Collection is open for research.
James Andrews Beard was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1903. He was the son of Mary Elizabeth Beard, who ran a boardinghouse in Portland before he was born, and John Beard, a customs inspector. Beard was influenced from an early age by his mother's passion for cooking and food; by the family's Chinese chef, Jue-Let; and the family's summers in Gearhart, Oregon. Beard also knew from an early age that he was gay, as he would discuss in audio recordings made late in his life for a never-completed memoir.
Beard graduated from Washington High School in Portland, then began attending Reed College, but he was expelled in 1921, during his freshman year. Officially, Reed cited poor academic performance, but the expulsion followed the discovery of an affair between Beard and a male professor. After Beard left Reed, he pursued a career in theater. The pursuit took him to London, England; Paris, France; and Hollywood, California. He performed in operas, stage plays, and movies. In 1929, he returned to Portland, and continued acting, as well as set designing and directing, at the Portland Civic Theater.
In the late 1930s, Beard moved to New York, New York, where he began cooking for friends. He and a partner started a catering business, Hors D’Oeuvre, Inc., and in 1940, he published his first cookbook. He served briefly in the U.S. Army and with the United Seamen's Service during World War II, then returned to New York City. He starred in the first television cooking show, "I Love to Eat," on NBC in 1946-1947, and continued to publish cookbooks, as well as to write food articles for magazines and newspapers and to consult for restaurants. In 1954, the New York Times dubbed him the "Dean of American Cookery." Beard started the James Beard Cooking School in New York City in the mid-1950s, and published an autobiography, “Delights and Prejudices,” in 1964. Beginning in the 1970s, he returned to Oregon each summer to teach cooking classes at Seaside High School. He received an honorary degree from Reed College in 1976. Beard taught his last cooking class in Oregon in 1981, and published his final book in 1983. He died in 1985.
Sources: Information provided by Beard in his interview; "James Beard, Dean of U.S. Cookery, Dies," by Daniel P. Puzo, Los Angeles Times, January 24, 1985 (accessed October 17, 2025),
An incomplete transcript (46 pages) is available for in-person use at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Oral history interview with James Beard, by Charles Digregorio, SR 9409, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
A collection of James Beard's papers, Mss 2813, is also held at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Additional collections relating to James Beard include: the Richard Nelson papers and James Beard collection (NelsonBeard-RSCA-ORPR-US) at Reed College Special Collections and Archives in Portland, Oregon, which also holds Beard's personal collection of the cookbooks he wrote; the James Beard Papers (Mss.263) and the James Beard Collection (Mss.139) at Bobst Special Collections, New York University, New York; and the James A. Beard papers (Beard mss.) at the Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
This oral history interview with James A. Beard was conducted by Charles Digregorio on July 15, 1978, in Gearhart, Oregon, as part of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library's oral history program.
In this interview, Beard discusses his early memories of summers in Gearhart, and talks briefly about his family background. He speaks extensively about the history of and the people involved with the Portland Civic Theater. He describes his work in theater and radio in Portland and in New York, New York, and discusses his reasons for leaving the theater and pursuing a career as a chef. He speaks about cookbooks he wrote, and reflects on how Oregon changed since his youth. He discusses the reasons why he left Portland in the 1930s, and talks about the places he's lived in and traveled to.
Joint copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society and the estate of James Beard. Use is allowed according to the following statement: In Copyright – Non-Commercial Use Permitted,