General Meeting
January 27 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
General Meeting
Time: 7:00 – 8:30 pm ET
Location: First Presbyterian Church, 189 Church Street, Marietta, GA 30060
Topic: A Taste of the Past: Historical Recipes and the Stories They Tell
Description: The presentation will cover old cookbooks and recipes from the Atlanta area and Cobb County including Valerie J. Frey’s rediscovery of Marietta’s 1885 cookbook by E. R. Tennent, House-Keeping in the Sunny South, now reprinted by UGA Press. The discussion will include information about her research and how cookbooks can provide information helpful to genealogists and local historians.
The meeting begins at 7:00 pm ET with doors opening at 6:30 pm ET. Arrive early to browse vintage community cookbooks. You are encouraged to bring one (or more) to display and share with fellow attendees.
Speaker: Valerie J. Frey
Valerie J. Frey (pronounced “fry”) is a writer and archivist from Athens, Georgia with projects focusing on genealogy, historical foodways, and the everyday home life of our ancestors. Valerie holds degrees from the University of Georgia and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her archives career began with a Junior Fellowship in the Manuscripts Division at the Library of Congress and she went on to serve as an archivist at the Georgia Historical Society and the Georgia Archives. She now writes full time. Preserving Family Recipes: How to Save and Celebrate Your Food Traditions was released in 2015 through the University of Georgia Press. In 2025, UGA Press released her newest book, Georgia’s Historical Recipes: Seeking Our State’s Oldest Written Foodways and the Stories Behind Them. During her research project, Valerie rediscovered an 1885 cookbook from Marietta entitled House-Keeping in the Sunny South that was subsequently reprinted in 2025 by UGA Press with a foreword and indexing by Valerie.
