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Finding Aid to the Abraham Phineas Nasatir Document Collection, circa 1673-1859, 1925-1971, bulk 1768-1827
BANC MSS 92/50
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Table of contents
Collection Title: Abraham Phineas Nasatir document collection.
Date (inclusive): circa 1673-1859,
Date (inclusive): 1925-1971,
Date (bulk): bulk 1768-1827
Collection Number: BANC MSS 92/50
Creators :
Nasatir, Abraham Phineas, 1904-1991
Extent:
Number of containers: 14 cartons, 14 folders
Linear feet: 14.67 linear feet
Repository: The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
Abstract: The Abraham Phineas Nasatir document collection consists of research materials from Spanish and American archives that were
copied and annotated by Nasatir over the course of his career.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English, Spanish and French
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information
on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Collection is open for research.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head
of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000. Consent is given on behalf of The
Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright
owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See:
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.
[Identification of item], Abraham Phineas Nasatir Document Collection, BANC MSS 92/50, The Bancroft Library, University of
California, Berkeley.
There are no alternate forms of this collection.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Archivo General de Indias
Historians--California
Osage Indians--History
Spain--Colonies--America
Missouri River Valley--History--Sources
The Abraham Phineas Nasatir Document Collection was given to The Bancroft Library by Ida Hirsch Nasatir in 1991.
No additions are expected.
Arranged to the folder level.
Processed by Anastasia Karel and Rachel Gulbraa in 2009.
Abraham Phineas Nasatir was born in Santa Ana, CA, on November 24, 1904. His parents were Lithuanian Orthodox Jewish immigrants,
and his father instilled in him an early dedication towards scholarship, both religious and academic. This led Nasatir to
graduate from high school at age fourteen, and he received his bachelor's degree from Berkeley in 1921 when he was barely
seventeen years old. A year later he completed his master's thesis and quickly pursued his doctorate in history. His mentor,
Herbert Eugene Bolton, tried to slow Nasatir down by employing him as a teaching assistant from 1923-1924. The following
year Nasatir went to France and Spain on a Native Sons of the Golden West traveling fellowship, and in 1926 earned his Ph.D.
He spent the majority of his career on the faculty at San Diego State University, and in addition to teaching he published
scores of articles and seventeen books or monographs. Unfortunately, on June 30, 1985, the largest residential fire to hit
San Diego to that date claimed a large portion of Nasatir's life work - nearly 500,000 documents (copies and translations)
and 2,500 books. His greatest regret was that no more than thirty percent of these materials had been utilized, and he had
intended to donate the entire collection to the Bancroft Library. In spite of this setback, Nasatir continued to work and
publish until his death on January 18, 1991.
Scope and Content of Collection
The documents in this collection represent only a fraction of the several hundred thousand that Nasatir acquired over the
course of his career. These materials were located in his office at San Diego State University, and were thus protected from
the house fire that destroyed the rest of his collection. There are no original documents here; the typical material found
for each document includes two transcripts of the original (mss. and ts.), and several translations. His filing system was
primarily by date and was largely preserved here. However, there is very little information on what the documents were used
for, and no personal or other professional papers.