Hubert Howe Bancroft
Encyclopedia
Hubert Howe Bancroft was an American historian and ethnologist who wrote and published works concerning the western United States
, Texas
, Mexico
, Central America
, British Columbia
and Alaska
.
to Azariah Ashley Bancroft and Lucy Howe Bancroft. His parents were staunch abolitionists. The family home was a station on the Underground Railroad
, and is now a dormitory on the campus of Denison University
. He attended the Doane Academy in Granville for a year, and he then became a clerk in his brother-in-law's bookstore in Buffalo, New York
. In March 1852, he was sent to San Francisco, California
, where he initiated and managed a regional office of the business. He also began his own publishing house. In 1868, he resigned from his business in favor of his brother, A. L. Bancroft. He had accumulated a great library of historical material, and abandoned business to devote himself entirely to writing and publishing history.
Bancroft's library consisted of books, maps, and printed and manuscript documents, including a large number of narratives dictated to Bancroft or his assistants by pioneers, settlers, and statesmen. The indexing of this vast collection employed six persons for ten years. The library was moved in 1881 to a fireproof building, and in 1900 numbered about 45,000 volumes.
He developed a plan to publish a history of 39 volumes of the history of the entire Pacific coast region of North America, from Central America to Alaska. He employed collaborators for the preliminary work, and then revised it all, and wrote the most important chapters himself. In 1886 the publishing establishment of A. L. Bancroft & Company burned, and the sheets of seven volumes of the history he had written were destroyed.
Bancroft's first marriage was to Emily Ketchum in 1859. They had one daughter, Kate. Emily died in 1869. Bancroft married again in 1879. His second wife was Matilda Coley Griffing. They had four children, Paul, Griffing, Philip and Lucy.
Bancroft died in 1918 in Walnut Creek, California
, two days after being struck by a street car. He is interred in the Cypress Lawn Memorial Park
in Colma, California
. The Bancroft Library
at UC Berkeley, named in his honor, was founded when the University of California
purchased his book collection in 1905. Part of a property Bancroft bought (c.1880) in Contra Costa County, California, is now the Ruth Bancroft Garden
. An archive of Bancroft family correspondence, collected by his daughter Kate, is held in the Mandeville Special Collections Library in the Geisel Library
at the University of California, San Diego
.
, in particular, was a well regarded writer in her own right.) However, his failure to acknowledge each contribution created doubt concerning the value of any particular section. Overall, although Bancroft considered himself the author of the work, it is more accurate to consider him an editor and compiler.
Neither Bancroft, nor most of his assistants, had preparatory training sufficient to save them from the inadequacies common to historical works of this period. Their writing sometimes represented personal opinions and enthusiasms, and their often-good books consequently have some serious defects. However, they were generally very well-received in their time. Historian Francis Parkman
gave Bancroft's The Native Races much credit in the magazine The North American Review. Lewis H. Morgan
, however, was more critical. Based on his newly-published theory of Indian culture, in an article named Montezuma's Dinner, Morgan completely reversed Parkman's verdict and created doubt in the minds of the public about this and other volumes of the series. Bancroft's response to Morgan's criticism suggests that he did not understand Morgan's theory, which is now generally accepted by scholars.
and Hubert H. Bancroft Elementary school in Sacramento
.
.
Western United States
.The Western United States, commonly referred to as the American West or simply "the West," traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. Because the U.S. expanded westward after its founding, the meaning of the West has evolved over time...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
and Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
.
Biography
Bancroft was born in Granville, OhioGranville, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 3,167 people, 1,309 households, and 888 families residing in the village. The population density was 790.4 people per square mile . There were 1,384 housing units at an average density of 345.4 per square mile...
to Azariah Ashley Bancroft and Lucy Howe Bancroft. His parents were staunch abolitionists. The family home was a station on the Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
, and is now a dormitory on the campus of Denison University
Denison University
Denison University is private, coeducational, and residential college of liberal arts and sciences founded in 1831. It is located in Granville, Ohio, United States, approximately 30 miles east of Columbus, the state capital...
. He attended the Doane Academy in Granville for a year, and he then became a clerk in his brother-in-law's bookstore in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
. In March 1852, he was sent to San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, where he initiated and managed a regional office of the business. He also began his own publishing house. In 1868, he resigned from his business in favor of his brother, A. L. Bancroft. He had accumulated a great library of historical material, and abandoned business to devote himself entirely to writing and publishing history.
Bancroft's library consisted of books, maps, and printed and manuscript documents, including a large number of narratives dictated to Bancroft or his assistants by pioneers, settlers, and statesmen. The indexing of this vast collection employed six persons for ten years. The library was moved in 1881 to a fireproof building, and in 1900 numbered about 45,000 volumes.
He developed a plan to publish a history of 39 volumes of the history of the entire Pacific coast region of North America, from Central America to Alaska. He employed collaborators for the preliminary work, and then revised it all, and wrote the most important chapters himself. In 1886 the publishing establishment of A. L. Bancroft & Company burned, and the sheets of seven volumes of the history he had written were destroyed.
Bancroft's first marriage was to Emily Ketchum in 1859. They had one daughter, Kate. Emily died in 1869. Bancroft married again in 1879. His second wife was Matilda Coley Griffing. They had four children, Paul, Griffing, Philip and Lucy.
