#41 • Colonel Harland Sanders Personal Recipe Card Collection

Part of The Colonel Sanders Artifact Collection (live auction by The Menish Group Auction & Real Estate)

High bid $3,750.00

Status: Sold

DESCRIPTION Collection of original typed and handwritten recipe cards from the personal culinary files of Colonel Harland Sanders. The collection contains a diverse assortment of recipes reflecting both everyday Southern cooking and professional food-service preparation. Included recipes feature dishes such as Colonel Sanders Chicken Brunswick Stew, Corn Pudding, Hush Puppies, Remoulade Sauce, Cold Bread Pudding, Old Fashioned Bread Pudding Dip, Transparent Squash, Pumpkin Pie, Chinese Mustard, Corn Beef Dry Cure, Carrot Soufflé, Beaumont Corn Cakes, Beet Orange Sauce, Brussels Sprouts, Baked Macaroni, and additional recipes. Also included is a handwritten recipe card for Blackberry Cordial. The recipes range from family-style side dishes and desserts to sauces, condiments, cured meats, and large-batch preparation formulas, providing insight into the broader culinary interests of Colonel Sanders beyond the Kentucky Fried Chicken enterprise. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE Colonel Harland Sanders is recognized worldwide as the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, but his lifelong relationship with food extended well beyond the recipe that made him famous. Throughout his career as a restaurateur, host, and entrepreneur, Sanders maintained a deep interest in cooking, recipe development, and food preparation. These recipe cards offer a rare glimpse into that larger culinary world. The collection includes both home-style recipes and institutional-scale preparations, reflecting the practical working recipes that surrounded Sanders during his years operating restaurants, entertaining guests, and developing menus. Unlike promotional materials or published cookbooks, working recipe cards provide direct evidence of the dishes, techniques, and flavors that interested Sanders personally, making them valuable artifacts for collectors of culinary history and Kentucky Fried Chicken memorabilia. STORY & CONTEXT The recipes preserved in this collection illustrate the breadth of food traditions associated with Colonel Sanders and Blackwood Hall. While fried chicken became his international legacy, the recipes found here demonstrate an appreciation for Southern vegetables, sauces, baked dishes, desserts, and traditional comfort foods that would have been familiar throughout Kentucky and the American South. Particularly notable are recipes bearing the Colonel's name, including Colonel Sanders Chicken Brunswick Stew and Colonel Sanders Brussels Sprouts, alongside numerous dishes likely used for family meals, entertaining, and restaurant service. The inclusion of both typed and handwritten recipes suggests an active, working culinary collection rather than a purely archival compilation. Together, these cards preserve a personal and practical side of Colonel Sanders that is seldom seen, offering collectors a direct connection to the everyday food culture surrounding one of America's most iconic restaurateurs. PROVENANCE From the preserved Blackwood Hall archive maintained by the Settle family. These recipe cards remained among the personal effects, culinary materials, and household archives associated with Colonel Harland Sanders and the Sanders family. Preserved through the longstanding relationship between the Sanders and Settle families, the collection forms part of a larger archive that includes photographs, correspondence, personal memorabilia, and other historically significant Sanders family artifacts. CONDITION Cards exhibit expected age-related toning, handling wear, edge wear, light creasing, and minor staining consistent with long-term storage and practical kitchen use. Several cards show corner wear and evidence of frequent handling. Overall condition is consistent with original mid-20th-century working recipe cards preserved from a personal culinary archive.