I have the cookbooks from the Junior League, my mama's ADK sorority and from our church. I use them all the time.

Oh man, these bring back memories! My parents had a bunch ranging from their childhoods back in the 50's up through my brother's and mine in the 80's/90's. I used to spend hours paging through them reading all of the stories that accompanied the recipes and making up stories about the people that wrote them. I'm hoping some day I can weasle them out of my Dad's grasp.

My sister and I collect old community cookbooks - one advantage - the recipe contributed is often the cook's "reputation" recipe.
A downside - often directions that are incomplete. Not necessarily for beginning cooks - it helps to have experience to judge whether a recipe will work or not.

I have a bunch of Junior League cookbooks, but my complaint is that they're too professional! (Yeah, I realize that's a good thing in some ways.) My Mom was the cookbook editor for a "Welcome Wagon" cookbook a few decades ago and I love that cookbook!

I prefer the cookbooks which contain recipes that read like, "1 can of kidney beans, 1 container of Velveeta, 1 jar of Hellman's mayo, 1 pound of ground beef..." credited to Mrs. Thomas P Smith Jr.

I think most community cookbooks published after the age of the computer are no fun. I prefer the ones that are obviously typewritten, with duplicate recipes, etc. They're fascinating looks into the community, particularly when recipes are credited back to the contributor. You can see who was the gourmet in town and who felt pressured to contribute. They're like little slices of Americana!

Pasadena Junior League and the United Methodist Church cookbook.

I totally agree with CHGoEditor, old community cookbooks done on a typewriter totally OWN new-age, computer-produced cookbooks.

My favorite is the 10th anniversary Rhinebeck Farmers' Market Cookbook which is a market that I manage. We gathered recipes from the farmers, volunteers and regular shoppers. Those are some of the best recipes and serveral of them are in heavy rotation at my house.

Cotton Country (pictured above) is one of my favorites - it's the Junior League cookbook from northern Louisiana. My husband's grandmother has given me two editions, and I must say I too prefer the old, typewriter written, spiral bound version. Although some of the ingredients can be hard to find now!

The church I used to go to (Jamestown Baptist in Jamestown, Michigan) put one out once and it was vile! Country cooking is one thing, but a modernish take on 1950s midwestern canned food-a-thons is another entirely! My mom used to make something called "cheeseburger quiche" (probably spelled "keesh"), made me want to puke!

Sorry, only bad memories of having to sit at the table until I finished a pile of canned green beans and casserole for me.

when i was in the 6th grade we held an event where we performed dances and songs from around the world and also had a cookbook for everyone in attendance. each of us did a project on a massive poster about a different country and had to contribute a recipe from that country. i still use the cookbook regularly for unique ideas, especially since a lot of the recipes ended up being vegetarian. i contributed a recipe from a guatemalan family friend for her famous homemade tortillas.

Oh man I have so many of these! I would rather sit and read a cookbook than a novel anytime! The last one I received was from my Mom's church and I was a little disturbed that she put the family sauerkraut recipe in it!

I can usually find a pretty good cookie recipe in the community cookbooks!

To this day my husband (who is from rural MI) swears by the biscuit and waffles recipes in the Mennonite cookbook we received from his mother.
I also like one my mom's boating club put together because the ladies were great cooks. A lot were family recipes they were willing to share that did not contain velveeta.

This is my one, true weakness... vintage community cookbooks. I *LOVE* them and I have a ton.

My favorite is a collection of recipes from the "Best Cook on the Block" in Milwaukee (I think it used to run as a feature in the local paper) - hilarious photos of the cooks.

Other favorites include books that have a lot of those "crazy ethnic recipes" hidden in the back of [pick your section here] because they didn't know where to put it (think Indian or Thai food in 1953) - those are frequently the best & most detailed entries. I try to find books like these in secondhand stores when I travel since they tend to remain in the region where they were produced. Lots of fun!

I got my mother's collection, River Road 1 and River Road 2. I have Tony Chachere's Creole cookbook with his seasoning recipe in it.

My father worked for the Department of Agriculture and I have Louisiana cookbooks from every major city and organization, 14 in all. The pickling and canning recipes are dead on good. Also if you wish to prepare every part of the pig, chicken, cow, deer and duck, these are the ones you go to.

What a great topic!

This just reminded me of an old spiral bound cookbook my elementary school put together that I used to love poring over. I'll have to search for it next time I'm at my parent's house!

I have two favorites. Both are good examples of the genre, and both were gifts from beloved women in my life.