Bancroft died in 1918 in Walnut Creek, California
Walnut Creek, California
Walnut Creek is an incorporated city located east of the city of Oakland. It lies in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. While not as large as neighboring Concord, Walnut Creek serves as the business and entertainment hub for the neighboring cities within central Contra Costa...
, two days after being struck by a street car. He is interred in the Cypress Lawn Memorial Park
Cypress Lawn Memorial Park
Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, established by Hamden Holmes Noble in 1892, is a cemetery located in Colma, California, a place known as the "City of the Silent". It is the final resting site for several members of the celebrated Hearst family plus other prominent citizens from the greater San...
in Colma, California
Colma, California
Colma is a small incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, at the northern end of the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 1,792 at the 2010 census. The town was founded as a necropolis in 1924....
. The Bancroft Library
Bancroft Library
The Bancroft Library is the primary special collections library of the University of California, Berkeley. It was acquired as a gift/purchase from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, with the proviso that it retain the name Bancroft Library in perpetuity...
at UC Berkeley, named in his honor, was founded when the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
purchased his book collection in 1905. Part of a property Bancroft bought (c.1880) in Contra Costa County, California, is now the Ruth Bancroft Garden
Ruth Bancroft Garden
The Ruth Bancroft Garden 2.5 acres is a dry botanical garden containing more than 2,000 cactus, succulents, trees, and shrubs native to Africa, Australia, California, Chile, and Mexico...
. An archive of Bancroft family correspondence, collected by his daughter Kate, is held in the Mandeville Special Collections Library in the Geisel Library
Geisel Library
The Geisel Library is the main library building on the University of California, San Diego campus and contains four of the six libraries located on campus...
at the University of California, San Diego
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...
.
Critique of production methods
Bancroft published a well-known group of local histories. Having formed a large collection of materials concerning the history of the Pacific coast, he then employed research and writing assistants to organize and produce statements of facts for large sections of a proposed general history. Originally he seems to have intended to use these statements of facts as the basis of a narrative which he himself would write; but as the work progressed he came to use the statements as they were, with only slight changes. He said his assistants were capable investigators, and there is independent evidence to show that some of them deserved his confidence. (Frances Fuller VictorFrances Fuller Victor
- External links :...
, in particular, was a well regarded writer in her own right.) However, his failure to acknowledge each contribution created doubt concerning the value of any particular section. Overall, although Bancroft considered himself the author of the work, it is more accurate to consider him an editor and compiler.
Neither Bancroft, nor most of his assistants, had preparatory training sufficient to save them from the inadequacies common to historical works of this period. Their writing sometimes represented personal opinions and enthusiasms, and their often-good books consequently have some serious defects. However, they were generally very well-received in their time. Historian Francis Parkman
Francis Parkman
Francis Parkman was an American historian, best known as author of The Oregon Trail: Sketches of Prairie and Rocky-Mountain Life and his monumental seven-volume France and England in North America. These works are still valued as history and especially as literature, although the biases of his...
gave Bancroft's The Native Races much credit in the magazine The North American Review. Lewis H. Morgan
Lewis H. Morgan
Lewis Henry Morgan was a pioneering American anthropologist and social theorist, a railroad lawyer and capitalist. He is best known for his work on kinship and social structure, his theories of social evolution, and his ethnography of the Iroquois...
, however, was more critical. Based on his newly-published theory of Indian culture, in an article named Montezuma's Dinner, Morgan completely reversed Parkman's verdict and created doubt in the minds of the public about this and other volumes of the series. Bancroft's response to Morgan's criticism suggests that he did not understand Morgan's theory, which is now generally accepted by scholars.
Schools
Several schools are named for Bancroft, including Bancroft Middle School (Los Angeles) Bancroft Middle School in Long Beach, CaliforniaLong Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
and Hubert H. Bancroft Elementary school in Sacramento
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
.
Published works
- Native Races of the Pacific States (vols. 1–5, 1874)
- History of Central America (vols. 6–8, 1883–87)
- History of Mexico (vols. 9–14, 1883–87)
- History of Texas, and the North Mexican States (vols. 15–16, 1884–89)
- History of Arizona and New Mexico (vol. 17, 1889)
- History of California (vols. 18–24, 1884–90)
- History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming (vol. 25, 1890)
- History of Utah (vol. 26, 1889)
- History of the Northwest Coast (vols. 27–28, 1884)
- History of Oregon (vols. 29–30, 1886–88)
- History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana (vol. 31, 1890)
- History of British Columbia (vol. 32, 1887)
- History of Alaska (vol. 33, 1886)
- California Pastoral (vol. 34, 1888)
- California inter Pocula (vol. 35, 1888)
- Popular Tribunals (vols. 36–37, 1887)
- Essays and Miscellany (vol. 38, 1890)
- Literary Industries (vol. 39, 1890) This volume gives an account of his methods of work.
- The early American chroniclers (1883)
- Chronicles of the Builders of the Commonwealth: Historical Character Study (1891–1892)
- Book of the Fair (1893)
- Resources and Development of Mexico (1893)
- Achievements of civilization; the book of wealth (1896–1905)
- The New Pacific (1912)
- Retrospection, political and personal (1912, 1915)
- Why a world centre of industry at San Francisco Bay (1916)
- In these latter days (1917)
Spring Valley ranch
In 1885 Bancroft purchased a ranch with an adobe home on it located in Spring Valley, in San Diego County, as a retirement home. It now is a National Historic LandmarkNational Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
.