Finding Aid to the Abraham Phineas Nasatir Document Collection, circa 1673-1859, 1925-1971, bulk 1768-1827
Finding Aid written by Anastasia Karel
Funding for processing this collection was provided by National Historical Publications and Records Commmission
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/
© 2007
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Finding Aid to the Abraham Phineas Nasatir Document Collection, circa 1673-1859, 1925-1971, bulk 1768-1827
Collection Number: BANC MSS 92/50
The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Funding for processing this collection was provided by National Historical Publications and Records Commmission
- Finding Aid Written By:
- Anastasia Karel
- Date Completed:
-
March 2009
© 2009 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Collection Summary
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.
Information for Researchers
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
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.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Abraham Phineas Nasatir Document Collection, BANC MSS 92/50, The Bancroft Library, University of
California, Berkeley.
Alternate Forms Available
There are no alternate forms of this collection.
Indexing Terms
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
Administrative Information
Acquisition Information
The Abraham Phineas Nasatir Document Collection was given to The Bancroft Library by Ida Hirsch Nasatir in 1991.
Accruals
No additions are expected.
System of Arrangement
Arranged to the folder level.
Processing Information
Processed by Anastasia Karel and Rachel Gulbraa in 2009.
Biographical Information
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.
Series 1
Research Materials
1673-1971
Physical Description:
14.67 linear feet (14 cartons, 14 folders)
Scope and Content Note
This series is divided into three subseries based on Nasatir's published and unpublished work. All of his research materials
were likely used for multiple works, and the documents were organized by following his original order, which may not represent
how he used them.
SubSeries 1.1
Before Lewis and Clark
1774-1827
Physical Description:
7.90 linear feet (7 cartons, 20 folders)
Arrangement
Chronological
Scope and Content Note
The documents in this subseries were matched against documents that appeared in the volumes
Before Lewis and Clark, and include discards. Most documents include several copies of transcriptions and translations, both in manuscript and
typescript form, and information about each document is on a piece of paper stapled to one of the copies.
SubSeries 1.2
Osage documents
1768-1827
Physical Description:
1.10 linear feet (1 carton, two folders)
Scope and Content Note
The documents in this subseries appeared to be organized into chapters for a work on the Osage Indian tribe that Nasatir did
not publish in its original form. The materials were likely used by Nasatir and Gilbert C. Din for their work
The Imperial Osages, published in 1983.
Carton 8, Folder 21-22
Original chapter III
Circa 1771-1779
Carton 9, Folder 2
Chapters III and IV
1786-1789
Carton 9, Folder 9
Chapters VII and VIII
1803-1805
Carton 9, Folder 10
Letters to/from Riu; Piernas
Circa 1760s-1770s
Carton 9, Folder 11-12
Select excerpts from books
Circa 1797-1810
SubSeries 1.3
Other
1673-1850s; 1930-1971,
undated
Physical Description:
5.67 linear feet (5 cartons, 14 folders)
Scope and Content Note
This subseries consists of documents that Nasatir used in his research and writing. They are primarily from the Archivo General
de Indias, Papeles de Cuba, but also include American archives and libraries. There is one folder of correspondence at the
end.
AGI - Papeles de Cuba
1765-1814,
undated
Carton 10, Folder 5-10
Legajo 109
1765-1768,
undated
Carton 10, Folder 11
Legajo 110
1769-1771,
undated
Carton 10, Folder 12
Legajo 111
1772-1775,
undated
Carton 10, Folder 13
Legajos 117A-B, 118, 119
1784-1788
Carton 10, Folder 18
Legajo 188A, B, C
1770-1771
Carton 10, Folder 25
Select legajos, 3-181
1771-1797
Carton 10, Folder 26
Select legajos, 178B-212
1769-1798
Carton 10, Folder 27
Select legajos, 213-2533
1766-1793
Note
no. 2533 is from Santo Domingo series
Carton 10, Folder 28
Unsorted legajos
1769,
1797,
1814,
undated
Carton 10, Folder 29
AGI - Audiencia de Santo Domingo, legajo 2542
1768
Carton 11, Folder 1-5
Various legajos
1788-1807,
undated
Carton 11, Folder 6-9
Chouteau notes and translations
1800s
Carton 11, Folder 10
Court House papers
1820s-1850s
Note
St. Louis; transcripts and notes re: Chouteau; copied for Nasatir in 1925
Carton 11, Folder 11-12
Letterbooks of Francisco Vallé
1791-1801
Carton 11, Folder 13-18
Missouri Historical Society
1800s
Carton 11, Folder 19
Morfi's History of Texas
undated
Carton 11, Folder 20-21
New-York Historical Society
1800s
Carton 11, Folder 22
Wisconsin mss; Indians
1817-1840s
Carton 12, Folder 1-3
Various sources
1778-1850s
Legajos and other documents
1673-1827
Arrangement
chronological
Carton 15, Folder 13
Correspondence
1930-1953,
undated
Note
four letters; includes transcripts of Delassus and Lavallee's inventories from March 1804
Carton 15, Folder 14
Pedro Vial document
1804; 1971
Note
includes letter from John Francis McDermott, translation, transcription, and photocopy of document dated November 23, 1804