Harold Cruse Papers
Call Number
Dates
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
Harold Cruse (1916-2005) was an author and professor best known for his monograph Crisis of the Negro Intellectual (1967), a Marxist-nationalist critique of the Communist movement and an endorsement of an autonomous revolutionary Black culture. Cruse was a professor at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and helped found their Center for Afro-American and African Studies (CAAS). The Harold Cruse Papers (1940-2007) consist of materials created and collected by Cruse. Materials include published and unpublished articles, as well as drafts of various written works; correspondence; ephemera and photographs; course syllabi, handwritten notes, conference materials, and lecture notes; and subject files and research materials.
Biographical Note
Harold Cruse (1916-2005) was an African American author and professor best known for his monograph Crisis of the Negro Intellectual (1967), a Marxist-nationalist critique of the Communist movement and an endorsement of an autonomous revolutionary Black culture.
Cruse was born in 1916 in Petersburg, Virginia and as a young child he moved to New York City with his father. After graduating high school and working a variety of jobs, Cruse served in World War II as a member of the 28th Quartermaster Regiment. He fought in North Africa and Italy.
Harold Cruse joined the Communist Party in 1947 and remained a member for seven years. During his time with the Communist Party, he contributed drama and literature reviews to its newspaper, the Daily Worker. He also attended the Communist Party's George Washington Carver School in Harlem. Cruse wrote four plays during the 1950s, but none were produced. Thereafter, he concentrated on nonfiction. In the late 1960s, Cruse joined the faculty of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and helped found their Center for Afro-American and African Studies (CAAS).
Cruse's other books include Rebellion or Revolution? (1968), Plural but Equal (1987), and The Essential Harold Cruse: A Reader (2002).
Arrangement
The collection is organized into four series:
Series I: Correspondence, 1943-2005
Series II: Topical Files, 1941-2007
Series III: Writings, 1940-2005
Series IV: Personal Materials, 1943-2007
Folders are arranged alphabetically within each series, though some correspondence are also arranged chronologically.
Scope and Content Note
The Harold Cruse Papers (1940-2007) consist of materials created and collected by Harold Cruse. The collection contains correspondence from individuals including John Conyers, Langston Hughes, Manning Marable, Mara Julius, and Wole Soyinka. It also contains correspondence from book publishers, Cruse's literary agent, and academic institutions.
Harold Cruse's interest in revolutionary Black culture and the Civil Rights movement is represented throughout the collection in the form of Freedom Now Party materials; correspondence with author, Civil Rights activist, and former president of the Monroe, North Carolina chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Robert F. Williams; correspondence related to the Eldridge Cleaver Legal Defense Fund, an organization established in 1976 designed to provide financial assistance to Black Panther Party leader Eldrige Cleaver for his ongoing legal expenses; and research materials related to African American and Civil Rights history.
The collection also contains published and unpublished copies of Harold Cruse's articles; drafts of his various written works; copies of plays and musicals written by Cruse; articles about Harold Cruse and obituaries; handwritten notes; course syllabi, and lecture notes; research materials, subject files, and conference materials; and copies of his manuscript, the Crisis of the Negro Intellectual.
Personal materials related to Cruse's life outside of academia can also be found within this collection. These items consist of a scrapbook and documents relating to his military service during World War II; photographs of Cruse's travels, portraits of himself, and photographs of his family; some of his undergraduate coursework focused on film studies; address books and contact lists; and copies of his curriculum vitae.
Subjects
Organizations
Genres
People
Donors
Conditions Governing Access
In September 2024, the typescript "Cuba, Marxism, Nationalism, and the Afro-America" and a set of untitled poems, plays, and essays in Series II were restricted for preservation reasons, pending treatment or digitization. Access to box 22 is also restricted. All other materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright (and related rights to publicity and privacy) to materials in this collection, created by Harold Cruse, was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date; Harold Cruse Papers; TAM 187; box number; folder number;Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Harold Cruse initially donated his papers to the Virginia Commonwealth University Special Collections and Archives in 1994. In 1995, the deed agreement between the two parties was mutually voided and the materials were returned to Dr. Cruse, who then donated them to Tamiment Library in 1996. The accession number associated with this gift is 1996.002. Additional materials were sent by Ivana Kukic in 2011. The accession number associated with these materials is 2011.104. Additional correspondence was found in the repository and added to the collection in 2014. The accession number associated with this material is 2014.045.
