Michigan State University

RCAH master guide

Black Sun Press

Founded in Paris in 1927 by Harry and Caresse Crosby; published a number of American expatriate writers, including Archibald Macleish and Ezra Pound. Most active in the 1920s and 30s, although it did not formally shut down until Caresse Crosby's death in 1970.

Our holdings

Chapbooks of poetry and other works from the Black Sun Press; about 40 items.

How to find

Search the MSU Library Catalog using Basic Keyword Search.

  • Limit your search to Special Collections (optional)
  • Search term: black sun press

Historical African American cookbooks

Our holdings

MSU's Cookbook Collection (25,000 volumes) is strong in contemporary cooking of the Americas, African American cooking, Caribbean and Latin American cooking, and the influence of West African food and diet on the Americas.

How to find historical works (1800 to 1960)

Some early books with the subject heading "African American cooking" were actually written by white authors who included recipes they had learned from African American cooks. It can be difficult to spot these just from the citation (and there were no dust jackets with author photos during most of this period.)

1) Between 1800 and 1900, four cookbooks are known to have been written by African Americans:

2) For the period 1900 to 1960, you may want to consult the book Black Hunger: Soul Food and America by Doris Witt, which has a Chronological Bibliography of Cookbooks by African Americans covering 1800 to 1998. You'll need your MSUnet ID and password to logon and read this e-book outside the library.

Then search the MSU library catalog by author or title. Note that "cookbook" was almost always written as two words ("cook book") up to the 1950s and sometimes later.

Autobiography

  • Title search look not upon me because I am black
  • Title search on my journey north
  • Title search soul retrievers (???)
  • Title search quality of hurt

Small presses

People

Author search forman, james, 1928-2005