Exploring the Bancroft Library: The Centennial Guide to Its Extraordinary History, Spectacular Special Collections, Research Pleasures, Its Amazing Future, and How It All Works

The Bancroft Library, one of the premier research institutions in the world, was founded in 1859 by Hubert H. Bancroft, a San Francisco bookseller, publisher, and collector. The documents and artifacts he amassed on the American West—from Alaska to Panama—were unsurpassed. In 1906 the University of California acquired the Bancroft collection and now celebrates the centennial of that acquisition. Over the past century, the library has expanded to include the Mark Twain Papers and Project, Tebtunis Papyri, rare books and manuscripts, collections in the History of Science and Technology, and other invaluable resources. In this celebratory volume, readers are introduced to the day-to-day life of an institution devoted to the collection, preservation, and study of original documents. From an in-depth look at the way material is acquired and conserved to chapters by individual curators summarizing the significance of choice archival objects, the substantive approach is particularly fitting; a handsomely illustrated design completes the tribute to a venerable institution.

CHARLES B. FAULHABER is Professor of Spanish and James D. Hart Director of the Bancroft Library. He is the editor and past editor-in-chief of Romance Philology and associate editor of Hispania; his books include Bibliography of Old Spanish Texts; Medieval Manuscripts in the Library of the Hispanic Society of America; and Studies in Honor of Gustavo Correa. STEPHEN VINCENT is the director of Book Studio and former director of Bedford Arts, Publishers. A noted poet and essayist, he is the editor of O California: Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century Landscapes and Observations and other volumes on the American West.