Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Bancroft Family Papers
MSS 0039
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Languages:
English
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Bancroft Family Papers
Creator:
Bancroft family
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0039
Physical Description:
1.15 Linear feet
(4 archives boxes and 1 art bin item)
Date (inclusive): 1844-1882
Abstract: A small collection of family papers of book dealer and historian Hubert Howe Bancroft (1832-1918). The collection consists
of letters from his first wife, Emily Ketchum, to her family, 1859-1869; and to her sister, Mrs. Coit, 1860-1869. It also
includes the journal of Bancroft's daughter, Kate, 1874, describing her travels to the California missions and her visit to
the Vallejo family in Sonoma in 1874, and correspondence and documents relating to the Civil War activities of General Henry
Clay Pleasants and Lt. Charles Israel Pleasants.
Scope and Content of Collection
A small collection of family papers of book dealer and historian Hubert Howe Bancroft (1832-1918). The collection consists
of letters from his first wife, Emily Ketchum, to her family, 1859-1869; and to her sister, Mrs. Coit, 1860-1869. It also
includes the journal of Bancroft's daughter, Kate, 1874, describing her travels to the California missions and her visit to
the Vallejo family in Sonoma in 1874, and correspondence and documents relating to the Civil War activities of General Henry
Clay Pleasants and Lt. Charles Israel Pleasants.
Aarranged in three series: 1) CORRESPONDENCE & PORTRAIT, 2) KATE BANCROFT'S JOURNAL, and 3) PLEASANTS FAMILY MATERIALS.
Hubert Howe Bancroft (1832-1918) was a Pacific Coast historian, book dealer, bibliophile, and entrepreneur. Having no formal
schooling, Bancroft educated himself through travel and reading. A native of Granville, Ohio, he began his career as a bookstore
clerk in Buffalo, New York. He came to California in 1852, and in 1856 he opened a successful bookstore in San Francisco with
his brother Albert. By 1870 Bancroft had purchased a five-story building and had enlarged his business to include the selling
of sheet music, pianos, and organs. His business also included facilities for printing, engraving, lithography, and bookbinding.
At one time Bancroft's business was the largest and foremost bookselling concern west of Chicago.
The entire fifth floor of Bancroft's San Francisco store was occupied by his library, which eventually contained over 60,000
works pertaining to Pacific Coast History. Drawing on these and other resources, Bancroft set out to write a comprehensive
history of the Western United States. To assist him with this task he hired researchers and writers, some of whom authored
works that appeared under Bancroft's name. When completed, Bancroft's 39-volume history became a standard reference source,
and included Native Races of the Pacific States (5 volumes, 1874-1876), and History of the Pacific States of North America
(21 volumes, 1882-1890). In 1905 the University of California acquired the author's vast library, which became the nucleus
of the present-day Bancroft Library.
Bancroft married Emily Ketchum of Buffalo, New York, in 1859, and the couple had one daughter, Kate, born in 1860. Emily
died in 1869, and Bancroft married Matilda Coley Griffing in 1876. This second marriage produced four children: Paul, Griffing,
Howe, and Lucy. Hubert Howe Bancroft died in 1918 in Walnut Creek, California, two days after being struck by a street car.
Bancroft's great-granddaughter, Ruth Lineaweaver Swisher, a descendant of Bancroft's daughter Kate, deposited the Bancroft
Family Correspondence at the UCSD Library in 1970.
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Bancroft Family Papers. MSS 39. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Deposit, 1971.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Diaries -- 19th century
California -- Description and travel
Missions -- California
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
San Francisco (Calif.) -- Description and travel
Bancroft family -- Archives
Pleasants family -- Archive
Bancroft, Emily Ketchum -- Correspondence
Bancroft, Kate -- Correspondence
Pleasants, Henry, 1833-1880
Pleasants, Charles Israel -- Correspondence
Bancroft family -- Correspondence
Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1832-1918 -- Correspondence
Bancroft, Matilda Griffing -- Correspondence