About this Guide
Processing Information
The Harold Cruse Papers (1940-2007) was processed in 2003 by Elliot Silver and Peter Meyer Filardo. Correspondence found in the repository in 2014 was added to Box 2, Folder 7.
Accretion materials associated with accession numbers 2011.104 and 2014.045 were arranged and described by an archivist in September 2023. Materials were placed in new archival folders and boxes. Original folder titles were retained when possible. Accretion materials were grouped together thematically and then arranged alphabetically by file title. They were also intellectually grouped with related materials pre-existing in the collection.
Duplicate materials were removed from the collection and returned to the donor. Copies of Harold Cruse's Last Will and Testament, financial documents, and legal documents relating to his Estate were removed from the collection and returned to the donor.
Harold Cruse's binder with undergraduate coursework and scrapbook were stabilized and rehoused by New York University's Barbara Goldsmith Preservation and Conservation Department.
Revisions to this Guide
Edition of this Guide
Repository
Series I. Correspondence, 1943-2005, inclusive
Extent
Scope and Contents
Notable correspondents found in this series include John Conyers, Cheikh Anta Diop, Jay Gorney, Langston Hughes, Manning Marable, Adolph Reed Jr., and Wole Soyinka. There is also one file of World War II-era letters to Cruse, and several thick files of academic correspondence. This series also contains correspondence from Mara Julius, Harold Cruse's partner of 36 years.
Conditions Governing Access
Box 22 is restricted.
Subseries A: Alphabetical
Conditions Governing Access
Box 22 is restricted.
Academic, undated, 1969-1990, inclusive
Afro-American Historic Association Niagara Frontier, 1976, inclusive
Afro-American Realty Corporation, 1975, inclusive
American Library Association, 1976, inclusive
American Security Council, 1972, inclusive
Antioch College, 1980, inclusive
Association of African Historians, 1988, inclusive
Bahai National Information Office, 1976, inclusive
Bergman Publishers, 1969-1970, inclusive
Black Books Bulletin, 1988, inclusive
Booker, Sue, 1978, inclusive
Character Studies Productions, 2005
Claudia Menza Literary Agency, 2000-2001, inclusive
Condolences for Harold Cruse's Death, 2005
Congress on Research and Dance, 1981, inclusive
Conyers, John Jr. - Congressman, 1974-1979, inclusive
Cook, William (Talking Drum Cable Television Program), 1986 , 1982, inclusive
Diggs, Charles C. Jr., Congressman, 1978, inclusive
Diop, Cheikh Anta, 1976, inclusive
Diop, M Alioune, 1959, inclusive
Greene, Vera, 1978, inclusive
Fabre, Genevieve, 1984, inclusive
Fitchue, Leah Gaskin, 1978, inclusive
Fontenat, Chester, 1979, inclusive
Fulton, Richard (Lecture Agent), 1971-1972, inclusive
Gorney, Jay, 1950 , 1955, inclusive
Handwritten (Miscellaneous), 1968-1988, inclusive
Hare, Nathan, 1968, inclusive
Harper Collins Publishers, 2000, 2003, inclusive
Haynes, Eugene - Musician, 1974, inclusive
Higginson, John E., 1988, inclusive
Howard University, 1976-1980, inclusive
Hughes, Langston, 1959, inclusive
Institute for Historical Review, 1990, inclusive
Institute for People Enterprises, undated, inclusive
Johnson, Cliff - Black Americans International Intercultural Organization, 1986-1987, inclusive
Johnson, Paul Kwame, 2004
Jones, Mack - Prairie View University, 1988, inclusive
Julius, Mara, 1984
Liberation Magazine , 1975, inclusive
Locke, Rovan G, 1976, inclusive
Marable, Manning, 1975, inclusive
McClusky, John - Indiana University Press, 1992, inclusive
Moore, Carlos, 1983, inclusive
Negro History, Conference On, 1968, inclusive
New York Times, 1968-1979, inclusive
Norman, Fred, 1954, inclusive
Reed, Adolph Jr., 1986, inclusive
Schmeri, Rudi, 1968, inclusive
Socialist Scholars Conference, 1990, inclusive
Soyinka, Wole, 1975-1976, inclusive
RESTRICTED: SUNY - David Nielson Tenure Review, 1977, inclusive
Conditions Governing Access
This folder is restricted to researchers.
