Anna L. Colcord

Anna Letitia Colcord (née Guise; March 7, 1864 – May 28, 1950) was an American writer and editor. She published the vegetarian cookbook A Friend in the Kitchen in 1889 and later prepared an Australian edition while working with the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The book went through multiple editions and was translated into several languages. After returning to the United States, Colcord worked as a book editor in Washington, D.C. She later became involved in a copyright dispute with the Seventh-day Adventist Review and Herald Publishing Association over her manuscript One Hundred Bible Stories.

Early and personal life

Anna Letitia Guise was born in Sacramento, California, on March 7, 1864. She married William Alan Colcord (1860–1935) in Jefferson, Iowa, on September 28, 1882. They had three sons and one daughter. Soon after their marriage, Colcord and her husband joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Iowa.

Career

In 1889, Colcord published the vegetarian cookbook A Friend in the Kitchen. In 1893, when her husband was appointed to work for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Australia, she moved there with him and two of their children. The couple worked as missionaries and teachers for the church.

While in Australia, Colcord prepared a new edition of A Friend in the Kitchen, containing 400 recipes as well as illustrations and cartoons promoting a vegetarian diet. The book was later translated into several languages and was also published in the United States. According to a 1922 report, it had appeared in 18 editions and sold 200,000 copies. Further editions ceased after Colcord left the church in 1914.