Cookbooks exemplify the ideals of a society: what an authority thinks people should eat, what their society values.  Print cookbooks are aspirational, while handwritten cookbooks give an account of what people actually ate—giving us a glimpse of their real lives.  In her handwritten recipe book, Mrs. George W. Biddle gives an honest view of the values of high-society women in the 19th century through the recipes included.  Mrs. Biddle used recipes as social currency, recording ones that elevated the status of the family and trading with other women.