USA > California > A history of the new California, its resources and people; Vol I > Part 29
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59
Under this statute nearly all of the existing free libraries of California have been founded. The exceptions are a few libraries operated under mu- nicipal charters.
Mr. W. P. Kimball, of San Francisco, has given the situation in northern and central California considerable attention. He thus sets forth the condi- tion as it exists in many towns adjacent to the Bay of San Francisco :
ALAMEDA. Upon the eastern shore of the bay is located one of Cali- fornia's most interesting cities, Alameda, a favored place of residence for
296
HISTORY OF THE NEW CALIFORNIA.
business men. Its library was organized in 1877, and was soon placed under the general law. Later years have been marked with constantly grow- ing prosperity, especially since 1893, when direct access to the shelves was begun. During 1894 the circulation increased from 58,000 to 101,000 with a loss of but 39 v., and with no additional library force. With 24,000 v., a population of 16,000, its circulation the last year has been 138,000, and is rapidly increasing. The library occupies excellent quarters in the city hall building, and has an income of $7,400. A valuable lot belonging to the city, and centrally located, is designed for the future home of the library.
OAKLAND. The geographical position of Oakland to San Francisco is similar to that of Brooklyn to New York. Oakland is a city of churches, an important manufacturing center, the terminus of the transcontinental railway (with the expected entrance of another in a few months), and has thousands of beautiful homes. Its population is estimated at 75,000. The library was founded by membership plan in 1868, adopted by the city 1878, has now 28,000 v., sustains five branches, reports an income of $16,000, and a circulation of 160,000. It sadly needs a new building in place of the frail structure now occupied. Oakland's taxable wealth is assessed at $50,000,000.
BERKELEY. There is but one Berkeley, and from the windows of its public library one may look out upon that "road of passage and union between two hemispheres"-the Golden Gate. Here is located the State University, whose future never seemed more promising than at present. With these inspiring surroundings there is no room for surprise to find in this place of 8,000 people a library of 6.500 v., with a circulation of 43,000, income of $5.000, and steadily increasing public appreciation.
SAN RAFAEL. At a point a few miles distance from the bay, lying at the base of Mt. Tamalpais, is the little city of San Rafael, having 3.500 inhabitants, splendid drives, and an outlook on interesting scenery. Its library was adopted by the city in 1890, has an appropriation of $1,500, about 3.500 v., with a circulation of 17,000 v., and will soon occupy a room in the high school building now being erected.
SANTA ROSA. In the prosperous inland city of Santa Rosa, 50 miles north of San Francisco, possessing 9.000 inhabitants, is a library of 8.500
297
HISTORY OF THE NEW CALIFORNIA.
v., which is doing a good work, especially with the schools. Unfortunately a heavy load of city indebtedness seems to prevent anything beyond a nar- row income at present.
SACRAMENTO. After an early beginning in 1852, the Sacramento li- brary passed through its initial life of prolonged combat for existence, and was adopted by the city in 1879. It now owns 28,000 v., has a circulation of 80,000 v., and an income of $8,000, and is doing a service capable of great extension with ampler means. Residents of Sacramento are allowed access, for reference, to the State library, with its wealth of 104,000 V. The city has 30,000 inhabitants.
STOCKTON. In the city of Stockton the library enjoys the distinction of occupying a beautiful home of its own. The timely legacy of $70,000 from the late Dr. W. P. Hazleton erected a tasteful marble structure, and provided $15,000 for books. Established in 1880, it now has an income of $7,500, an aggregate of 30,000 v., and circulation of 106,000, and its work with the schools, women's clubs, and the community, is rapidly ex- panding. A classified catalogue for school use has been published by the board of education.
Other creditable free libraries exist at Haywards, Livermore, Petaluma, Napa, Saint Helena, Vallejo, Woodland, Marysville, Eurelia, and San José.
No report of the smaller libraries of the state would be adequate with- out explicit mention of the library organization of the employes of the great Wells-Fargo Express Company. The association was founded in 1890. In 1893 its privileges were opened to express agents of all the coast states, and in 1894 employes of the Southern Pacific Railway were admitted to membership. There are almost 5,000 v., and they circulate as far north as Portland, as far east as Ogden, and to the towns of New Mexico on the south. There are now nearly 700 members.
It is regrettable to say that two of the greatest libraries in California are inaccessible to the public-the Sutro collection of some 200,000 quaint volumes, and the inestimable private shelves of the great Bancroft library. The latter collection contains many valuable original historical documents.
