African-Americans in San Francisco: 3rd in a Mini-Series

Welcome to the third post in our mini-series about San Francisco History Center resources on the history of African Americans in San Francisco. Last week's post, Books and Newspapers, looked at two types of published sources. Today's post tackles a type of quasi-published material known as "grey literature": Dissertations and theses.

Dissertations and theses are often revised and subsequently published as books, but in and of themselves, they are unpublished, book-length scholarly monographs that are distributed outside of the mainstream publishing world, through university libraries who keep copies of their students' theses, and/or through distribution via ProQuest Information and Learning (formerly UMI--University Microfilms International).

Dissertations and theses fill an important niche as sources for doing research. Often, there is no published book on a research topic, but there might be a thesis or dissertation available. Sometimes dissertations and theses can provide bibliographic citations that lead the researcher back to excellent primary source material.

Here is a link to our library catalog, listing some dissertations and theses about African American people in San Francisco that we have here in the San Francisco History Center.

If you're interested in searching for more dissertations on a wide variety of subjects, visit the Dissertations  Abstracts database on our Articles and Databases page, available free through the library either on-site with SFPL computers or remotely with your library card number and PIN.

African Americans in San Francisco: 2nd in a Mini-Series

Last week, we went through a few of the gems to be found in the San Francisco History Center's San Francisco Ephemera Collection. Today, we'll look at selected books and newspapers that give a survey of Black history in this city.

Books:

Here are three books that, together, give a survey of the history of African Americans in San Francisco from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century:

• Pioneer Urbanites: A Social and Cultural History of Black San Francisco by Douglas Henry Daniels. Covers the 1860s-1940s.

• Black San Francisco: The Struggle for Racial Equality in the West, 1900-1954 by Albert S. Broussard.

• The Postwar Struggle for Civil Rights: African Americans in San Francisco, 1945-1975 by Paul T. Miller. Local African American history in the context of employment and housing. Come see Miller when he gives a talk here at the library on Thurs. Feb. 25 at 6 p.m.

Newspapers:

Since newspapers give accounts of events that are contemporary with the times in which they took place, they can serve as excellent sources for books. For African American history, here are a handful from San Francisco, listed roughly chronologically:


The Elevator. A 19th century newspaper, reaching back to 1865. "The official organ of the Afro-American League of the State of California."


San Francisco Vindicator. Another 19th century paper, of which the San Francisco History Center has only two issues from 1894; however, the paper itself was published  in San Francisco from the 1880s until probably 1906. Its masthead reads: "The Recognized Organ of the Colored Vote of California."

San Francisco Spokesman, then continued simply as The Spokesman. Published in the 1930s.

The Spokesman. Same name, but apparently, a different paper in a different decade. The San Francisco History Center has a broken run from 1965-1969. This paper was based in Bayview-Hunter's Point.

The Sun-Reporter. This paper is available in the Magazines and Newspapers department on the 5th floor, on microfilm. Paul T. Miller used it extensively in his book.

San Francisco Bay View. Published by Willie and Mary Ratcliff. A mainstay of the Bayview Hunters Point community covering local, national, and international issues. Earlier issues from 1992-1996 are under the previous title New Bayview. The paper today is also published online.

Next installment in our mini-series will be Dissertations and Theses.

From Our Test Kitchen: Cupid's Book of Good Counsel

Cover of Cupid's Book of Good Counsel [1924?]. Courtesy of the San Francisco History Center, SFPL.

"THIS BOOK is presented free to the Bride and Groom with the compliments of the
ADVERTISERS therein, who make such presentation possible. We recommend them as the best in their respective lines and they will accord you the fairest kind of treatment. Your patronage will be highly appreciated by them. Please mention Cupid's Book."

Thus introduces Cupid's Book of Good Counsel, compiled and published by E.F. Kiessling & Son (Oakland, CA).

This book of recipes, household hints and lots of advertisements was city-specific and given to newly married couples. The San Francisco History Center has two copies of the San Francisco edition of Cupid's Book of Good Counsel, one circa 1924 and another from 1927. It is interesting to note that, while the 1924 version of Cupid's Book includes advertisements for somewhat manly things, such as paints and varnishes, it is fairly obvious that Cupid's Book was made for the brides rather than the grooms.

from Cupid's Book of Good Counsel [1924?].  Courtesy of the San Francisco History Center, SFPL.

Case in point is an ad for stoves which reminds newly married ladies: "The Way to a Man's Heart is Through His Stomach." Another is a flour ad which notes: "From Wedding Cake to Biscuits -- does not have to be 'from the sublime to the ridiculous'."  The 1927 version replaces all the paint ads with a four-page ad dedicated to a ladies' personal hygiene product.

Both editions contain a wealth of household hints - from 'The Table as It Should Be Set" and "The Etiquette of Entertaining" to "Removal of Stains" and "Facts Worth Knowing." However, I was most interested in the recipes. They range from basic ("apple pie") to bizarre ("eggs and spaghetti"). I opted for basic.

On Valentine's Day morning I decided to rustle up an order of  "Griddle Cakes" from the 1927 edition of Cupid's Book:

1 1/2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon syrup
1 egg
1 cup Del Monte Creamery milk
1 tablespoon melted fat (n.b. I used butter!)
Mix and sift dry ingredients, add beaten egg, syrup, milk, beat with a wire whisk till smooth. Add fat and beat well. Cook on a hot griddle.

Simple, basic, and yet very tasty! Your sweetheart will certainly appreciate all the work it takes to make breakfast from scratch! So, go ahead and try it out! Cupid's Book of Good Counsel certainly worked for me!

