forks at the left, tines up, one inchfrom the edge, being careful to have the spacing thesame at every place. Soup spoons at right of knife,teaspoons to left of fork, bowls up, handles an inchfrom the edge of the table, or over the plate, handles tothe right.(Place silver in the order in which it is to be used,counting from the outside toward the plate.)Placing of Glasses—Place the water glass at right ofplate, at end of knife blade.Placing Napkins, Pepper, Salt—Place napkins at left ofplate. Pepper and salt near corners, or one of eachbetween the places for two people.Sideboard and side-table—Object: To hold all extrasthat may be needed during a meal.]1In just one year, all of the 1,000 copies were sold! The 174page culinary manual included recipes for experiencedcooks and beginners alike. The dishes featured in the bookwere influenced by German, Eastern European, and Jewishcuisines.Lizzie’s book provided far more than just cookingdirections. As was the custom with American cookbooks atthe time, The Settlement Cook Book lay down the rules for proper household care, like dusting a room and waiting on thetable. Lizzie believed that the recipes, ingredients, and equipment used, which were new to immigrant girls and theirmothers, would help the girls learn how to manage a healthy American household. Cookbook sales provided TheSettlement House had a lasting source of money for its projects.Lizzie revised her cookbook over the next 40 years. An additional 1,500 copies appeared in 1903 for the book’s secondedition, and the third edition doubled in size. Lizzie improved and added new recipes and included the latest scientificthinking on food and cooking. Gathering contributions from friends, Lizzie tested recipes in her kitchen. She felt that thedependability of the recipes and their clear instructions contributed to the cookbook’s success story.1Kann, Bob, A Recipe for Success: Lizzie Kander and Her Cookbook (Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2007), 52.