Story, Ralph, 1986, inclusive
Taylor, Clyde, 1986, inclusive
Thorpe, Earl E., 1978-1980, inclusive
Vandenberg, Vicki and Ed, 1969
Wacker, Fred, 1991, inclusive
Walter, Ronald, 1981, inclusive
Walton, Haynes, 1991, inclusive
Washington, University of, 1979, inclusive
Weitz, Marvin, 1977, inclusive
William Monroe Trotter Institute, 1987, inclusive
William Morris Agency, 1954-1955, inclusive
William Morrow and Company Publishers, 1965-1976, inclusive
Wynter, Sylvia, 1977, inclusive
World War II-era Letters to Cruse, 1943-1947, inclusive
Subseries B. Chronological
Correspondence, 1952-1957, inclusive
Correspondence, 1962-1993, inclusive
Correspondence, 1971, 1974, 1978-1984, 1999-2005, inclusive
Series II. Topical Files, 1941-2007, inclusive
Extent
Scope and Contents
This series contains ephemera, lecture notes, subject files, course syllabi, conference materials, research notes, research materials, and some correspondence relating to Cruse's activity as a public intellectual. This series also includes files on the Eldridge Cleaver Legal Defense Fund and on Robert Williams.
The file "African American and Civil Rights History -- Lynching Photograph" contains a graphic photograph depicting the death of an African American male murdered by the Klu Klux Klan in the 1980s.
Affirmative Action and Racism, 2001
African American and Civil Rights History, 2000-2004, inclusive
African American and Civil Rights History -- Lynching Photograph, 1980
African American Museum, 1977-1987, inclusive
African Diaspora, 2000-2001, inclusive
African World, 1981, inclusive
African World Festival, 1983
AfroAmerican Communicator , 1979, inclusive
Afro Arts Theater, 1955 , 1957, inclusive
American Festival of Negro Arts (AFNA), circa 1965-1968, undated, inclusive
American Negro Arts Festival, 1943-1994, inclusive
American Society of African Culture - "The Negro Writer and his Relationship to his Roots", 1959, inclusive
Antioch College, 1982
AMSAC (American Society for African Culture) Writers Conference - Notes, ca. late 1950s, inclusive
Association of American University Presses, 1968, inclusive
Association for the Study of Afro American Life and History, 1976-1988, inclusive
Banfield, William, 1999
Black American Music Symposium (Cruse's Notes as Moderator), 1985, inclusive
Black Internationalism: Embracing an Economic Paradigm (Brown, Jeffrey M.), 2002
Black Law Students Alliance - Discussion Notes, undated, inclusive
Black Party: Founding Convention, 1980, inclusive
Black Scholar, 1969-1989, inclusive
Blacks in Predominantly White Colleges and Universities, The First National Think Tank On, 1976, inclusive
Bubbling Brown Sugar, 1976, inclusive
California State University, 1980, inclusive
Carleton College, 1979, inclusive
Castle, Irene, undated
Caucus of Black Sociologists (Includes Lecture Notes), 1975, inclusive
Center for Afro American and African Studies, 1981-1986, inclusive
Center for Soviet and East Europe Studies, 1976-1986, inclusive
Citizens for Community Development, 1978 , 1980, inclusive
Clash of Civilizations, 2003
Cleveland State - Drimmer, 1979, inclusive
Conference Materials, 1973-2000, inclusive
Contract for Article on "Key Issues in the Afro-American Experience - Part Two", 1969, inclusive
Cleaver, Eldridge (Legal Defense Fund, Other), 1969-1981, inclusive
Cornell University, 1979, inclusive
Course Outlines - Afro American Studies (Course 201 and 202), ca.1969-1970, inclusive
