Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Bowman, J. N. (Jacob Neibert), 1875-1968
- Abstract:
- Correspondence, California history subject files, and personalia of Jacob N. Bowman, historian and creator of an important index to the California land grant and land case records.
- Extent:
- Number of containers: 7 cartons, 5 oversize folders, 1 volume, 1 porfolio (9.5 linear feet)
- Language:
- English
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The collection consists of correspondence dating from circa 1933 until 1965, California history subject files, and personalia and other papers. The correspondence includes general correspondence as well as a small amount of correspondence (and other material) relating to the California State Archives and some responses to reference queries Bowman received in his position as Historian at the State Archives. The subject files, by far the bulk of the collection, consist of files on a wide range of California history subjects. These subject files might include manuscripts of articles and essays written by Bowman, notes, and correspondence. Of particular note among these subject files are manuscripts, correspondence, and notes documenting Bowman's investigations into the land records of California. Among the personalia are reminiscences and other writings and course diaries, diplomas and other materials relating to Bowman's student days in Germany.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Jacob N. Bowman (1875-1968) was born near Greenville, Ohio. He graduated from Heidelberg College in Tiffin, Ohio in 1896 and then traveled abroad to study history at Heidelberg University and Leipzig University in Germany from 1896 to 1900. Bowman taught history at Western Washington College, the University of California, Berkeley, and Washington University. From 1948 until 1955, he served as Historian at the California State Archives in Sacramento. In the late 1920s, Bowman became interested in California's private land grant cases. Difficulty researching in the land grant records prompted Bowman to undertake the task of updating and revising the index in Judge Ogden Hoffman's 1862 reports on the California land cases, up until then the main tool for researching these records. The completion of Bowman's more comprehensive index required that he conduct a complete study of the widely scattered land grant papers. At the time, the land case files from the Board of Land Commissioner's hearings were in the possession of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco. The original Spanish and Mexican government land records were in the office of the Surveyor General in San Francisco and then in Glendale in 1932. In 1937, these original Spanish records were ordered to be sent to the National Archives for repair of the fire damage they had suffered in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. They never returned to California (though a set of certified copies and translations exists at the State Archives in Sacramento). Bowman always maintained that the accessioning of these records into the National Archives in Washington was made despite that fact that the District Court judges in San Francisco had requisitioned them to be placed with the land cases in the court's custody. The land case files from the Board of Land Commissioner's hearings are now on permanent deposit at the Bancroft Library. In addition to his index, Bowman wrote extensively on many areas of California history.
- Physical location:
- For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Access and use
- Location of this collection:
-
University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft LibraryBerkeley, CA 94720-6000, US
- Contact:
- 510-642-6481