N E WSLETTER OF THE FRIENDS OF THE BANCROFTIANA

N UMBER 125 • UNIVERSITY OF , BERKELEY • FALL 2004

100 Years of Physics at Berkeley . . . and Bancroft

n its first hundred years Berkeley dent and president of the University contained the largest telescope of its Iphysicists built a program that is (1875-1881). Interesting documents kind in the world, which was used by one of the University’s most dazzling and images in the exhibit were drawn the physicists and instantly established achievements, and its history is richly from the LeConte family papers, the nascent University’s research documented in the collections of The including LeConte’s personal journal, reputation. Bancroft Library. These facts were which documents his life as an officer As the exhibit showed, the readily apparent in an exhibit, “Break- of the Confederacy, as well as lecture department’s rise to greatness steadily ing Through: A Century of Physics at and research notes compiled as a continued following Raymond Thayer Berkeley, 1868-1968,” that was on Berkeley professor. Birge’s (1887-1980) appointment to display in the library’s gallery from The story of the Lick Observatory, the faculty in 1918. Birge was a skilled April through July 2004. the first of the University’s many administrator who was also passionate The exhibit included nearly 100 world-class research facilities, was also about teaching and research. When he documents, images, books, and artifacts liberally illustrated. The gift of an retired in 1955, Birge had served as drawn from the library’s collections. eccentric San Franciscan, James Lick department chair for 23 years, super- Most of these are contained in the (1796-1876), the observatory opened vised 343 doctoral dissertations, and administrative archives of the Depart- on Mt. enjoyed an international reputation ment of Physics, the Office of the Hamilton in for his work on the light emitted by President, and the Office of the Chan- Santa Clara atoms and molecules. cellor. A voluminous, highly significant County when The exhibit included two contem- collection of materials is also found in the University porary publications reflecting the the papers of individual faculty mem- was barely 20 department’s achievements. In one, bers including John LeConte, years old. It the editors of Science identify Berkeley Raymond Thayer Birge, and six of as a “national center for research” in Berkeley’s seven Nobel laureates in physics, the only designee west of physics. Chicago (1928); in another, a piece by The Physics Department and Birge appears as the lead article in the Library, the Lawrence Berkeley first number of The Physical Review National Laboratory, and the Supplement, forerunner of the presti- Lawrence Hall of Science also gious Reviews in Modern Physics loaned images and objects that (1929). further enhanced the exhibit. This was also the period when two The record shows that the of Berkeley’s most famous physicists University literally began with joined the faculty. Ernest O. Lawrence physics. The Regents’ first faculty (1901-1958) and J. Robert appointment was the physicist John Oppenheimer (1904-1967) blazed LeConte (1818-1891), who was a key new trails that put Berkeley’s experi- member of the Regents’ committee mental and theoretical programs in that organized the first administration Model for Cyclotron Chamber, 1931. One of the earliest the first rank of atomic research particle accelerators, built by Lawrence and a graduate and established the curriculum. student, Stanley Livingston, using shards of glass, metal, worldwide. Lawrence invented the LeConte later served as acting presi- wires, and wax. Courtesy Lawrence Hall of Science. Continued on page 3 N E WSLETTER OF THE FRIENDS OF THE BANCROFT LIBRARY From the Director Hypnerotomachia Poliphili

