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A Gift of Hubert Howe Bancroft Books
By Robin Lakin
May/June 2021
SOHO is sincerely grateful to member Christie Jackson for her important donation of The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, a set of limited edition, polychrome leather-bound books, which will be displayed in the library of the Marston House Museum.
Hubert Howe Bancroft (May 5, 1832-March 2, 1918) was a native of Granville, Ohio whose abolitionist parents operated a stop on the Underground Railroad. He published 39 volumes on the history of Western North America and its people. He believed writing history to be "among the highest of human occupations."
 Nine volumes devoted to California history from Bancroft's 39-volume set, The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, a generous gift to SOHO from member Christie Jackson. |
 Bancroft inscribed the volumes to his daughter, Lucy, "Lucy Bancroft from her father Hubert Howe Bancroft, San Francisco, Dec. 27, 1898." Photos by Christopher Pro |
Bancroft reserved sets for VIPs and those close to him. He presented this one to his daughter, Lucy, most likely for a Christmas present in 1898, when she was 16. His hand-written inscription reads: "Lucy Bancroft from her father Hubert Howe Bancroft, San Francisco, Dec. 27, 1898."
Bancroft got his start as a clerk in his brother-in-law's bookstore in Buffalo, New York. In 1852 he was sent to San Francisco with an inventory of books to sell, while setting up a West Coast regional office for the firm. Wrapped up in this endeavor, he became a serious collector of books, amassing tens of thousands of volumes, along with maps and manuscript documents. By 1868 he had resigned from the business to devote himself to writing history full time.
Nothing is perfect in this world, and neither is the information contained within this 39-volume set. Bancroft had over 600 collaborators helping to compile the historical data. Most were uncredited and untrained for this specialized work, therefore scholarship and editing issues are apparent within the volumes.
However, considering the records available to Bancroft at that time, and the need to supplement this information with dictated oral narratives and translation, this cooperative writing project is considered to be a valuable source of historical and anthropological information on the North American West. The volumes cover the impressive sweep of Alaska, British Columbia, California, Central America, Mexico, and Texas. The University of California at Berkeley purchased his collection of over 60,000 books, establishing the Bancroft Library.
We are indebted to Christie Jackson for her generosity in this very special donation of books. As a historian and librarian in his own right, George W. Marston would appreciate his library being the richer for including this groundbreaking collection.
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