Mary Johnson Bailey Lincoln

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Mary Johnson Bailey Lincoln, (July 8, 1844-December 2, 1921) was an influential teacher and cookbook author whose students included Fannie Farmer. Considered one the pioneers of the domestic science movement in the United States she emphasized the scientific and nutritional basis of food preparation.

Born in South Attleboro, Massachusetts she contributed to the family income due to the death of her father when she was aged seven. In 1864 she graduated from the Wheaton Female Seminary now known as Wheaton College. In 1865 she married David Lincoln.

She became an instructor in 1879 at the Boston Cooking School replacing Miss Joanna Sweeney. Leaving the Boston Cooking School in 1885 due to the death of her sister she moved to Lasell Seminary in Auburndale, Massachusetts and taught there until 1889.

In the year of her husband's death, 1894, she co-founded The New England Kitchen Magazine which later became American Kitchen Magazine. An active member of the New England Woman's Press Association she was the culinary editor and wrote the syndicated column "Day to Day" for the magazine.

In addition to those writings she wrote for other periodicals, published books, and devised a large amount of advertising pamphlets for food and cooking equipment companies. Due to her status and fame she provided endorsements for a range of products including her own company, Mrs. Lincoln's Baking Powder Company of Boston. She was active in the culinary and journalism field until her death from cerebral hemorrhage in 1921.

[edit] Books

Mrs. Lincoln's Boston Cook Book: What to Do and Not Do in Cooking (1884)
- Highly influential book that provided recipes from multiple sources and emphasized the science and nutritional aspects of cooking. It also help set the pattern of how cookbooks and recipes were to be formulated with consistent measurements and is a fore-runner to the Fannie Farmer's The Boston Cooking School Cookbook.

The complete course of instruction taught by Mary and her colleagues at the Boston Cooking School was available in this book, including how to set up a cooking school of one's own, including examination questions, necessary equipment, topics for lectures, books of reference, and the course of instruction:

The Peerless Cook Book (1886)
The Boston School Kitchen Textbook (1887)
- Book written for the Boston Public Schools and with her first book was the basis for curricullum in the North America and the Great Britain in cooking courses
Carving and Serving (1887)
What to Have for Luncheon (1904)