The Sutro collection is said still to rank fourth among great Ameri- can libraries. Almost 220,000 books and manuscripts are to be found
298
HISTORY OF THE NEW CALIFORNIA.
within its walls. It is a warehouse of unexplored material, a true "mother lode" of literary gold. Ellen Armstrong Weaver, of the Sutro library, contributes an interesting sketch outlining its principal features. She says :
"Its great practical strength lies in works on mechanics, natural sciences, Mexican and Spanish books and manuscripts, books and files connected with the history of journalism, and curiosa of many kinds.
"The collection was begun in 1883. A year later 335 cases of books, gathered by Mr. Sutro and his staff of English and German experts, reached San Francisco. This nucleus was placed temporarily on ranges in the upper floor of 107 Battery street, where it still awaits the march of events. Later on, accessions came from the libraries of the Duke of Dahl- berg, the Duke of Hamilton, the Duke of Sunderland, and from Dr. Clay's library near Manchester, England. From the monastery of Buxeim and the Royal state library at Munich, which latter had absorbed the li- braries of all the monasteries of Bavaria besides other valuable works, came a rich accession of 4,000 incunabula, said to be one of the best collec- tions in existence.
"The incoming tide of books, manuscripts, etchings, engravings and scrolls was so great that an overflow became necessary to Montgomery block, where a large branch is housed at the present time.
"When the monasteries were confiscated in Mexico, whole libraries fell into the hands of the government. A national library was at this time established in the City of Mexico, and many duplicates and other works not claimed by the state found their way to bookdealers. Mr. Sutro afterward described to a friend his experience in visiting a warehouse in the City of Mexico, about 1889, where he walked "waist-deep" in stacks of books, and, realizing their importance, purchased the entire lot of old Spanish books and manuscripts.
"In the Orient Mr. Sutro bought a Semitic library, Persian, Arabic, Sanscrit, and Japanese manuscripts and books, which have never been pro- nounced upon by scholars. The Hebrew collection includes about 300 printed books and 187 scrolls and manuscripts. Many of these books are incunabula, and are valuable as such. The gem of this collection is a Yea- man manuscript of the Medrash Hagadol of the eleventh century, the only
299
HISTORY OF THE NEW CALIFORNIA.
complete copy known to exist. It is of incalculable value, and is the treas- ure, par excellence, of the library.
"Books of science and travel are scattered throughout the two branches of the library, promising rich returns to the investigator. The classics fill several ranges. German literature includes the classics, historians, and some interesting volumes in old German, printed in blinding text that gives the impression there must be something worth searching for, else it would not be so carefully veiled from the ken of ordinary mortals. The French ranges are rich in 92 v. of the Moniteur universel, relating to current history in the time of the French revolution, the earliest date being 1790. There is a fascinating French quarto, date 1628, on the art of fencing-L'Espee- embellished with fine steel engravings of the art and its votaries in heroic attitudes, and an astrological chart indicating under what sign of the zodiac it is wise to stand in order to make a thrust at an opponent with the best hope of success. Under the head of art there is a choice collection of Louvre prints, and copies of originals in the British museum, Dresden gallery, National library in Paris, a portfolio of Italian and Sicilian art, published by Griggs & Sons, Pompeiian and Herculanean art reproduced in color by Zahn; Journal of Indian art, published by Griggs, engravings and woodcuts by old masters, reproduced in facsimile under direction of Dr. Fred Lipp- mann, and a fine series of engravings and etchings on industrial art and archi- tecture. Picturesque Journeys through Sicily and Malta, with sepia-washed copperplate engravings, Jean Houel, 1789, is a feast for the eye. There may be nothing especially unique in the department through which we have skimmed, but there is enough cream on every shelf to feed the brains of California genius and rouse the ghost of originality to leave the shades and come to action.
"A browse through the English department offers pastures green to booklovers. The enthusiasm and abandon of a bibliomaniac on a tour of discovery in the Sutro library is equal to all the pleasures of the chase com- bined. The Religion of Nature, by Wollaston, we handle reverently when we learn that Ben Franklin's own hands set the type, when he was a com- positor working at the case in Palmer's printing office in London, 1726. A quaint Elizabethan song book, printed by Wm. Byrd in 1589, is most fetching, with its songs of sundry natures.
300
HISTORY OF THE NEW CALIFORNIA.