Bancroft has three of those copies. founder of the fine print tradition on the Some questions immediately arise: West Coast. Nash amassed a library of Where did Bancroft’s three copies come over 5,000 volumes to document the from? And why do we need, three copies, greatest monuments in the history of even of a very rare book, anyway? The printing. Purchased for the University in two questions are intertwined. The first 1944, it brought to the Library specimens two copies came to Bancroft when the of the works of the greatest printers from ne of the more improbable Library transferred its rare book collec- Gutenberg to Nash himself. The collec- Obooks on the bestseller lists this tion to us in 1970. Copy 1, bound in a tion was “presented to the University of past summer (number 3 on the New York near-contemporary blind-stamped black California, , Time’s list as I write) is The Rule of Four, a calf binding, bears a note in a late 16th or President, By Mr. and Mrs. Milton S. murder mystery wrapped inside an early 17th century hand on the flyleaf: Ray, Cecily, Virginia and Rosalyn Ray historical enigma: the meaning of the “Vide Iudicium huius libri apud D. V. and the Ray Oil Burner Company,” Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, decoded in Antonium Augustinum Terraconensem according to the handsome engraved the course of the novel by a pair of Episcopum Dialogo .xj. De suspect. book plate inside the front cover. The Princeton undergraduates. The novel, Antiq. Inscript. pag. 295 qui extat in hac copy is very clean, unfortunately almost written by two boyhood friends, Ian Bibliotheca G.IV.109.” ‘See the judgment without annotations. Bibliophiles prefer Caldwell and Dustin Thomas, the former of this book in Dialogue XI of the De pristine copies; scholars like them all of whom did indeed attend Princeton, Suspect. Antiq. Inscript, p. 295, of Anto- marked up, because the notes indicate the undoubtedly owes much of its success to nio Agustín, Bishop of Tarragona, which sort of things that readers were interested its generic resemblance to The Da Vinci is found in this library at [shelfmark] in and therefore how the book was read. Code, another murder mystery based on G.IV.109.’ Agustín (1516-1587), in Copy 2 has a page of manuscript medieval legend. addition to being a bishop, was also an notes in Latin on one of the last flyleaves. The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, accomplished classicist and an expert on These serve as a rough index of some of however, is a real book, perhaps the most medieval canon and civil law. The work the woodcuts or inscriptions, and copy beautiful book printed in the 15th cited is his Diálogos de medallas, passages of particular interest to the century. Published by the humanist inscriciones y otras antigüedades, originally annotator. Like Copy 1, this copy also printer Aldus Manutius in Venice in written in Spanish and published in that gives evidence of its passage from the 1499, it has long puzzled scholars. Its title language in Madrid in 1744. The learned Mediterranean lands to Anglo-Saxon has been translated as “The Strife of Love bishop entertained the liveliest doubts as hands. On the verso of the last flyleaf one in a Dream of Poliphilus,” and it is to the authenticity of the finds a half-effaced inscription “Madrid y written in a curious combination of Hypnerotomachia’s Latin inscriptions. Of … 1697,” and inside the front cover, in Italian, Latin, and Greek, with some the book itself he says, “It seems that he pencil, “ex libris Lord Bagot – Stafford- Egyptian hieroglyphics for good measure. wished to write about his dreams and shire,” referring to the armorial supra- The author is identified only by an foolishness in Italian, and he mixed so libros on the binding. The date of the acrostic composed from the first letter of many Greek and Latin words and sought binding would accord well with the each chapter. No one knows who that such obscurity and mixture of these three second lord, Sir Charles Bagot (1781- person, Fra Francesco Colonna, was; and languages that we can say that he wrote 1843), British diplomat, who died as one of the charms of The Rule of Four is in none of them.” governor-general of Canada and whose its clever attempt to solve the riddle of A roughly contemporary note gives library was sold at auction in London in the author’s identity. the name “Petri Americij,” ‘Of Petrus 1844. The book came to Berkeley as a In the brief Historical Note at the Americius,’ presumably a former owner. bequest from UC Regent and library beginning, the authors state: “The In the late nineteenth or early benefactor James K. Moffitt in 1955, one Hypnerotomachia Poliphili is one of the twentieth century the book came into the of 1500 volumes added to the University’s most treasured and least understood hands of Herschel V. Jones (1861-1928), Rare Book Department as a memorial to books of early Western printing. Fewer editor of the Minneapolis Journal and a his wife, Pauline Fore Moffitt. Moffitt was copies of it survive today than do copies noted collector of Americana. In one of a renowned collector of Horace, Virgil, of the Gutenberg Bible.” his sales it passed to the and the works of the early Italian human- printer, John Henry Nash (1871-1947), ists. P AGE 2 / FALL 2004 N E WSLETTER OF THE FRIENDS OF THE BANCROFT LIBRARY

