The American Family Keepsake

Published in 1848 in Boston, The American Family Keepsake contains an enormous variety of information—everything from medicinal cures to common childhood illnesses to recipes to farming to "Indian Recipes" to sewing, and dressing. With instructions on how to cure "hiccoughs" by "a few swallows of vinegar," to properly setting a table (always set soup, broth, or fish at the head of the table), to making a variety of colors for fabric (for lilac, add a pinch of Archil to boiling water with a small lump of pearlash), and to suitably dressing for one's figure ("tight sleeves without trimming are becoming to full forms"), The American Family Keepsake, is one of the earliest version of a modern-day's reference book or Wikipedia site, making this tome uniquely instructive and helpful.