Declaration of Black Intellectuals and Scholars in Support of the People's Struggle of West Papua New Guinea and East Timor Against Indonesian Colonialism, undated, inclusive
Dvorak, Anton, 2003-2004, inclusive
Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, 1980
Freedom Now Party - Harlem, circa 1961-1963, inclusive
Garvey, Marcus, 2003
Harvard University - Alain Locke Symposium, undated, inclusive
Harvard University - William Seymour Society Lectures, 1982-1985, inclusive
History 572 - Course Description, undated, inclusive
Independent Citizens Committee for the Development of Harlem and the Harlem Neighborhoods Association, Inc., 1965-1966, inclusive
Indiana, University of (re: Promotion of Herman Hudson, and Minority Studies Program, 1977-1978, inclusive
Institute for People Enterprises (Conference on Urban Choices for Survival), 1979, inclusive
Institute of Scientific Information, 1977, inclusive
In these Times, 1979-1980, inclusive
International Association for Cultural Freedom, 1971 , 1977, inclusive
Iowa, University of - Lecture (re: Paul Robeson), 1976-1977, inclusive
Jazz, 2003
Jefferson School of Social Science - Marxism and the Negro Question, undated, inclusive
Johnson, Cedric, 2007
Macalester College - Hubert Humphrey Lecture Notes, 1979-1980, inclusive
Moore, Steven, undated, inclusive
Morgan State University Lecture (Includes Notes), 1975-1978, inclusive
"Moynihan Report, A Statement on the", undated, inclusive
National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N'COBRA), 2000
National Conference for Arists -- International Conference Medal, 1985
National Conference of Artists - Lecture: Black Art in the 1930's, 1978, inclusive
National Endowment for the Humanities - American Culture Panel, 1978-1979, inclusive
National Urban League, 1975-1978, inclusive
Neel, Alice, 1974
New Dimensions , 1975, inclusive
News of the Emeriti - Harold Cruse, undated, inclusive
Olive Harvey College - Speech, 1977-1988, inclusive
Owens, Leslie - The Dismissal of, 1978, inclusive
Pennsylvania, University of, 1986-1988, inclusive
Postcards of African Americans, undated
Princeton University, 1976 , 1989, inclusive
Reparations, 2000
Sacramento Working Conference on the Black Political Party, 1980, inclusive
"Separate but Equal" - International Institute of Flint (Lecture Notes), 1989-1990, inclusive
Stanford University Speech, 1994, inclusive
Studies on the Left, 1962, inclusive
SUNY Brockport - African and Afro-American Studies Department, 1991
United Negro and Allied Veterans of America - New York State Council, undated, inclusive
University of Michigan, 1984-1985, inclusive
University of Michigan -- Center for AfroAmerican and African Studies (CAAS), 2006-2007, inclusive
University of Michigan -- Center for Afro-American and African Studies (CAAS) -- 35th Anniversary Conference in Honor of Harold Cruse, 2006
University of Michigan -- Center for Afro-American and African Studies (CAAS) -- Porgy and Bess Project, 1991
Virginia Commonwealth University, 1989-1990, inclusive
Wayne State University Humanities Conference, 1980, inclusive
Williams, Robert F., 1961-1986, inclusive
Series III: Writings, 1940-2005, inclusive
Extent
Scope and Contents
This series contains published and unpublished articles, as well as drafts of various written works; copies of plays and musicals written by Cruse; book and theater reviews; essays about Harold Cruse and copies of his obituaries; and an almost complete typescript of the Crisis of the Negro Intellectual.