PHYSICS Contnued from page 1 Copy 3 came to Bancroft just two years ago, the gift of Gale Herrick, a bibliophile interested in fine printing and fine binding, like Moffitt, and a long-time member of the Friends of The Bancroft Library. Bound in modern parchment, perhaps from the turn of the twentieth century, it bears a printed “ex libris a.r.s.” Of the three copies, this is the one that is in the best condition, with virtually no marginalia. Even a cursory examination of these three copies reveals some interesting things about their history, where they have been, and to whom they have belonged. Externally, these copies are not therefore unique. A detailed comparison will reveal that internally they are not unique either. In fact, no two copies of any hand-printed book will be identical. Ernest O. Lawrence at work on the 37-inch cyclotron, 1937 The printers made changes as errors were encountered during the press run, particle accelerator and Oppenheimer refugee from fascist Italy; and the but the sheets with errors were not provided a theoretical basis for the antinuclear, antiwar protests of Owen therefore discarded. In addition, the development of the atomic bomb. The Chamberlain (b. 1920). blocks for the woodcuts would gradually exhibit included a wealth of documents Medical physics was another distin- be worn down, so that some cuts are and images recording the construction guished program stemming from sharper than others. All of these details of the various cyclotrons, the develop- nuclear research at Berkeley. John argue in favor of keeping all three copies, ment of the Manhattan Project, and Lawrence (1903-1991), Ernest’s brother, particularly in a library like Bancroft, Berkeley’s growing fame that brought led the effort; his work was recounted in which uses these books as part of its celebrities to campus and attracted an oral history conducted by the library’s teaching collection. For many years, international attention in the press. Regional Oral History Office. Another Bancroft has hosted a class on the Also displayed were selections from leading scientist, John Gofman (b. History and Technique of the Hand- the scientists’ personal correspondence 1918), developed a passionate concern Press Book, which combines a study of that reveal a more private side. Two for the effects of radiation on the the whole range of western printing with letters from Oppenheimer, for ex- environment. The story of his confron- hands-on practice in typesetting and ample, include advice about girls for tation with the physicist Edward Teller printing, on an 1840 Albion hand press. his teenaged brother, and a poignant over the Diablo Valley reactor program Our three copies of the Hypnerotomachia expression of gratitude to Lawrence for is recounted in a contemporary newspa- Poliphili regularly make an appearance in encouraging words about a report that per report from San Luis Obispo. that class, both as astonishing examples hadn’t been well received. “Breaking Through: A Century of of the printer’s craft and artistry as well Following the war, Berkeley’s Physics at Berkeley, 1868-1968” opened as historical puzzles that must be solved. physicists continued groundbreaking the J. Robert Oppenheimer Centennial research while leading active professional symposium at Berkeley, April 23-24, and private lives. Documents in the 2004, co-sponsored by the Office for exhibit highlighted the work and experi- History of Science and Technology, the Charles B. Faulhaber ences of several Nobel laureates and Department of Physics, The Bancroft The James D. Hart Director others during this period: the bubble Library, and the University Library. The The Bancroft Library chamber invented by Donald Glaser (b. exhibit was curated by David Farrell, 1926); the bad-weather landing system Acting University Archivist, and Eric for airplanes invented by Luis Alvarez Vettel in the Regional Oral History (1911-1988); Lawrence’s cavalier treat- Office. ment of Emilio Segre (1905-1989), a —David Farrell Acting University Archivist

PAGE 3 / FALL 2004 N E WSLETTER OF THE FRIENDS OF THE BANCROFT LIBRARY California! What’s in a Name?

