Max Bissainthe research collection

1800s-1950s

Max Bissainthe, born December 11, 1911, was an historian and archivist of Haitian literature. Bissainthe served as Haiti's Director of Libraries during the 1940s and early 1950s. In 1951, he published the Dictionnaire de bibliographie Haitienne, the first bibliography of Haitian literature. Four years later, Bissainthe was forced out of his position, and subsequently out of Haiti, by Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier. He immigrated to the United States in 1955. He died in Jamaica, Queens, New York, in April 1978. The Max Bissainthe research collection consists of indices of the names of Haitian and Dominican Republic journalists and authors, articles, and book titles used to create the Dictionnaire de bibliographie Haitienne. The collection also includes an alphabetical index of titles, subjects, and materials, and a partial bibliographic subject list ranging from the 1800s to the 1950s.