Bancroft's History of Colorado
Hubert H. Bancroft's History of Colorado (part of Volume XX of Bancroft's History of the Pacific States) is a reprint that makes a very rare and costly research tool available and affordable to all Colorado historians, and history-buffs.
- Published
- 2008
- ISBN
- 978-1-932738-66-7
- Pages
- 344
- Category
- History
- Place
- Colorado
- Publisher
- Western Reflections Pub. Co.
- Listed at
- $43.11
Publication details from Open Library. The price shown is the last one on record and is historic, not a current offer.
- Direct from us info@westernreflectionspublishing.com or (336) 565-6915. We pack and post from Lake City.
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About this book
Bancroft's History of Colorado is a reprint of the Colorado portion of a large nineteenth century history of the American West. The description calls the original a very rare and costly research tool, and this edition makes it available and affordable to Colorado historians and history buffs.
The Colorado account first appeared in 1890. The Internet Archive's record of Bancroft's Works, published in San Francisco by the History Company, places the Colorado coverage in the volume History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, which Wikipedia dates to 1890 and gives the years 1540 to 1888. Our reprint is dated 2008 in the catalogue.
Hubert Howe Bancroft's name is on the work, but Wikipedia notes that much of what appeared under it was written by assistants, and describes him as an editor and compiler as much as an author. Read it as a nineteenth century source: a record of how Colorado's story was told in the late 1880s.
Who it is for
This reprint suits Colorado historians, genealogists and collectors who want a nineteenth century account on the shelf without paying for a rare original. It is also useful to students of how Western history was written in the 1880s. It is a primary-era source with the viewpoint of its time, so modern readers should check its claims against newer scholarship.
Ways to use this book
Comparing the reprint with the scan
Open the Internet Archive volume in one window and your reprint in another. Check the Colorado chapters first. You will see what the reprint preserves, and the scan lets you search the full text.
Using it as a source, not a verdict
Treat a claim from an 1880s history as a lead. When it names a person or a date, look up the same name in a modern reference and note where the two agree. Cite both when you write up the results.
Go deeper
Bancroft's Colorado account was written in the 1880s, so it reads best next to the sources it came from and the references that came after it. These three are places to look at the original, its maker and modern Colorado history.
The works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Internet Archive
A scanned volume of Bancroft's Works, listed as volume 21, free to read or borrow online. Handy for comparing the original pages with the reprint before you decide which one you need.
Bancroft Records of the Library and Publishing Companies, OAC
A finding aid for 1864 to 1910 papers, mostly chapter drafts, notes, clippings, galleys and proofs for the histories published by The History Company. It shows how the volumes were assembled.
Online Archive of California finding aid → (opens in a new tab)
Colorado Encyclopedia
A modern reference with articles on Colorado places, people and events. Use it to check names, dates and framing in a nineteenth century narrative against newer scholarship.
Good to know
Is the Bancroft volume original or reissued?
Who is Hubert Howe Bancroft?
Which volume of the Works contains it?
Where can I buy it?
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