"Aesthetic Theory of American Negritude", undated, inclusive
Afro American Communicator, 1979, inclusive
"An Afro-American's Cultural Views", undated
Afro American Youth Cultural Conference, 1965, inclusive
"American Negritude", undated, inclusive
"American Negritude" - Exploratory Philosophical Notes - Part II, undated, inclusive
"The American Negro and the Cuban Revolution", undated, inclusive
"The American Negro Manifesto on Cultural Revolution", undated, inclusive
Articles about Harold Cruse, 1997-2005, inclusive
Articles about Harold Cruse -- Obituaries, 2005
Article on: Negro in the Theater, 1951, inclusive
"Assimilation in American Life" (Review by Cruse), 1964, inclusive
Avant-Propos (Essay in French), undated
Baldwin, James - Articles About, undated, inclusive
"Battle of Montreal" - African Heritage Studies Association, undated, inclusive
"Behind the Black Power Movement", undated, inclusive
"Black Anti-Semitism", undated, inclusive
"Black Anti-Semitism" - Notes on, 1985-1986, inclusive
"Black Bourgeois", undated, inclusive
"The Black Political Process - Myth or Reality - A Theoretical Analysis", 1978, inclusive
"Black Intellectuals and Others - A Critical Survey" (Draft), undated
Black Intellectuals and the Racial Divide, undated
The Blacks and the Idea of Revolution, undated
The Blacks and the Red, 1995
"Black Studies: Interpretation, Methodology, and the Relationship to Social Movements", 1971
"Bohemia Revisited", undated, inclusive
Book Review by Cruse of Freedom Song: A Personal Story of the 1960's Civil Rights Movement, 1987, inclusive
Book Review by Cruse of Introduction to Black Studies, by Maulana Karenga, 1982, inclusive
Book Reviews by Cruse (Various), 1950-1964, inclusive
"The Changing Face" (Drafts), 1994
"Charles Riley and New Negro Renaissance", undated, inclusive
"A Chess Manual for the 'Potzers' by the Master Monsieur Fred Duval" - As Told by Cruse, ca. late 1950s-early 1960s, inclusive
Cleaver, Eldridge: The Fire this Time? (Review of) by Cruse, 1969, inclusive
"Contemporary Dialectics", ca.1963, inclusive
The Creative and Performing Arts and the Afro-American Struggle for Identity and Credibility, 1974
"The Creative and Performing Arts and the Struggle for Identity and Credibility", undated, inclusive
Crisis of the Negro Intellectual, undated
Crisis of the Negro Intellectual - "Black Nationalism and American Socialism" (by Eugene Genovese) , 1968, inclusive
Crisis of the Negro Intellectual - Critique (by Bob Higgins) , 1978, inclusive
Crisis of the Negro Intellectual -- Drafts, undated
Crisis of the Negro Intellectual - Twentieth Anniversary , 1987, inclusive
Crisis of the Negro Intellectual -- Xerox Copy, undated
"Cuba, Marxism, Nationalism, and the American Negro", undated, inclusive
"Cuba and the North American Negro", undated, inclusive
"Cuba and the North American Negro: A Study in Two Revolutionary Perspectives", undated, inclusive
"Culture and the Negro Question" - Review by Cruse, undated, inclusive
"Cultural Identity and the Afro American", undated, inclusive
"Death of White Sociology, Outline for", 1975, inclusive
"The Delta Rose", undated, inclusive
Destiny of the Black Elites, undated
Destiny of the Black Elites -- Handwritten Draft, undated
Destiny of the Black Elites and Black Intellectuals and Others (Drafts), undated
Dialects of Race and Culture: The Collected Essays of Harold Cruse, undated
Dispatches from the Ebony Tower (Draft), 1999
Drafts of Essays, undated
"The Economics of Black Nationalism", undated
"The Education of a Rebel", undated, inclusive
"The Fire This Time?", 2003
"Force and Violence : from Monroe to Watts", undated, inclusive
"From Shibe Park to Yankee Stadium", undated, inclusive
"George Capdeville's Ancestry", undated, inclusive
"Green Pastures: Twenty Years Ago and Today", 1951
Handwritten Notes, undated
"Harold W. Cruse: The Man and His Works - A Selected Bibliography" (JoAnn Hall), undated
"The Historical Roots of American Social Change", 1971
"Historical Roots of Social Change and Social Theory", undated, inclusive
"Historical Roots of Social Change and Social Theory" (Handwritten), undated, inclusive
"The House He Once Lived in", 1950, inclusive
"The House He Used to Live in", 1949, inclusive
"The Intellectuals and Force and Violence", undated, inclusive
"Interludes with Duke Ellington", ca.1982-1985, inclusive
Interview with Harold Cruse (Transcript), 2000
A Lady of Consequence, 1962
London Diary, 1969-1970, inclusive
"Marxism and Negritude", undated, inclusive
"Marxism and Negritude Part Three", undated, inclusive
"Marxism and the Negro", undated