"Of Bibles there are a goodly number in all languages, in manuscript and print. There is a ponderous old Vinegar Bible from the celebrated col- Jection of John Dent, printed by John Baskett in 1717, and sometimes called Basketful of printers' errors. The type is perfect, and steel engravings of exquisite fineness illustrate the pages. It is little wonder that it was im- possible to suppress the edition in spite of errors. A Breeches Bible, cele- brated because of the announcement that Adam and Eve made to themselves breeches rather than fig-leaf aprons, is bound in calf, with brass corners, and has reached the ripe age of 284 years. Charles II.'s own copy of the Prayer- book and Psalms is bound in oak, richly carved and clasped with royal arms wrought in brass. James I.'s own copy of the Psalms, also bound in oak, elaborately carved and clasped with the royal crest, is said to be the very book given by the Earl of Sunderland to Charles II. as he entered Temple Bar in 1660, after the Restoration. In the cover of the volume is a printed slip bearing this odd couplet :
" 'Buy, reade and judge; The price do not grudge; It will do thee more pleasure Than twice so much treasure.'
"A trio of royal missals is completed with George III.'s Prayer-book and Psalter, a folio bound in blue morocco, bordered with gold tracings, with the royal arms in gold on the covers. It is a fine copy, ruled through- out with red lines, with a brilliant front of St. Paul's cathedral. It carries its age of years remarkably well, nor do there seem to be any royal thumb- marks upon this direct inheritance from England's royal household. .
"There is great historical value in the old Bailey court proceedings, and among the 20,000 pamphlets relating to the Commonwealth times is a per- fect old Diurnal, giving a contemporary account of the execution of Charles I.
"We find also a set of the Gentleman's Magazine, covering a period of 100 years ; the library of the secretary of the London Chemical Society; a collection of parliamentary documents and proceedings dating from the year 1000 A. D., and extending to our own times, once the property of Lord Macauley, and used by him in writing his histories, and the codified laws of England from Lord Cairns' library.
301
HISTORY OF THE NEW CALIFORNIA.
"The Shakespeare collection, although limited, is of high quality. It includes a set of the first four folios, printed in 1623, 1632, 1664, and 1685, all the publications of the Shakespeare society, and a large quantity of mis- cellaneous Shakespeariana. In addition to the complete first folio in the set there is a curious old stray, without history or antecedents, a fragmen- tary edition of a first folio, bought as a tangled mass of leaves from a Lon- don bookseller and patched up and restored until eighteen complete plays have shaped themselves together. The precious complete first folio of the set is in fairly good condition-as first folios go at this epoch of their his- tory : a few pages were missing which have been supplied by facsimiles. This copy evidently went through the great London fire, and its edges still show the marks of that ordeal. A special providence seems to have rescued 'The Tempest' and 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' just before the hungry flames had passed the margin line.
"In this collection is the original rent-roll of Shottery Medow, Strat- ford-on-Avon, written on 16 leaves of vellum in a fine old English hand. It is interesting to trace the names of Thomas Combes, Joe Smart, and Bar- tol Hathaway.
"Come forward, thou little snip of a volume; who art thou, pushed back almost out of sight? By heavens! The Doctrina Christiana, Mexico, 1546-oh, delight of my eyes-and beautifully dressed in pale yellow levant by Jenkins and Cecil. Devoutly I thank the providence which sewed my pock- ets up ere I entered this deserted edifice, for verily, otherwise, I might not depart guiltless. And here are the California incunabula, five of the extant six printed before 1840, modest, thin-bodied shapes-four probably unique! And here are ten fat bundles stoutly wrapped in manila paper-bless me, all manuscripts relating to the acquisition of Texas, unknown to historian, uncollated, uncalendared even, not mentioned in any printed account of the Bancroft collection.
"And other thousands of manuscripts : Zumarraga's Pastoral, 1534; the nine priceless volumes of Thomas O. Larkin's records and correspond- ence at Monterey ; Alvarado's narrative, slowly penned during feeble health in the dull hamlet of San Pablo; Bandini's chronicle, persuasively distrained from his unwilling widow in dusty Los Angeles; the pathetic record of the venerable and ever-courteous Gen. Sutter, dictated in his last moments in
302
HISTORY OF THE NEW CALIFORNIA.
Lititz, Pennsylvania; the personal memoirs by hundreds of pioneers who helped to establish states on these western shores; the invaluable Historia by Gen. Vallejo, drawn forth through innocent artifices by the genial, subtle Cerruti, who played with delicate touch upon the unresponsive chords of this portly seigneur of Lachryma Montis; and the volumes collected by Judge Hayes, illustrated with inserted photographs and views of inestima- ble worth, one containing manuscripts by Padres Serra and Lasuen.
