Collection is open for research.
Gift of Ronald S. Callvert, January 1989 (Lib. Acc. 19184); and gifts of John Ferrone, April 1991 and August 1996 (Lib. Acc. 20331; Lib. Acc. 22864).
Collection is arranged in four series:
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),
Researcher access to negatives and positives in the collection is limited for preservation purposes; contact library staff to inquire about viewing. Fees may apply.
James Beard papers, Mss 2813, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Collection was initially processed around 1990. Additional processing and arrangement were done by Jeffrey A. Hayes in October 2025. This included processing and integrating a previously unprocessed accession of menus and photographs, and reintegrating photographs that had previously been separated and cataloged as the James Beard photographs collection, Org. Lot 746. The collection includes materials previously designated Mss 2813-1.
Other materials at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library relating to James Beard include his autobiography, "Delights and Prejudices" (call number VAULT 641.01 B368d); "European Delight: The Life and Times of James Beard," by Evan Jones (call number 641.5 J77e); "James Beard: A Biography," by Robert Clark (call number 641.5 C594j); an oral history interview with Beard, SR 9409, available online in OHS Digital Collections at
Additional papers of and relating to James Beard are designated Mss 139 and Mss 263 at the Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University Libraries, New York; LMC 1064 at the Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana; and NelsonBeard-RSCA-ORPR-US at the Special Collections and Archives at Reed College, Portland, Oregon.
The collection consists of the papers of James Beard, a chef and author originally from Portland, Oregon. The majority of these papers are typescript copies, clippings, or drafts of articles and recipes that Beard wrote for magazines and newspapers, particularly House & Garden. The collection also includes materials relating to books that he wrote and other professional work that he did. Other materials in the collection include Beard's appointment books from the 1970s; correspondence, including with collaborator Isabel Callvert and letters from readers of his book "Beard on Bread"; restaurant menus that he collected; photographs; and biographical information.
Two books were separated to book collections at Oregon Historical Society Research Library: The James Beard Cookbook was cataloged under call number 641.5 B368j 1970; and James Beard's Fish Cookery was cataloged under call number 641.692 B368j.
The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.
This series consists of Beard's appointment books from the 1970s, his correspondence, photographs, restaurant menus he collected, and other memorabilia. The correspondence is a mix of personal and professional, and includes notes and letters he wrote to Isabel Callvert, letters he wrote to Helen Evans Brown, and readers' letters to Beard about his book "Beard on Bread." The photographs include publicity portraits and images of Beard teaching cooking classes. Some of the menus in this series are for restaurants that Beard was involved with.