In 1916 World War I was raging in Europe, but President Woodrow Wilson had not yet brought the U.S. into the war. In America, the Anti-Saloon League was waging its own war against alcohol, and the suffrage movement was battling for "Votes for Women." Those wishing to turn their minds to lighter topics might have enjoyed silent films starring Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, or the Keystone Kops. Maxfield Parrish was already a popular illustrator of the time, but 1916 subscribers to the Saturday Evening Post would have seen Norman Rockwell's first cover for that publication in May. Other readers might have given the upcoming poets Robert Frost or Carl Sandburg a try, or they might have added to the number making Seventeen by Booth Tarkington the best-selling novel for that year.

Also in 1916, in a place known as Dover Village, Ohio, Class Number Nine of the Dover Congregational Church Sunday School published The Dover Cook Book.