The Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive has recently acquired the Lone Star Cook Book and Meat Special: From the Slaughter Pen to the Dining Room Table, by A. Fillmore (1929). A. Fillmore, an African American man from Texas whose father was also in the restaurant business, worked for hotels, cafes, and two railroad company dining car services during his thirty-year career. This book contains recipes and menus from Lubbock Hotel, Texas, where he was a chef. He writes, “I was born in Cuero, Texas, March 13, 1888, was reared in Victoria, Texas. I am trying to make cooking a larger success for the young colored man” (p. 90).
African American culinary history is one of the strengths of the culinary collection at the Clements Library, so we are happy to add this scarce title to our holdings.