"Marxism and Negro Literature", undated, inclusive
"Marxism and the Negro Question", undated, inclusive
"Memoirs of a Self-Taught Journalist", undated, inclusive
More Than Just a Politicians: Notes on the Life and Times of Harold Cruse (Van Gosse), 2000, 2004, inclusive
"My Jewish Problem and Theirs", 1969, inclusive
Negro Culture: Heritage and Weapon (Review by Cruse) , undated, inclusive
"A Negro Looks at Cuba", undated, inclusive
"Negro Nationalism's New Wave", undated
"The Negro Playwright", undated, inclusive
"Negro Soldier Sequences Censored in 'Call Me Mister'", 1951
"The Negro Writer - Disarmed, Dis[en]franchised, Disoriented", 1967, inclusive
"The New Afro Americanism", undated, inclusive
"The New Negro History of John Hope Franklin", 1980 , 1987, inclusive
"The New Negro History of John Hope Franklin - Promise and Progress", undated
Notebooks / Journals (2), undated, inclusive
Notes: Robeson book, undated, inclusive
Of Marms and Maids, 1963
"On Explaining Twentieth Century Negro History", undated, inclusive
"On Robert Brustein's Theater Visions", 1979, inclusive
Plural But Equal - Review of , 1987, inclusive
Plural but Equal, 1990, 1995, inclusive
"The Politics of Negro Business", undated, inclusive
"A Preface to Leadership", undated, inclusive
"Problems in Black Political Philosophy - Exploratory Paper" (Delivered at Morgan State University), 1978, inclusive
"Proposal for a Collected Edition of the Essays", undated, inclusive
"Purblind Slant of Africa", 1951
"Race and Bohemians in Greenwich Village", 1960, inclusive
"Race Riots and Remedies", 1964, inclusive
Rebellion or Revolution - Review of , undated, inclusive
"Revolutionary Nationalism and the Afro-American", undated
"The Roots of Black Nationalism", undated
"Salute to Josephine Baker, Magnificent Negro Artist", 1951
Simply Heavenly and Stella Holt - A Viewpoint , undated, inclusive
"The Sociology of Afro Americanism", undated, inclusive
Teaching and Sharing the Humanities: A College for Human Services Value Conference, 1978, inclusive
"Three Faces West" - A Western Film Scenario (by Cruse), undated, inclusive
"Towards the Americal Social Theory: The Dialectics of Racial Integration", undated
Untitled Essays, Poems, and Plays, undated
Untitled Typescript - "Despite many new features of the present day Negro rebellion, this rebellion has its roots in the accumulated experiences of the past fifty years...", undated, inclusive
Untitled Typescript - re: CAUSA and Negroes (pp 173-240), undated, inclusive
Untitled Typescript - "'The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual' was first published...", undated, inclusive
Untitled Typescript - re: Freedom Now Party, William Worthy, etc., undated, inclusive
Untitled Typescript - "In addition, we are being told by the white left...", undated, inclusive
Untitled Typescript - "In 1940, in one of my first acts in the pursuit of becoming a more 'social' being...", undated, inclusive
Untitled Typescript - "In 1964, the special Freedom ways Harlem issue was enlarged...", undated, inclusive
Untitled Typescript - "It was June in Italy, 1944, a languorous summer's day, when Juddie Jones, Negro truck driver, US Army, returned...", undated, inclusive
Untitled Typescripts - Miscellaneous, undated, inclusive
Untitled Typescript - re: "Marxism and the Negro", undated, inclusive
Untitled Typescript - "The nearest living contact I have ever had with French culture was in North Africa during World War Two...", undated, inclusive
Untitled Typescript - "When the Socialist Workers Party (Trotskyist) announced in New York on January 14 that it had nominated a Negro...", undated, inclusive
Village Voice Editorial - "Reading Michael Harrington's report on the Vancouver meeting...", undated, inclusive
"W.E.B. DuBois and Black History", 2003
"What is a Program", undated, inclusive
"What is Nationalism", undated, inclusive
"Why an Afro American Cultural Philosophy is Necessary Today", undated, inclusive
"Where the Hummingbird Flies" - A Critique, undated, inclusive
Series IV: Personal Materials, 1940-2003, inclusive
Extent
Scope and Contents
This series contains photographs of Harold Cruse, his family, and his travels. It also includes a scrapbook and documents relating to Cruse's military service during World War II; curricula and classwork related to Cruse's undergraduate film studies program; copies of his curriculum vitae and address books; and a resolution honoring Harold Cruse issued by the city of Los Angeles. Together, these materials reflect Cruse's life outside his career in academia.