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Creator
Bancroft, George, 1800-1891
Call number
MssCol 196
Physical description
29 linear feet (42 boxes, 37 v.)
Language
Materials in English
Preferred Citation

George Bancroft papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library

Repository
Manuscripts and Archives Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

Collection consists of correspondence, dispatches, writings by Bancroft and others, legal papers and accounts, clippings, notes, photographs, and research materials. General correspondence, 1823-1890, contains Bancroft's correspondence, 1847-1849, as U.S. Minister to Great Britain with Cave Johnson, Postmaster-General of the U.S., concerning postal communications and postal treaties with Great Britain; correspondence, 1863-1889, of Bancroft and J. Dickinson Logan, with the librarian and historian, George Moore, on historiographical matters; correspondence, 1887, with J.G. Harris relating to the presidency of James K. Polk; and general correspondence with other political figures. There are also dispatches of the U.S. legations at London, 1847-1849, and Berlin, 1867-1870, reflecting Bancroft's tenure as U.S. Minister to Great Britain and Germany. The bulk of the other papers concerns Bancroft's writings and includes some poetry, articles, addresses and notes, drafts, proofs, and various printed editions of History of the United States and writings about John Adams and Martin Van Buren. There are also a few photographs, clippings, book catalogs and lists, lists of source material in European archives, some legal papers and accounts, notes taken at Göttingen University, transcriptions of rare books, and materials relating to the San Juan water boundary dispute between the U.S. and Great Britain in 1872.

Biographical/historical information

The American historian, diplomat, and public official, George Bancroft, was born in 1800 in Worcester, Mass. and died in Washington, D. C. in 1891. He graduated from Harvard College and did post-graduate work at the University of Göttingen. During his long career, Bancroft was a teacher at the Round Hill School in Northampton, Mass., Collector of the port of Boston, Secretary of the Navy under President James K. Polk, Minister to Great Britain, 1846-1849, and to Germany, 1867-1874. He is best remembered for his ten-volume History of the United States, From the Discovery of the Continent. In 1876 he published a six-volume version called the Centenary Edition, and in 1882 he published The History of the Formation of the Constitution of the United States of America. And in 1883-1885 he brought out his last revision of the History of the United States.

Scope and arrangement

The papers consist of general correspondence for the period 1823-1890; correspondence, 1847- 1849, of Bancroft as U. S. Minister to Great Britain with Cave Johnson, the Postmaster General of the U. S., concerning postal communications and postal treaties with Great Britain; correspondence, 1863-1889, of Bancroft and J. Dickinson Logan, with the librarian and historian, George Moore, on historiographical matters; and correspondence, 1887, with J. G. Harris relating to the presidency of James K. Polk. Included in the general correspondence are letters by John Meredith Read, Austin Allibone, Winfield Scott, Silas Wright, Charles Henry Hart, and Samuel Tilden. There are also dispatches of the U. S. Legation at London, 1847-1849, and at Berlin, 1867-1870, during Bancroft's tenure as U. S. Minister.

The bulk of the rest of the papers concerns Bancroft's writings and includes some poetry; articles, addresses, and notes, drafts, proofs, and various printed editions of the History of the United States; drafts of The People Demand Independence; and rough drafts and emended typescripts of The Life of Martin Van Buren. There are also a few photographs, clippings, book catalogues, lists of books, lists of primary source material in European archives, some legal papers and accounts, notes taken at Göttingen, transcriptions of rare books, some papers relating to diplomatic duties, and material relating to the decision in favor of the U. S. made by Wilhelm I of Germany in the dispute between the U. S. and Great Britain over the water boundary between the State of Washington and British Columbia.

Administrative information

Processing information

Richard Salvato, February 1984, rev. 2008

Using the collection

Location

Manuscripts and Archives Division
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, Third Floor, Room 328

Alternative form available

Portions of the collection available on microfilm; New York Public Library