About the Founder – Donna Kozak

Where do I start?  One thing in almost 80 years of life has led to another! "How this bread museum idea came about" is a result of many influences in my life. Some of the major building blocks were:

-- growing up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin (mid-1940s – '60s);

-- 8 years of 4-H (age 10-18) with projects from home to farm, forestry to automotive, jr. leadership, speaking & demonstration contests, & trips as awards;

-- Meaningful ancestral connections-photos-stories-family trees-family reunions;

-- Getting to live in Europe 9 years (England 1982-'88 and Germany 1988-'91); travelled extensively;

-- seeing people's collections (amazing treasure-troves) in the Country Living magazines in the 1980s & '90s;

-- already having 400 collectible tins when we moved to Germany, most of England, & many had been filled with a food item (tea, cookies/biscuits, candy, other);

-- 1988 summer – seeing all the "old farm & house stuff" for sale as "collectibles (i.e. so-called "antiques," but not yet 100 years old)" on a day in Door County, Wisconsin, & bought my 1st supposed "antique," a hand carved butter mold with a cutout cow design on the press for $35;

-- Oct. 1988 – June 1991: going to 1-5 outdoor German flohmarkts a week for 3 years collecting loads of artifacts representing our ancestral home baking heritage (& more). Most items in the flohmarkts were made in the late 1800s – WWII days. What I was buying, no one would actually use anymore, and most were so old, I had never seen these items in my life till then, but I knew or learned what they were for.  Many had never been sold in the U.S.  Even today, since I know what to search for, if any are for sale, they're being sold from a country in Europe or western Asia, & cost an arm & a leg!!  It would take ages & lots of dough to amass this collection again.  And it wasn't until I got back to the States & near the end of the 1990s that I discovered Linda Campbell Franklin's vast resource books, 300 Years of Kitchen Collectibles and could begin to gain greater detailed info on many items.  

The flohmarkts allowed me to create my own Country Living magazine collections which I so loved!  And why? Just because I loved this old stuff centered around people's lives, envisioning my ancestral grandmothers having used these items in their day which was an attachment to my own heritage and lineage, from Germany.  To me it was like going back in time (before that became an item).  To me these artifacts were so "old," and I knew I'd never again have a chance to have such collectibles.  Also, I figured, who else would want this "old stuff" with some-to-most not being practical to actually use anymore, but even so, somebody should be keeping these things for the sake of history.  They were the kind of things you'd only ever see in a museum anymore.  So I bought until I ran out of my budgeted money every month:  intriguing artifacts of the agricultural farm life to grow grains to create food, and then tons of "baking in the kitchen" artifacts called "kitchenalia."

The greatest value to me was holding something representing the life of the person each item had been attached to . . . especially a hand carved item with initials, or a date, or both – a possible wedding gift from a groom to his bride.  It represented ancestry, and spoke to me about being the keeper to not forget the person who used it, even though I wouldn't know them by name.  But there is a beating-heart story that goes with each piece, & I believed it was up to me to collect & tell & someday – somehow, give it away to be preserved for all future generations so they, also, will develop the gift of gratitude for their family who lived before them.

-- In 1997-98 I bought my first of a half-dozen exquisite world history & photo books on grains-milling-flours-breads-bakers/bakeries: The Book of Bread by Jerome Assire (©1996).  I had to swallow hard because it was a $49 book and that day I mainly wanted the 2-page index listing of 14 bread museums in Europe.  Was it worth $49? But where else would I ever find this information? (I did get my first computer in the fall of 1997 in order to have a word processor for typing.  Remember, there was no concept of the internet as it is today! We're not only in another century, but a whole 'nother world now.  Also, if I would not have had typing over 60 years ago back in my sophomore year of high school, none of this website would be taking place! AND, had not someone told me in 2019 about Webnode, the internet host with their self-teaching "Knowledgebase" which I used to teach myself how to build this website, this project would also not exist.)

Anyway, back to the book . . . It was the first time I had ever heard of "bread museums," & when I was living in Europe, I could have gone to all of them!  But then again, a "bread museum" wasn't on my mind in those days . . . just collecting, and figuring out what to do with everything later on.  For that time, just having the artifacts was the satisfaction.  BUT here's a major point I've learned through my years . . . interests change and depending on the scope of the subject matter being common or relatively unique, it usually takes a lot of time to find information out on your own.  Also, most of my opportunities in life were in front of me only one time, maybe one article, or one bit of information, or only one person saying something.  This time, it was one book!! Then it was the idea of having a bread museum for our country.

