thoroughly creditable history of the country from the earliest times to the present—an advantage no other State of any nation has ever possessed.
The same system as above described has been pursued in obtaining material for the history of the other States. The government of Central America has contributed a voluminous amount of matter to that before in the library. Pinart and Petroff have brought to the library, from St. Petersburg, collections of great value to the history of Alaska, which have been augmented by Mr. Petroff's recent labors in examining the government archives at Washington.
For the history of British Columbia, besides every printed book on the subject, a large number of manuscrips have been furnished by gentlemen formerly in the service of the Hudson Bay Company, the earliest pioneers of that region. These Mr. Bancroft obtained by a personal visit to Vancouver's Island in 1878.
For the history of Oregon and Washington Territory he secured the collection of Hon. Elwood Evans, the most comprehensive yet made of historical data for that region, besides the extensive correspondence of Mrs. Victor with the pioneers of Oregon, a partial collection by United States District Judge M. P. Deady, manuscript contributions by Judge William Strong, Judge P. P. Prim, Judge J. Q. Thornton, General Joseph Lane, Hon. Jesse Applegate, Hon. J. W. Nesmith, and sixty other of the earliest settlers and men of affairs in that portion of the Pacific coast. Even Idaho and Montana have furnished some original matter; but that territory is not yet thoroughly explored.
Next comes Utah, from which portion of the field the matter for modern history is complete. By the courtesy of President Taylor and the Council of Twelve, the entire documentary library of the church of Latter Day Saints and the Territory of Utah has been placed in Mr. Bancroft's hands to search and copy at his pleasure; while Mr. Richards, one of the foremost men in the Territory, has been at much trouble to personally answer questions upon any and all topics, his replies being taken down bya reporter for the shelves of the library.
For each one of the States and Territories newspaper files have been gathered, until they aggregate four hundred in number, and make over four thousand volumes. United States Government documents, numbering two thousand volumes, are here to be drawn upon for the Congressional history of the several States; while scrap-books of choice information, and pamphlets on every subject germane to the history, swell the enormous mass of material, amounting in all to over thirty-five thousand books, maps, and manuscripts.
As the library grew upon his hands, Mr. Bancroft removed, first from Montgomery, near Merchant, to Market Street, in 1869, and again in 1881 to Valencia Street. On Montgomery and Market Streets the books were kept in the topmost story of the building, in which was carried on the business of the bookselling and publishing concern: but on finding himself crowded by the encroachments of a constantly enlarging trade, and being in dread of the possible loss by fire of his costly collections (representing several hundred thousand dollars in money, not to mention their greater value to him as the result of twenty-five years of persistent effort), Mr. Bancroft decided to erect a special depository on Valencia Street, which, being of brick, with iron doors and shutters, and standing in the center of a large lot, surrounded by grass and shrubbery, should be almost absolutely safe from conflagration.
The interior arrangement of the library is good, being well lighted, well ventilated, and cheerful in aspect. 'The lower floor is devoted to the heavier classes of books, and to maps and newspaper files; the upper floor to a literary work-shop, the walls of which are covered from floor to ceiling with books arranged upon a plan which enables the librarian at a moment's notice to take down any volume that may be called for. On the upper floor, also, are a few private
