“Dallying with the Black Bottle:” Typing, Talking, Tippling, and Cocktail History Outreach

Presentation description: Archivist Kira A. Dietz will talk about using historical cocktail tastings as creative outreach to educate the library and campus community about Virginia Tech Special Collections' History of the American Cocktail Collection. She will also share advice for archivists looking to try creative approaches to culinary history outreach. This was part of a larger panel with the following description: Food production, cooking, and eating are social activities that go beyond the kitchen, engaging a variety of disciplines and making culinary collections a natural tool for archival outreach. The speakers talk about developing food collection outreach and reference opportunities. Whether it's tasting events, historic recipes in the classroom, blogging the cooking process, or digitizing collections, panelists share what they've learned and how their advice can be adapted to other outreach endeavors.