alifornia, here we come! It has Portuguese.” Thus Bancroft acquired one and fell in love with the princess Oriana, Cbeen the cry of wave after wave of of its treasures: four fragments from four but he first had to win her heart and the immigrants to the “golden state.” The separate leaves of the third book of right to claim her, which he did through name itself has magic. It stands for the”Amadís. Scholars believe these date many heroic deeds. opportunity, riches, new ideas, and new from around 1420, much earlier than the The first known printing of the Amadís trends. For many, California is a new story was originally believed to have been was in Zaragoza in 1508, with the author’s way of being. written. The fragments are carefully name as Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. In Credit for discovering, or rediscover- guarded and their viewing limited to the introduction, Montalvo said that he ing, of the name California is scholars, but Anthony Bliss, Bancroft’s found the work. It is now believed that he generally given to a Boston author and rare book librarian, points out that from reworked and then published the Amadis minister, Edward E. Hale. In 1862, he their size we can conclude the pages were series and appended the fifth book, the reported that an old romance, the best- large: “The book was perhaps meant to Sergas de Esplandian, which he did write. selling Sergas de Esplandián, printed in be set on a lectern and read out loud to Montalvo, who was knighted for his Spain in 1510 and followed by many an audience.” Spanish scholar and service by Ferdinand and Isabella, was a other editions, “mentioned an island, Director of Bancroft, Charles Faulhaber, representative of one of the families who California,“‘on the right hand of the points out that the size and the script controlled the town council of Medina del Indies, very near the Terrestrial Paradise,’ indicate that the fragments come from a Campo, a favorite residence of the peopled with black women, griffins and deluxe copy, probably written for a Catholic monarchs. other fantastic creatures.” Hubert Howe member of the nobility. We know that In 1493 Christopher Columbus had Bancroft, in his 1886 History of Califor- almost 100 years before these stories were returned triumphantly to the court of nia, states with great confidence: “No printed there was an audience for the Ferdinand and Isabella with news of his intelligent man will ever question the tales of chivalry. discoveries. He presented to their royal accuracy of Hale’s theory.” The Amadís books recount the origin, majesties his diary of the voyage. The The Sergas, meaning the labors, of adventures, and love of Amadís and Queen ordered that a copy be made for the knight Esplandián is a sequel to the Oriana. His birth was concealed, and he the archives and returned the original to most popular novel of chivalry at the was placed in an ark that floated out to Columbus so he could have it during his time of the discovery of America, sea. Raised in the court of the King of next voyage. Both have been lost. Oliver Amadís de Gaula. When Bancroft wrote Scotland, Amadis as a young warrior met Dunn and James E. Kelley Jr. transcribed his History of California, Garci and translated an abstract of the diary with Rodríguez de Montalvo was considered the following note: “Barring the unlikely the compiler or the translator of the first discovery of the long-lost original Diario four books of the Amadís. He was or of the single complete copy ordered for presumed to be the author of the Sergas, Columbus by Queen Isabella, [Bartolomé the fifth book, which continues with the de] Las Casas’ partly summarized, partly adventures of the prince Esplandián, the quoted version of Columbus’s copy is as son of Amadís. Many more sequels of close to the original as it is possible to the sequels were written in the next 50 come.” The entry for January 16, 1493, years by various authors. reads in part: Then, as reported in Bancroftiana in The Indians told him that on that 1971, “Señora María Brey de Rodríguez route he would find the island of Moñino presented to the Rare Book Matinino, which, he says, was Collection of The Bancroft Library the inhabited by women without men, only known manuscript of the most which the Admiral would have liked to famous Spanish chivalric romance, do so he could take five or six of them Amadís de Gaula.” The gift was made in to the sovereigns; but he doubted memory of her husband, “whose that the Indians knew the route distinguished career was spent in part well, and he was unable to on the Berkeley campus as a member of delay because of the danger Amadis de Gaula, a fragment from book 3 of the Spanish romance, the Department of Spanish and the earliest known manuscript of this work. BANC MSS UCB 115. from the water that the caravels P AGE 4 / FALL 2004 N E WSLETTER OF THE FRIENDS OF THE BANCROFT LIBRARY

