The collection contains two handwritten recipe books from the Thomas Family of Baltimore, Maryland. These cookbooks highlight Maryland specialities (oysters, clams, crabs, and terrapins), as well as preserves, cakes, puddings, and other dishes. The majority of the recipes range from the 1870s to the 1910s, but at least one dates back to 1831. Most recipes list an attribution and were probably handed down through several generations of women. Both volumes contain family recipes that would have been prepared, and possibly created, by slaves owned by the Thomas family prior to the Civil War.

One book has "Cookery Book, Alice Whitridge Thomas" stamped upon the front cover. It features a number of additional recipes -- either clipped from a newspaper or mailed from an acquaintance -- laid into the pages, including a letter from the head waiter of the Bellevue-Stratford who inclosed the recipe for sour cream dressing in exchange for three dollars. The dates given for these inserts span 1831 to 1917. This book contains recipes for soups, oysters, Sibby Grant's "Stewed Kidney's," preserves and jellies, desserts and baked goods, meat dishes, and multiples version of "Beef tea." Also included is a 1917 list of orders placed with Miss Nannie M. Hanson's Home-Made First-Class Preserves, Pickles, and Mincemeats. The second book contains recipes for pickled and preserved goods, terrapin, cakes, puddings, croquettes, and "Queen Victoria's Favorite Soup." Only a few of these recipes give dates, ranging from 1871-1883.