My stepmother gave me a cookbook written by the women's auxillary of the St. Louis Symphony. When they were collecting recipes, they wrote to all sorts of celebs as well as soliciting recipies from members. So, for instance, there are contributions from Lady Bird Johnson and from Zubin Mehta's wife.

My mother-in-law's first gift to me was a copy of Charleston Receipts (sic) which has been in print through various editions for about as long as any other community cookbook, and is a real slice of Charleston history.

I love community cookbooks!

My favorite it from my grandmother's side of the family - there are so many recipes from so many people, some still with us and some who aren't.

Others: one from the nature preserve where I work, one from the elementary school where my mom teaches and one my younger sister sold as a fundraiser when she went to Europe with the Girl Scouts!

I have a lot, especially the ones from the '40s and '50s (or from rural areas from the '50s and '60s, which tend to have a lot of the same '30s and '40s recipes).

The one thing I really love about them is that they are slices of ethnic, cultural, and community history. Makes me wonder if people will treasure our current community cookbooks 50 years down the road?

I may be coming in to a big stash of '20s and '30s cookbooks very soon. I'm so excited!!!

My home church is Mennonite Brethren & puts one of these cookbooks together every ten years or so, and it is my favorite cookbook that I own. It's also funny to see how many variations they have to publish of each 'Mennonite food'. There might only be one recipe for chicken pot pie, but there are fifteen different zwieback and ten different veranika recipes!

I have an old relic from our days living in Pittsburgh called Three Rivers Cookbook. It has lots of recipes from locals, but also quite a few from chefs of restaurants during the time it was put together. There's a cold strawberry soup from a chef at a swanky joint downtown in the book that is divine, but our personal family favorite came from a regular old Burgh local lady. It is called Pineapple Casserole in the book, but our family has always called it "Pineapple Puff". It was originally designed as a sweet, easy side dish to compliment ham, but over the years it has become our family's staple dish, and now makes appearances at ALL family meals, whether ham is involved or not. Actually, ham is usually involved now--we've become so attached to the pineapple puff's goodness with ham that even for Thanksgiving, we serve turkey and all the usual harvest fare, as well as Pineapple Puff and a glazed ham. Between Three Rivers Cookbook and my mother's well-loved, well-worn copy of Betty Crocker, our family has shared many a delicious (albeit humble and a little hokey) meal.

Two are from the Amish community in Ohio-not far from where my husband grew up-they were both a gift from my Mother-in-law.

Another is from the church that I attended from childhood up until we moved to New England. My Father's memorial, which was the church sign, is pictured on the front-it was destroyed a few years ago by vandals. This cookbook is a treasury of recipes from church members that are gone and some that are still with us-I cherish it.

@ grammasdiorama - did you go to St. Thomas the Apostle in LA? We did the same thing and I loved that cookbook.

I had no idea that others liked these too! I thought I was "weird" for this obsession - glad to know I'm not alone :)
I'm from Iowa originally, and there was always a booth at the State Fair (at least there used to be, it's been at least 5 years since I've attended) from a company that publishes these cookbooks. So, over the years I have been gifted and also selected several from the HUGE piles available. Overruns, I would imagine...samples, who knows. At any rate, the one title that I have (& love, love, love) is the "Don't Sign with Batter On Your Hands" book. I'm not sure of the organization that put it together, it's probably 12 years old at this point, but it is just full of good midwestern fare. Whenever I need an interesting and homey recipe, it's my go to. I got a terrific banana bread recipe out of it. It's a winner. Every time. No exceptions. I don't use it but another favorite of mine is the Camp Fire cookbook from the late 70s. It has a binder cover, somewhat unusual, I think. I read them like books! So very interesting.

A lot of the old Mennonite church or committee cookbooks are great. Carb-heavy, but otherwise wonderful, delicious, reasonably healthy inexpensive food.

I LOVE these! I am always a fan of the old church ones-- they are about 90% desserts and two vegetable recipes, because really, when someone asks you for your best recipe, do you mention your famous chocolate cake, for which everyone pines, or your famous brussels sprouts, which everyone merely eats without complaint? It is through cookbooks like this that I have recipes for things like "strawberry Snickers pie."

I recently bought one that was put together as a fundraiser for a friend with cancer. There is nothing like seeing your name in print on a recipe... even if it is a recipe that involves a box of crackers and a bag of ranch mix. Apparently one rogue uncle submitted joke recipes, which the editors did not notice, so there were amusing entries for "mud pie" (made from actual mud) and roasted camel.