"We sometimes speak of the soul of a book. Ah, if the souls of these books had but tongues, what strange, romantic, incredible tales could they narrate!
"This imperial folio of Gregory's Moralia, on vellum, illuminated, deli- cately adorned, penned by some patient, tireless monastic hand in the south of Germany; a love-gift by the abbot to some Spanish ecclesiastic of high station; the precious freight of some frail caravel westward across the stormy waters of the Atlantic; immured for two centuries within some quiet sanctuary in New Spain: the prize of some pilfering sacristan; the booty of bibliophile Andrade; sold on credit to Maxmilian; carried mule- back with a thousand unhappy companions to Vera Cruz, and hastily ship- ped to a dingy Leipzig auction room: the cynosure of a score of anxious bidders : and, finally, back again over sea and land to its present seclusion on the foggy edge of sunny California. Where next?
"The collections of Andrade, Ramirez, Squier, Elwood Evans, Alphonse Pinart, Castro, Cushing, Brantz, Mayer, Brasseur de Bourbourg, Placido Vega,, and others, are stored in the unpretentious brick building far out on Valencia street, San Francisco. They were gathered with infinite patience, unwearied search, lavish expenditure, and in times propitious to the col- lector of such material, but now forever gone. For ten long years these precious books and codices have languished, imprisoned in the dark, un- read, unheeded, untouched save by moth or worm. Ten unproductive years! Their enlightened owner has utilized their resources in the full ac- complishment of his prodigious task; nor will to him ever return the desire to open those familiar pages again. Where next?"
"Old family names in the great dramatists' family." This choice bit of Shakespeariana left England under a strong protest from the library world.
303
HISTORY OF THE NEW CALIFORNIA.
The department most interesting to Californians is the famous Spanish collection, which Professor Burr, of Cornell, has called the best col- lection in America, both as to quality and numbers of books of the Fifteenth century. Andrew D. White, famous as Cornell's president, justly classified the collection as the best extant and the library as fourth in importance of any in America.
In the Spanish collection there is a vast amount concerning the early voyages and explorations of the Spanish on this coast. The Geographical Society of the Pacific has obtained valuable material from the shelves of this great library. From one of the old books was first learned of the res- cue and return to Mexico of the wrecked people of the San Augustine, a vessel that was wrecked somewhere between Point Reyes and Bolinas Bay, in 1596, times that go well back to the origin of our American history.
The story of the Mexican governors, the history of printing in Mexi- co, and the original constitution of the University of Mexico, are some of the treasures to be seen.
There are also well preserved specimens of printing from the press of Guttenberg, Caxton, and Elrich Zell, the master of Caxton. An extraordi- narily valuable and rare specimen is of early printing in Roman letters by Nicholas Jason.
Illuminated manuscripts on vellum and paper, the work of painstaking monks "who wrought their hearts into exquisite missals, Bibles, cate- chisms" and philosophy, are of the number. Many an old cloister has yielded its secrets to enrich the collection.
THE GREAT BANCROFT LIBRARY.
Far out on Valencia street in San Francisco, a large, plain brick build- ing, two stories in height and having iron shutters, stands in the midst of ample grounds. Within, arranged upon a mile of shelving, are the 60,000 printed and manuscript volumes, with a vast number of periodicals, pam- phlets and maps, which constitute the Bancroft Library, itself one of the surprises of California.
The gentle Franciscans, who, at the close of the eighteenth century, dotted this distant province of Spain with missions; the men of strong arm and clear brain, who, in the middle of the nineteenth century, wrested gold
304
HISTORY OF THE NEW CALIFORNIA.
from the hills and made California an American state,-these are favorite themes of the historian and novelist; but that in so young a commonwealth the care for intellectual things should have scored a literary achievement almost impossible to the scholarship of older communities is hardly under- stood, even here at home. Yet this is the meaning of the unpretentious Valencia street structure and the precious collection housed behind its heavy iron doors.