were taking in. But he says that it connection from the mythical lore of the was certain that there were such Middle Ages to the accounts of Colum- women, and that at a certain time of bus, to the novel of Montalvo, and to the year men came to them from the said letters of Cortez. He goes on to say that it island of Carib, and that if they gave is very likely that Cortez would arrive on birth to a boy they sent him to the an island looking for pearls and gold and men’s island and if to a girl they let would “baptize” it with the name of the her stay with them. mythical island. Montalvo in the Sergas de There is no mention at this time, Esplanadian a decade and a half later however, of the name California. There is wrote the following passage: an acta, a record, of the Auto de posesión I tell you that on the right-hand side of del Puerto y Bahía de Santa Cruz. Nothing the Indies [between Europe and has been found for a similar naming or Cipango] there was an island called founding of “California,” which in those California, which was very close to the days was considered an island or a series region of the Earthly Paradise. This of islands. island was inhabited by black women, Cortez also sent several explorers and and there were no males among them cartographers up the coast of what is now at all, for their life-style was similar to Baja California. It is in the logs of the that of the Amazons. The island was expedition led by Francisco de Ulloa in made of the wildest cliffs and the 1539-1540 that we first find the name: Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas. Description des Indes sharpest precipices found anywhere in Occidentales . . . A Amsterdam, Chez M. Colin Libraire, “We found ourselves 54 leagues from the world. The women had energetic Demeurant au Livre Domestique, 1622. The engraved title California.” In 1541, the map of the bodies and courageous, ardent hearts, page, printed in Latin, includes the earliest representation expedition locates an island that is labeled of California as an island. and they were very strong. Their “California.” armor was made entirely of gold— bus was discovering the New World and As to where Garci Rodríguez de which was the only metal found on Cortez and Pizarro, among others, were Montalvo got the word “California,” there the island—as were the trappings on conquering the Aztecs and the Incas, have been several theories. Among some of the fierce beasts that they rode once they and their soldiers and sailors were the more possible, it is said to derive from they were tamed. The women would avidly reading these romances. the word calif, the Spanish spelling for a on occasion keep peace with men they As an example of the common Muslim sovereign. Others find anteced- had captured and they had carnal knowledge of these romances but also of ents in the French epic, the Chanson de relations. Many of the women became the confusion between the fictitious Roland, and even in a 13th century Saxon pregnant. If they bore a female, they events described as “history” and the real law book. kept her, but if they bore a male, he history that was taking place, Ruth Miguel de Cervantes’ great novel, Don was immediately killed. Putnam in California: The Name, written Quixote, is at one level a parody of these It would not be too far-fetched to in 1917, cites Bernal Diaz del Castillo’s novels. He sets the very premise of Don assume that Garci Rodríguez de True History of the Conquest of New Quixote’s story as the hero’s confusion Montalvo living in Medina del Campo Spain, where he describes the first view between reality and the tales of romance: would have read, or at least read about, of Tenochtitlán, the Aztec capital: “[Don Quixote] gave himself up so wholly the fantastic voyages. . . . we saw so many villages built in the to the reading of romances…so that all The tales of chivalry may have been, water and other great towns on dry land the fables and fantastical tales which he at one time, almost forgotten but the and that straight and level causeway going read seemed to him now as true as the respected Hispanist, Irving Leonard, towards Mexico; we were amazed and said most authentic stories.” who received his Ph.D. at Berkeley, it was like the enchantments they tell of in Scholars in Spain must have continued states in his study of books in New the legend of Amadís. . . . to be aware of those stories. It does appear Spain, Books of the Brave: “Long before Cortez himself crossed the sea that to be true, as Ruth Putnam mentions, that this enthusiasm subsided completely now bears his name (in Mexico it is in the 18th and 19th centuries California’s these fantastic tales had left their imprint known as the Gulf of California) and inhabitants could give no account of the on contemporary customs and manners, with great ceremony founded the City of origins of their name. Today we know had fired the imaginations of adventur- Santa Cruz (now La Paz) on May 3, more, but we still do not know where it ers in Europe and America and had 1535. The Mexican historian, David came from originally. inspired the greatest masterpiece in Piñera Ramírez, in California: Tierra Trás —Arlene Nielsen Spanish literature.” Thus, while Colum- el Enigma de su Nombre, suggests the

