Collection is open for research.
Gift of Kelly B. Janes, December 1995 (Lib. Acc. 22525).
The Porter-Scarpelli Macaroni Company (usually written with "Company" abbreviated as "Co."), was founded in the 1910s by Sam C. Scarpelli (1882-1976), an immigrant to the United States from Italy, and the Porter family of Portland, Oregon. The Porters sold Scarpelli their share of the company a few years after the firm's establishment. The firm would grow to be one of the largest producers of pasta products on the U.S. West Coast. In July 1977, the firm shut down its plant. Although the firm's president at the time, Ken Pietila, claimed that the shutdown was only temporary, the firm was defunct by 1980.
Sources: Obituary for Sam C. Scarpelli in the Oregon Journal, July 26, 1976, page 2; obituary for Scarpelli in the Oregonian, July 27, 1976, page C8; article in the Oregonian, "Firm shuts pasta plant, not supplies," August 3, 1977, page E1; Portland city directories, 1979-1980.
Mary Cullen's Cottage was the household arts department of the Oregon Journal, an afternoon newspaper in Portland, Oregon. The department, which was dedicated to helping homemakers, was established in 1934, and from 1936 to 1966 it was directed by Cathrine "Katie" Laughton Hindley (1901-1993). The department tested recipes and printed them in the newspaper; staff also answered questions submitted over the phone about cooking, as well as other homemaking tasks, such as laundry problems, use of appliances, and gardening.
Sources: Obituary for Cathrine Laughton Hindley in the Oregonian, February 26, 1993, page E4; article in the Oregonian, "Three Delicious Decades," September 25, 2012, page L1.
Kelly B. Janes collection of recipes and cookbooks, Coll 1094, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Other collections at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library that contain recipes and cookbooks include the Manners and customs collection, Mss 1522; and the Richard H. Engeman collection on Oregon food history, Coll 1069. Among the materials in the Engeman collection is an additional copy of the cookbook distributed by the Porter-Scarpelli Macaroni Company.
The collection consists of recipe sheets and two cookbooks that belonged to Portland, Oregon, resident Kelly B. Janes or his family. The loose recipes consist of 62 single-sheet bulletins and two handouts produced by the Oregon Journal newspaper's household arts department, Mary Cullen's Cottage. These feature a wide variety of recipes. There is also a handout from Mary Cullen's Cottage with suggestions for Thanksgiving dinner table decorations. One of the cookbooks, titled "Specialties of the House: Macaroni - Spaghetti - Noodles: Cook Book of Durum Wheat Main Dishes," was produced in 1960 by the Durum Growers Association, the Durum Wheat Institute, the National Macaroni Institute, and the North Dakota Wheat Commission, and distributed by the Portland-based pasta manufacturer Porter-Scarpelli Macaroni Company. It contains recipes for pasta dishes. This collection also includes a recipe card for salads and two coupons for Porter-Scarpelli. The other cookbook, published in 1969, is "Put the Un in Cooking Fun with 7UP the Uncola," which consists of recipes for appetizers, entrées, desserts, breads, and drinks using 7UP soda.
The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.