Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Finding aid to the H. Morse Stephens papers, [ca. 1890-1919]
BANC MSS C-B
926
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Collection Title: H. Morse Stephens Papers,
Date (inclusive): [ca. 1890-1919]
Collection Number: BANC MSS C-B
926
Creator: Stephens, H. Morse (Henry Morse), 1857-1919
Extent:
Number of containers: 8 boxes, 8 cartons and portfolio, 1 oversize
folder
Repository: The Bancroft Library.
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these
materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Abstract: Correspondence, manuscripts of articles and books, lecture
notes and clippings, mainly relating to his career as professor of history,
University of California, and to his activity in the acquisition of the Bancroft
Library.
Also included: material relating to Rudyard Kipling, and some papers of Stephen's sister, Amy Ellen
Also included: material relating to Rudyard Kipling, and some papers of Stephen's sister, Amy Ellen
Languages Represented:
English
Collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for
permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to
the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of
The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to
include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained
by the reader.
[Identification of item], H. Morse Stephens papers, BANC MSS C-B 926, The
Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog.
Kipling, Rudyard, 1865-1936
University of California (1868-1952). Dept. of History
Bancroft Library
Manuscripts for publication
Lecture notes
Clippings
Stephens, Amy Ellen
Henry Morse Stephens, professor of history and founder of the University of
California Extension, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on October 3, 1857. He
attended Radley College School, then studied with a private tutor while in France.
He later entered Haileybury College, which he left after five years to go to Balliol
College, Oxford, where he took a "first" in History in treats. He married in 1880,
shortly after completing his studies at the University. He coached at Oxford for a
short time, leaving to complete research for his book on the history of the French
Revolution. During this period he also wrote many articles for various weekly
newspaper, reviewing books, exhibit, concerts, opera and theatre. After a serious
breakdown of his health he moved to the country and traveled extensively in Europe,
particularly in France. At this time he wrote
Albuquerque, edited a
two volume work on the orators of the French Revolution, and published
Portugal as part of the series of the History of the Nations. He
returned to Oxford to work on India, and gave his first history lectures, which were
immediately successful. He soon joined the university extension lectures, offering
history courses in southern England and on the Isle of Wight. He also became an
editor of "India", a new monthly, and at this time accepted a position as lecturer
in Indian history at Cambridge.
Invited by Cornell University, Stephens came to America in 1894, as professor of
modern European and English history. While in Ithaca he formed a devoted group of
students, founded the Kipling Club and an American version of the famed British
Savage Club.
At the invitation of the president of the University of California, Benjamin Ide
Wheeler, a former colleague at Cornell, Shepherd became Sather professor of history
in Berkeley in 1902. He was able to put his experience of extension education to
good advantage as director of the University Extension from 1902-1909. Virtually the
Extension's sole lecturer in the early days, Stephens spent a great part of hit
working week traveling over all of California, giving courses in history
supplemented by detailed syllabi.
Stephens found a congenial group in the Bohemian Club, of which he was an active
member, and for which he wrote his play,
St. Patrick at Tara. He
enjoyed summers in the Grove from early May through July, often its sole inhabitant.
He was renowned as a stimulating teacher, attracted brilliant students, gave
generously of his time and assistance, read voraciously and produced solid scholarly
works. Stephens particularly emphasized the importance of using original source
material for research, stressing historical accuracy based on fact. Because of this
passion for accurate source material he sent many of his students to Europe, and
even instigated scholarships for research, especially in Spain, where he had many
transcripts made from hitherto unavailable archives of Seville and Madrid.
Stephens was very vocal in expressing his opinions on the importance of acquiring the
Bancroft Library collection, and for many years was intimately connected with its
preservation and with the housing of its resources.
Stephens was active in the American Historical Association, and engineered meetings
and lectures for the Pan-American History Conference held during the San Francisco
International Exhibition in 1915.
Stephens died suddenly on April 16, 1919, while returning from the funeral of Phoebe
Apperson Hearst in San Francisco.
Scope and Content of Collection
The papers in this collection, willed to the University by Stephens, and transferred
from Archives in March 1966, contain correspondence, much of it from students and
scholars, relating to historical pursuits manuscripts of articles, books, lectures
and plays; material concerning Kipling, and the Kipling Club, transcripts and
clippings.
A key to arrangement follows, and a partial list of correspondents is appended.