What was going on when I was born?

HREE years ago choir members at St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church in Palisades Park, N.J., wanted to raise money to repair the stairway leading to their choir loft. They decided to publish a cookbook based on family recipes handed down over the years in their predominantly Italian parish. The small spiral-bound book has sold so well that they have not only repaired and recarpeted the stairs but also replaced a stained-glass window in the back of the church. In Hartford a coalition of five arts organizations had the same idea several years ago. This summer they jointly published an ambitious and attractively designed 400-page cookbook that they hope will keep them in new rugs and other items for years. Community cookbooks are increasingly popular and effective fundraising tools for private groups, and more are being published than ever, according to publishing sources.

After a two-month strike that halted work on many major projects in the city, the truck drivers who deliver concrete for heavy construction reached a tentative agreement yesterday with the General Contractors Association. J. Kenneth O'Connor, a lawyer and negotiator for Local 282 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who announced the settlement last night, said that it would be submitted to the union's membership for ratification at a meeting tonight at the International Hotel at Kennedy International Airport. The walkout helped stop such construction projects as subway and water tunnels, sewer-treatment plants, piers and highways. However, a strike of operating engineers remains unsettled, so that work on many of these projects might still be held up even if the teamsters ratify their new pact.

President Reagan was urged by four senior officials to soften trade sanctions against the European companies that violate his Soviet pipeline embargo, according to an Administration official. He said they also told the President he should apply the sanctions evenly. (Page A1.) British-made components for the pipeline were loaded onto a Soviet vessel in Glasgow. It will be the second shipment from Europe in defiance of the Reagan ban. (D1.) Swiss bankers reportedly agreed to relax their secrecy laws, giving American officials access to the details about customers of any nationality who were using secret bank accounts to circumvent U.S. securities laws. The decision, expected today, would mark the first time the Swiss have agreed to set up a procedure to help Washington in its investigations of such cases. (A1.) Bankers predicted the agreement would have only a limited effect. (D13.)

The Government's index of leading economic indicators rose 1.3 percent in July, the fourth monthly increase in a row, the Commerce Department reported today. The rise in the index, which followed a three-tenths of 1 percent increase in June, was generally expected and provided another sign that the economy might be at the threshold of a sluggish recovery, according to several economists. Despite this glimmer of optimism, Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige, in a statement released with the index, cautioned that there would be few signs of any upturn this quarter, contrary to earlier Administration projections. ''Key coincident indicators, such as payroll employment, industrial production and real G.N.P., are unlikely to show much change for the third quarter,'' he said.

The State Commission on Judicial Conduct yesterday censured a State Supreme Court Justice who had refused to accept a transfer from the Criminal to the Civil Division and thus had no cases assigned to him for more than six months. The decision, by a vote of 8 to 1, came nearly a year after a misconduct hearing. ''His error is tragic,'' the commission said in a 10-page opinion, adding that the 61-year-old justice, James J. Leff, ''has disgraced himself and compromised the judiciary.'' What Justice Leff had characterized throughout the proceedings as a principled stand for an independent judiciary, the commission saw as the judge's refusal to work for six months.

The Martin Marietta Corporation, continuing to resist an unfriendly takeover offer from the Bendix Corporation, disclosed yesterday that it expects to hold merger talks with unidentified ''third parties.'' The surprise disclosure, contained in a routine filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, followed by less than 24 hours Martin Marietta's $1.5 billion counteroffer to acquire Bendix. Bendix made its offer of $43 a share, or $1.5 billion, for the Bethesda, Md., aerospace manufacturer last Wednesday. Martin Marietta also disclosed that it had given so-called golden parachutes, or employment contracts, to 29 key executives on Monday - five days after it received the takeover bid from Bendix. The terms, to be invoked if the company changed hands and the job status of the executives changed, provide that each may quit and still be paid his salary, other compensation, employee benefits and stock options until his employment contract ends.

The Manville Corporation's decision to file for protection from its creditors under Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Act has been at least as trying for the financial institutions and suppliers to which it owes money as for the company itself. In fact, at least in the short run, Manville's bold strategy for dealing with the thousands of asbestos-related lawsuits seems to be causing less hardship for Manville than for the vast network of other companies affected by the bankruptcy petition - and in the long run, the bankruptcy may shift some of the legal liability onto those companies. One of the immediate effects of any Chapter 11 filing is to stop the company from making any further payment on its debt until a plan for reorganization is approved by the court. According to the bankruptcy petition, this leaves the Prudential Insurance Company waiting for $68 million; the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, $36 million, and the Bank of America, Chemical Bank and Citibank, N.A. $20 million each.

THERE is a category of foods that has been labeled plebeian, peasant style and bourgeois. These foods are also referred to at times as nourishing and stick-to-the-ribs. They are the most basic, country-style, garden-variety vegetables, such as carrots and cabbage, cauliflower and kale, brussels sprouts and broccoli. Despite the knockabout labels attached to such foods, they can be prepared in ways that make them casual and delectable and, at once, fit for the finest of tables. This is particularly worth stressing now because these vegetables and others like them have recently been recommended by an expert panel of the National Academy of Sciences. In a report on the link between nutrition and cancer made public this summer, the panel urged Americans to eat less fat and very few salt-cured, pickled and smoked foods, and to eat more vegetables, fruits and whole grains to reduce the risk of cancer.

An item in the Briefing column on yesterday's Washington Talk page erred in reporting the sources of in- come of The Reporter, a current af- fairs magazine that went out of busi- ness in 1968. A corrective article ap- pears in the Briefing column of today's paper, Page A20.

Polish riot policemen fired barrages of tear-gas grenades here and in other cities today to break up demonstrations called by underground Solidarity leaders. There were reports of clashes in Gdansk, Wroclaw, Cracow and its steel-making suburb of Nowa Huta. Government spokesmen also reported unrest in Szczecin, Przemysl, Czestochowa and Rzeszow. Parts of Gdansk were still said to be under the control of demonstrators late in the evening.

An item in ''New York Day by Day'' Monday incorrectly identified the donor of an American flag to the Old Stone House in Brooklyn. The flag was the gift of Elizabeth Holtzman, the District Attorney of Kings County.

International Widespread protests by Poles prompted the riot police to fire barrages of tear gas at throngs in Warsaw and several other cities. The Government reported clashes lasting up to four hours between the police and thousands of people demonstrating at the behest of leaders of the suspended union Solidarity. (Page A1, Col. 6.) An opening in Swiss bank secrecy was expected by officials in Washington. They said that Swiss bankers had agreed for the first time to relax their rigid secrecy laws to give American officials access to details about customers who use accounts in Swiss banks to evade United States securities laws. (A1:3-4.)