I made a trip back to Europe in December of the year 2000, specifically to begin my bread museum tour and again visit Christkindlemarkts (along with stops in Germany and Italy to visit a nephew and son, respectively, in the army).  I got to three great ones which were open (one in The Netherlands and two in Germany), and realized that a bread museum model would be the venue in the U.S. for all of my own collected artifacts.  It could also, possibly, be a "home" for others who would also like to have their bread culture-related collection preserved for history and education by a greater audience than an individual, private owner.  Also, we Baby Boomers have learned that generally our immediate family (i.e. the next generation), does not have any interest in Mom's or Dad's "collection!"

In 2010, I had a chance to return to Europe again, this time for a month of driving through Germany, France, Belgium, and The Netherlands to visit an additional 9 bread-related museums, now with a greater list from the breadculture.net online website.  That website has identified many events based around the celebration of grains and breads, being so very thankful for this substance on this earth.  It's also the website with the book: Atlas – Bread Museums in Europe and Beyond in which the National Bread Museum of Grain-Baking-Bread Culture (NBM) has been recognized and listed for the United States – the only listing outside of over 90 others throughout Europe and Asia.

Today a huge desire is to get the National Bread Museum (NBM) established in the United States on land, so future generations will have visual access to this baking history and a multitude of other related/thematic resources even as early as when they are a teen if so interested (via online and around the world). In part, it will be information to have access to the huge and wide scope of possible careers attached to the bread culture theme of Ag/Grain-Milling-Flour-Bread/Baking.  My discovery through website research of one subject, continually has links to, unknown until then, additional sources of related information.  It's been a process of hundreds, if not thousands of hours.

Through the past 30+ years of being back in the United States, I'm always looking for the old kitchenalia – baking artifacts, but always at a bargain price!  I figure I do not need to have "everything" that could be in the NBM because this is not just "my" project, but part of the life of everyone who has grandmothers.  What I am able to contribute is a beginning.  Many others might have artifacts to contribute.  Others will have ideas for programs that will be a benefit to many because there is the NBM on land.

I've been to hundreds of museums throughout 48 states (so far! – hoping for 50) and 30+ countries, and am extremely grateful to people around the world who recognize the value of the historical preservation of what came before us.  Without it, we couldn't validate history. Regarding artifacts related to what's in the NBM, to me it's a compilation which makes an impact.  Not only could it be a learning experience, but also one of memories and enjoyment . . . that "remember when."  Also, it would build on opportunities that people might have had if they've seen a few items seen in historical societies throughout our land, open air and other museums, some college/university collections/archives, and such.  And maybe people with quite large personal collections have benefitted their community with their treasures.

One such example is the man, Kevin, in Michigan, who's done over 400 You Tube videos of his kitchen appliance and cookbook collections.  Because of "discovering" him, I've continued to keep my eye out for more of the old & bygone cookbooks this year in the thrift shops around Omaha.  And it turned out that it was the year to glean such treasures (many times 20-50 cents a book)!  As a result, I began the Cookbook Culture page on the website.

It was rather sad when I asked my granddaughter, after finishing her 2-year Pastry Arts Certificate, if she had had any course in the history of cookbooks, magazines, info regarding "the way it had been in the olden days" of baking (the influential time in the mid-to-late 1800s when writing recipes down began, and Fanny Farmer created the standard ounces to American cup & spoon measuring system).  And her answer was, "No." She had heard of 3-4 "women's magazines" when I listed a few, but not much beyond that.  You see, she grew up since 9-11. It's been different.

For instance, I grew up with a daily newspaper ever since the 1950s.  They used to have huge Wednesday and Sunday food sections.  Fortunately, by the time that part was beginning to disappear from some of the major newspapers throughout the country (1980s - 2000), the "Taste of Home" magazine (1993) which was recipes from cover to cover, appeared.  It was a huge success with no advertising and a colored photo of almost every recipe. 

 Now, my mom cut out recipes from magazines & newspapers for over 50 years.  I grew up seeing that & so, I followed suit.  The 1900's century of recipes is a most fabulous history in the book, the Food Section, Newspaper Women and the Culinary Community by Kimberly Wilmot Voss, ©2014 (no recipes included, just the history timeline).  I lived through half of that time and have most of Mom's cutouts & memories (boxes full - with some 2 cent Women's Day magazines - began in 1931; others for 5 cents), not having realized at the time 40 years ago already, all of the changes beginning to take place . . . mainly reducing the amount of print copy until now, there is none! 

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