As American as Apple Pie

102 Pages·2014·0.98 MB·English

by  Rebecca Claire Bunschoten

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Senior Projects Spring 2014 Bard Undergraduate Senior Projects
Spring 2014
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Rebecca Claire Bunschoten
Bard College, [email protected]
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Bunschoten, Rebecca Claire, "As American as Apple Pie: The History of American Apple Pie and Its
Development into a National Symbol" (2014). Senior Projects Spring 2014. 18.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2014/18
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As American as Apple Pie:
The History of American Apple Pie and Its Development into a National Symbol

Senior Project submitted to
The Division of Social Studies
of Bard College
by
R. Claire Bunschoten

Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
May 2014

For my family

…and for those who
know how to cut fat into flour.

Acknowledgements

I would first like to acknowledge the fact that this project has made me a total pie snob. I
am sorry.

It is with immense gratitude that I acknowledge the support and help of Professor
Christian Crouch. I’m forever indebted to her for introducing me to the histories of food
and material cultures as well as the joys of Bundt cake. I would also like to express deep
gratitude to Professor Mark Lytle who has been absolutely instrumental to this project.
Without his patience and gentle counsel, this project probably would not exist.

Furthermore, I appreciate the guidance and teachings of both Dr. Jessica Young and
Richard Mertz without which I would not be the same person, student, or historian.

I would like to acknowledge Michigan State University’s “Feeding America: The
Historic Cookbook Project” as it has been my bread and butter for months. I am grateful
to all involved faculty and staff as well as their facilities. The Bard Library, too, has been
incredibly accommodating this year. I would like to thank Jeremy Hall who helped me
start researching as well as Betsy Cawley, one of the kindest and most helpful humans I
have ever met. Thanks to everyone who works to process ConnectNY books as well as
the many institutions who make their resources available for borrowing.

I would also like to thank Professor Rob Cioffi for indulging my pie talk and Professor
Alex Benson for attending the Historical Studies Midway Conference. Of course, big ups
to Josh Kopin, my joint major mentor, reader, and friend.

If I were to design a coat of arms for our country,
a pie would be the main symbol. It would appear with a
background of wild berry bushes, —and orchards.
For pie is part of our history and tradition.
By right of inheritance, adoption, and improvement, pies have
become distinctively American.
Every American home has its favorite pie.

—Betty Crocker

Table of Contents

Introduction ……………………………………………………………….1
Chapter 1 - Roots: The Earliest American Apple ………………………...9
Chapter 2 - Will it Crumble? …………………………………………….29
Chapter 3 – Made with Love …..…………………………………………51
Conclusion ………………………………………………………………..73
Appendix A ……………………………………………………………….77
Appendix B ………………………………………………………………..81
Bibliography ………………………………………………………………83