05/26/2026
Pequot Library is pleased to announce Ramin Ganeshram as the recipient of the 2026 Dillon Research Fellowship! A culinary historian, Ganeshram currently serves as Executive Director of Westport Museum for History & Culture. Her work focuses on the overlooked and “hidden” histories of American cuisine, particularly the contributions of enslaved, free, and mixed-race communities and the role of professional cooks in shaping the nation’s culinary identity. She is also the author of an upcoming biography of Hercules Posey, the enslaved chef of George Washington, to be published by Simon & Schuster in 2027.
Made possible through the generous support of the Dillon Fund, the Dillon Research Fellowship supports scholars whose work engages deeply with Pequot Library’s rare books, manuscripts, and Special Collections. During her residency, Ganeshram will conduct research in Pequot Library’s manuscript and antique cookbook collections, including Katherine Pirott’s 17th-century book of recipes and remedies and materials within the Margaret Rudkin Collection (pictured). Drawing on archival sources such as household ledgers, diaries, and daybooks, her project will explore the international nature of Early American cuisine and its connections to contemporary food culture. Focusing on the influence of Indigenous, African, and Caribbean foodways, this research challenges long-standing assumptions about Early American cooking as simple or insular. Instead, it reveals a complex and globally informed culinary landscape—one in which ingredients and techniques we consider “modern” today were already present centuries ago.
Through this work, the Fellowship continues to activate Pequot Library’s collections as a site of new scholarship and discovery, offering fresh perspectives on American history through the lens of culture, exchange, and lived experience.
Katherine Pirrott
"Katherine Pirrott's Receipt Book Containing Cookery, Physick, & Preserving", c.1750.
Pequot Library Special Collections