The Bancroft Library is the only existing depository of the entire lit- erature of the western half of North America. Not only is it thus distinct from other collections, but for many reasons it can never be duplicated. Such libraries are not found in the market, ready made. Their develop- ment depends upon favoring conditions of time and place and requires a large expenditure of labor and money. The material of this collection was assembled when the history of the Pacific Coast was still a virgin field. Entire libraries, the treasures of famous Spanish families, were transferred by purchase to its shelves. Great masses of government and mission arch- ives were incorporated, either in the originals or in copies made by scores of clerks during many years of toil. More important still, hundreds of actors in the events preceding and contemporary with the establishment of American dominion up and down the coast-Spaniards and Americans, Englishmen and Russians, Indian traders, agents of the Hudson's Bay Company, Alaskan missionaries of the Greek church-contributed narra- tives of their own experiences. Many of these men, makers of history in a double sense, even compiled or dictated complete manuscript annals of par- ticular localities or periods and of important transactions.
These pioneer leaders are now no more, but their invaluable testimony, secured in the nick of time, is here preserved. No other state or section anywhere in the world has been so fortunate. What luck for Massachu- setts, for Virginia, for New York, had there been a Bancroft to collect the printed and spoken story of their founders! What good fortune for the nation, had such a collector, endowed with ample means, intelligence and zeal, given his life to rescuing from oblivion the recollections of the actors in the American Revolution, the makers of the Constitution, the hardy pioneers who first crossed the Alleghenies and won the Mississippi Valley to the young republic! These things were attempted too late if at all. The
305
HISTORY OF THE NEW CALIFORNIA.
opportunity for a full and systematic chronicle of the most important events in the country's history was forever lost.
The Bancroft Library thus stands apart from all others in being the largest and fullest existing collection of books, maps and manuscripts relat- ing to a special territory, time or subject. Larger masses of historical data are of course to be found in the great library centers of the world, but they are general, covering all lands, peoples and periods. Not only is the Ban- croft collection superior as a whole but its superiority obtains in each of its parts. Here, for instance, may be found more complete data for Mexican history, for Central American history, for Pacific United States history, than exist elsewhere. The library contains a better collection on Alaska, on Costa Rica, on Texas or Colorado or Utah, than can be had in any other public or private institution, and in the case of California especially it is re- garded by experts as incomparably superior to any state collection now formed or that could now be formed in all the United States or Europe. Thus Mr. Bancroft has accomplished for his country a work that in com- mon practice would have been left for historical societies and specialists to attempt at a later date, when the actors had wholly passed away and most of the original materials had perished.
The history and method of this collection are characteristically Ameri- can, or rather western. Its assembling was not the work of a scholastic recluse burrowing in the dim alcoves of the Bodleian, nor of the familiar American millionaire who buys books at random because they are ancient, nor yet of the agents of a government or institution, but of an intelligent California business man who aspired to become the historian of the Far West and whose success as a progressive, money-making bookseller and publisher made his bibiographical and literary undertakings practicable. Thus the collection, designed for practical ends, has been put to practical and systematic uses. To facilitate his work of history writing, the collector had the entire library indexed and digested as one would index and epitomize a single volume. Nowhere else has so vast an amount of crude historical data been worked over, thoroughly winnowed and every important fact brought within reach for instant reference. This was done not only for the printed and manuscript books but for the newspapers as well, nearly a thousand files of which, equivalent to many thousand bound volumes, form
306
HISTORY OF THE NEW CALIFORNIA.
a valuable part of the collection, being often the only contemporary record of important events. These indexes and summaries employed many men for years. Having served Mr. Bancroft's original purpose in aiding his historical writing, they are still a noteworthy feature of the library, whose availability they double.
Hubert Howe Bancroft came to California from Ohio in 1852, at the age of twenty. Failing as a gold-seeker, he established himself in San Fran- cisco as a bookseller. Success came soon and before the outbreak of the Civil war he was at the head of the largest book and publishing house on the coast. But for money as an end he cared nothing, and instead of labor- ing to pile up wealth he devoted his surplus income to the purchase of Pa- cific coast books. At first his only motive was curiosity. As some men pur- sue riches for mere love of money, so he sought books for the love of ex- ploring the past. California, her history and the annals of her neighbors fas- cinated him. The towns of the entire coast and the shops of eastern cities were searched for books printed here or referring to the coast. In 1862 and 1866 Mr. Bancroft made his first book hunting tours of Europe, spend- ing many months in ransacking the book-marts of Spain, Italy, France, Ger- many and England. By his direction experts prepared a complete index and digest of all material on the Pacific coast countries from Panama north- ward that was to be found in the British museum and other national libraries of Europe. Many thousand additions to Mr. Bancroft's collection resulted from these early tours, and in 1869, as he tells us in his charming auto- biography entitled "Literary Industries," his library contains 16,000 volumes.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.