"Griddle Cakes" Photo by Lisa Weddle

The 1924 and 1927 editions of Cupid's Book of Good Counsel can be found at the San Francisco History Center on the 6th Floor of the SFPL Main Library. An earlier, Oakland edition (circa 1918) is available to view online at Internet Archives.

Be our valentine

Courtesy of the San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.

African Americans in San Francisco History: a Mini-Series of Sources

If poring over the Occupation exhibit piqued your interest in 20th century African-American civil rights and labor history in San Francisco, then keep reading. This post will be the first of a February "mini-series" to highlight further items in the San Francisco History Center to peruse. We'll start with my favorite offline trove, the San Francisco Ephemera Collection.

As always, our San Francisco Ephemera Collection--paper file folders arranged broadly by subject, containing pamphlets, clippings, ephemera, etc.--contain some interesting finds:

• A copy of the pamphlet The Negro War Worker in San Francisco: A Local Self-Survey (the Labor Archive's copy is in the first display case)--ask for San Francisco Ephemera Collection. Unions and the name of the pamphlet. 

• A set of clippings from a 1961 series run in the News-Call Bulletin called "The Negro in San Francisco." Ask for San Francisco Ephemera Collection. Ethnic Groups. Blacks.

• A folder of Marine Cooks and Stewards Association materials that includes union pamphlets from the 1950s: The Economics of Prejudice, 'Screening' Is Union-Busting, and The Story of Screening: No Longer Allowed to Sail about US Coast Guard port security screening. Filed under Unions. Marine Cooks and Stewards Assn.

In addition to these smaller items, there are broader swaths of material in the San Francisco Ephemera Collection filed under:

• Districts. Check Western Addition, Bayview, and Hunter's Point.
• Housing. Includes Housing Reports from the 1940s and 1950s.
• Redevelopment Agency.

Watch for the next post: Books and Newspapers.

San Francisco on the Big Screen

The Oscar nominations for 2010 have been announced, and while San Francisco didn't get much representation this year, Oscar has given our city quite a bit of love in the past. Over the past eight decades, sixty-four films that were shot in San Francisco have been nominated for Oscars. Twenty-four of those films took at least one Oscar home.

[Opening of the Fox Theater], 1929. Photo courtesy of the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection, San Francisco Public Library.

San Francisco is a cinema-loving town and the San Francisco Public Library has plenty for film lovers to study and enjoy. You can check out a copy of Cinema by the Bay by Sheerly Avni or Celluloid San Francisco: The Film Lover's Guide to San Francisco Movie Locations by Jim van Buskirk and Will Shank at most SFPL branches.  You can access the Minutes of the San Francisco Film Commission online, or see them in print by visiting our neighbors at the Government Information Center on the 5th floor of the Main Library.

For even more about our city's second favorite thing to do in the dark, come on up to the San Francisco History Center for a look at vertical files of "SF. Film Festivals" and "SF. Films Made in San Francisco," as well as files on the theaters in which they were shown by asking for "SF. Buildings. Theaters".  The 6th Floor also has a copy of the classic, The Golden Gate and the Silver Screen by Geoffrey Bell. For those who want the whole experience, you can watch a film from the San Francisco History Center's collection (DVD or VHS) right here in our research friendly A/V room.

So, what about those 24 Oscar winning films shot in San Francisco? Here is a list, arranged by year, of the film titles and the categories that they won for:
(source: Internet Movie Database)

• 1935  Mutiny on the Bounty (Best Picture) - apparently part of the Sailing Ship Restaurant at Pier 42, Embarcadero was a stand-in for 'The Bounty'
• 1936  San Francisco (Best Sound Recording) - one of the taglines for this film about the 1906 earthquake was "It started out like any other day!"
• 1950  All About Eve (6 Oscars, including Best Picture) - the Curran Theater is listed as a location
• 1956  Around the World in 80 Days (5 Oscars, including Best Picture) - if you're going around the world you're going to have to hit San Francisco!
• 1960  The Facts of Life (Best Costume Design) - SFO is listed as a location
• 1962  Days of Wine and Roses (Best Music, Original Song)
• 1967  Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (Best Writing and Best Actress - Leading Role (Katherine Hepburn))
• 1967  The Graduate (Best Director) - the Bay Bridge is listed as a location
• 1968  Bullitt (Best Film Editing) - who can forget the famous car chase scene?
• 1972  Butterflies Are Free (Best Actress - Supporting Role (Eileen Heckart))
• 1972  The Candidate (Best Writing)
• 1974  The Towering Inferno (3 Oscars, including Best Music, Original Song)
• 1978  Superman (Visual Effects) Lex Luthor: "We all have our little faults. Mine's in California."
• 1980  Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back (Visual Effects and Best Sound) - the sound of Darth Vader's shuttle door opening is reportedly a recording of a whole block of Alcatraz cell doors slamming shut. (IMDb)
• 1982  Volver a empezar (Best Foreign Language Film (Spain))
• 1983  The Right Stuff (4 Oscars, including Best Film Editing)
• 1984  The Woman in Red (Best Music, Original Song)
• 1987  Innerspace (Best Effects, Visual)
• 1993  Mrs. Doubtfire (Best Makeup)
• 1997  Titanic (11 Oscars, including Best Picture) - engine room scenes and sound effects were recorded on the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien at Pier 45
• 1998  What Dreams May Come (Best Effects, Visual)
• 2000  U-571 (Best Sound Editing)
• 2005  Memoirs of a Geisha (3 Oscars, including Cinematography) - I remember saying, "Hey, that's the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park!"
• 2008  Milk (Best Writing and Best Actor - Leading Role (Sean Penn))

["Packed house" at the Fox Theater], Feb.23, 1942. Photo courtesy of the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection, San Francisco Public Library.