The Bancroft Library As Material For Pacific States History Classic Reprint

Excerpt from The Bancroft Library as Material for Pacific States History The colonial period of Mexico has never been written, except in Spanish, and this very imperfectly, without research and critique, and altogether unworthy of translation. The repub lican period is more thoroughly covered by native writers, but the versions are so varied and biased in different directions, as to serve only for material to the impartial student. Foreign works are quite superficial, or cover chiefly certain periods. A connected history for the three epochs is therefore absolutely needed; and it can be written only by Mr Bancroft, whose collection of material for all is, beyond all comparison, the most complete in existence. Indeed, no writer so far has had access to a tenth of the volumes possessed by him. Agents in the chief book marts of the world have for over twenty years been on the watch to buy whatever was needful to fill gaps in his collection. Large as it was in 1869, Mr Bancroft then secured of the rarest and most valuable volumes from the andrade-maximilian library of Mexico, the-choicest and most complete in that fore most among latin-american States. Another lot he Obtained from a second smaller collection, lost to Mexico, like the pre ceding, through the same revolution. Caleb Cushing's library yielded many valuable books, as did a number of libraries sold during the last dozen years, including that of the Mexican savant, Ramirez, whose collection must rank next to the An drade. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Chapters on the History of the Southern Pacific So far as the author knows there is no published study which discusses in detail the important business problems con nected with the history of the Southern Pacific Railroad lines. Most of the books which contain references to the Southern Pacific or to the Central Pacific limit themselves to a few chapters upon the romantic aspects of their construction. The few works which treat of the later period confine themselves chiefly to particular episodes in Southern Pacific history, often with the deliberate attempt to discredit the railroad company. The truth is that most writers upon the Southern Pacific have relied upon the reports of the United States Pacific Railway Commission or on Bancroft's History of California, and very few have done original work from source material. Yet the usable material dealing with the subject of Pacific railroads is abundant. The Southern Pacific has left a broad trail in California. The record of its doings is to be found in court reports; in state, city, and federal records; in the public testimony, or still better, in the private letters of owners or managers of company enterprises; in the reports of the com pany itself and of its engineers or other representatives; in pamphlets without number; in files of newspapers. It is true that much of the data is partisan and unreliable as to details. Yet a partisan statement is serviceable if one knows it to be partisan, and, if one has reliable information with which to check the unreliable, the extent of partisan exaggeration in a given case becomes itself a fact of no insignificant importance. Most of the documents used in the following pages have been consulted in one or another of three large collections: that of the Bancroft Library of the University of California; that of the Hopkins' Railway Library of Stanford University. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The Tucson Artifacts document the annals of a forgotten Roman-styled military governorship in Chichimec Toltec Northwest Mexico. Perfectly preserved, complete and unaltered, they are straightforwardly composed in Latin, the official language of records during the Middle Ages. They do not have to be reconstructed, pieced together, deciphered or dated. This illuminating collection of readings translated from Latin, Greek, Arabic, Chinese, Nahuatl, Hebrew and other languages by medievalist Donald N. Yates provides the cultural contexts for understanding these unique witnesses to world history. The finds come from the 1920s and consist of lost-wax, cast-lead ceremonial objects inscribed with medieval Latin historical texts and memorials of leaders with names such as Jacob, Israel, Benjamin, Joseph, Saul, Isaac and Theodore. Some also contain Hebrew phrases like “eight divisions” and “a great nation,” while others display commemorated leaders’ portraits, ships, trademarks in Tang-era seal script, temples, a Mesoamerican glyph, sacrificial fire, an anchor, Romanesque-style angels in glory and other drawings. Their iconography includes the Ten Commandments and cult objects like spice spoons, carpenter’s square, Frankish axes, snakes and trumpets. There are also military anthems and mottos. A series of thick one-sided double crosses, joined like sealed albums present what are clearly records signed by OL (Oliver), with dates ranging from 560 to 900 A.D. The overarching provenance is declared by the makers of the artifacts themselves to be Roman (Romani, monogram R), a term tantamount at this time to European. This claim to nationality is further divided into Levites (L) and Israelites (I). One of the stand-out emblems depicted is a triple tiara, a symbol of Jewish priesthood associated with the Mesoamerican figure of Quetzalcoatl.

Excerpt from California, From the Conquest in 1846 to the Second Vigilance Committee in San Francisco: A Study of American Character As to the originality of the various parts of this book, the later chapters are written with relatively the most complete independence of fellow-workers. In the first and second chapters, and in part in the third chapter, I have, on the other hand, to make my most important acknowledgments for help received. To Mr. Hubert Howe Bancroft I owe the very great privilege of a free use of his immense collection of original documents on the early history, especially of the conquest, a privilege of which I took advantage during the whole of the sum mer vacation of 1884. And from both Mr. Bancroft and his able collaborators I received, during all this time. Frequent and most friendly oral advice about the use of the collection itself. As Mr. Bancroft's library contains the material for his own great work. Now in process of publication, on the history of the Pacific States of North America, I feel especially indebted to the generositywn are, as they stand. Always my own final nt upon all the evidence that I could obtain. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.