Collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts, publications, and ephemera by and about H.H. Bancroft and Co. and A.L. Bancroft and Co. Ruth Frey Axe compiled the collection to complete the Bancroft publications checklist started by Henry Wagner and Eleanor Bancroft.

Henry Raup Wagner was born Sept. 27,1862, in Philadelphia, PA; BA (1884) and LL.B. (1886), Yale Univ.; practiced law in Kansas City, MO, 1887-90; worked for Globe Smelting and Refining Co. (Denver) (1890-98), and Guggenheim Interests (later American Smelting and Refining Co.) (1898-1921); following his retirement in 1921, he devoted much of his time to writing on historical subjects; Wagner's interest in California printers and printing led him to collect Bancroft publications and prepare a bibliography on the subject; Eleanor Bancroft, then Asst to the Bancroft Library Director, assisted Wagner on this project; Wagner died Mar. 28, 1957; he bequeathed his collection of Bancroft imprints to the California Historical Society and left the nearly completed checklist project to Ruth Frey Axe. requesting that she see to its completion and publication.

4.0 Linear Feet (8 boxes)

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