UTICA — The research of Pamela Cooley into “Amelia Simmons and America’s First Cookbook” will be presented at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 15, in a virtual Zoom lecture hosted by the Oneida County History Center, 1608 Genesee St.

In 1796, Simmons wrote what is widely famed as the first American cookbook, “American Cookery.” It preserves how early colonists created a unique American diet and identity, and the book was named one of the 88 “Books That Shaped America” by the Library of Congress.

Even with its fame, little is known about its author.

“I discovered ‘American Cookery’ at Harvard University’s Schlesinger Library when I was doing an independent study there for my graduate degree in archives management,” Cooley recalled. “The Schlesinger has an extensive culinary collection including the papers of Julia Child, for instance, and three very rare editions of ‘American Cookery.’ During my time at Schlesinger, I was introduced to this seminal work on American cuisine and was privileged to be able to do three weeks of bibliographic work with their editions. I was hooked.”

Cooley noted that the actual name of “American Cookery” is “American Cookery, or the Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry and Vegetables, and the Best Modes of Making Pastes, Puffs, Pies, Tarts, Puddings, Custards and Preserves and All Kinds of Cakes from the Imperial Plumb to Plain Cake. Adapted to This Country, and All Grades of Life by Amelia Simmons, An American Orphan.”

But it was not the book that inspired Cooley so much as the mystery surrounding the author, Amelia Simmons, American Orphan.

“I kept seeing this phrase ‘little is known about Amelia Simmons’ in all my research and decided to take up the challenge and see what I could find out,” Cooley said.

Her research took six years — although Cooley admitted she doesn’t think she will ever be truly finished. She searched for evidence of Simmons in libraries, archives, historical societies, museums and the records in churches, and town and county clerk’s offices in Connecticut and New York.

Cooley said she read lots of books on culinary and American history, interviewed culinary historians and made good use of the internet, including visiting historic newspaper databases; archives, library and genealogy websites; and GoogleSearch, GoogleBooks and GoogleMaps.

Cooley said her presentation will be a “culinary detective story.”

“I will present the results of my research, analyze several often-cited theories about Amelia Simmons and pose a theory of my own,” she said. “I will leave it to attendees to decide if I have actually found Ameila.”

The presentation is available online only and is available at www.oneidacountyhistory.org/programs.html.