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REGIONAL ORAL HISTORY OFFICE The Invisible Participant The Role of the Transcriber in Interpreting Meaning in Oral History Research

roducing a quality oral history else.” Both of these decisions convey what is going on behind any nervous Ptranscript is an art, not simply the Bob’s reluctance to criticize Willa, yet at laughter, false starts, or pauses. process of listening to a tape and typing the same time show his struggle to answer The interviewer must also consider the words heard. This art varies from per- the question honestly. the transcriber’s particular approach. Did son to person in ways that can be deeply Transcriber B, a professional transla- she leave in false starts that are truly false, meaningful for an oral history project tor, left in “describe” but didn’t indicate or ones that reflect answers rethought such as ours. the laugh. She also eliminated the dou- midstream? Did the transcriber place cor- I had been intuitively aware of this bling of “her desk,” a decision which rect, or unwarranted, influence on certain variance in transcribers as I trained and made a clearer, easier to read sentence, points by the choice of punctuation? Did supervised them, but I wanted to see for but also gives the impression that Bob she streamline to make beautiful, literary myself just what that meant. So I asked easily volunteered this information. sentences yet omit meaningful informa- our four best transcribers to transcribe Transcriber C, a contract transcriber tion? the same short segment of a tape. in , eliminated both the false start And the most important thing an oral On the tape, Sara is asking Bob what of “describe” and its accompanying laugh, historian should do to ensure a quality it’s like being secretary to our then-direc- and streamlined the sentence about her transcript is to have tapes audited—lis- tor, Willa Baum, and then interrupts her- desk: “Her desk is something else.” Again, tened to by a third party. Interviewers are self to ask, “Or first could you describe a clean, coherent transcript, but one that often reluctant to do this, especially if the her desk, and then tell me—” obscures Bob’s hesitation. (It is important transcript seems to make logical sense, Bob, a polite and kindhearted young to note that C was the only transcriber of but errors can and inevitably do creep in. Midwesterner, reacts nervously to the the four who had never seen Willa’s desk, question. Willa’s desk was the stuff of leg- and who therefore didn’t have a strong end: papers piled high. Loyal Bob, con- image leap to her mind when Sara asked scious he’s being recorded, struggles with the question.) how to answer. Transcriber D, a musician and novel- “Describe—” he starts, and then ist, indicated the hesitation, but she com- laughs a little and starts over. pleted his first sentence with brackets— He says, “Well, Willa is a very, very “Describe [her desk].” She indicated the interesting person. Very, very smart per- laughter, and then, rather than repeating son.” “Her desk is,” she inserted the stage direc- Then, since he has been asked a direct tion “[pause]” after that phrase—“Her question and there’s no getting out of it, desk is [pause] something else.” he goes on: These seemingly small decisions on “Her desk is—her desk is something the part of the transcribers can lead to Brendan Furey at work transcribing an oral history else. A lot of papers on that desk.” important differences in conveying the recording. But then he’s back to her defense: meaning of the resultant transcript. “But she always manages, if she’s A few words of advice for the diligent Any oral historian who is committed working on something, to know exactly oral historian. Even an experienced tran- to producing meaningful transcripts must what she’s working on. She won’t lose scriber can do a much better job if she is not neglect the transcribing process. Tran- something and then forget about it.” given some indication of the context and scribers are not machines: they are intelli- The different ways the four transcrib- subtext of the interview. (Consider poor gent—and fallible—human beings. If in- ers rendered this passage is fascinating. Transcriber C, who had no idea what terviewers take the time to prepare them Transcriber A, a rather verbatim tran- Willa’s desk looked like.) When an inter- adequately beforehand, and review their scriber, left in the hesitating “false” start viewer hands over her recordings, she is work afterwards, their interviews will be where Bob repeats Sara’s word “de- inviting a third person into the interview. as lively and fascinating on paper as they scribe”—and then indicated his nervous She must tell the transcriber anything were in the moment of their recording. laugh. She also left in his repetition of that could help bring meaning to the —Shannon Page “Her desk is—her desk is something words on the tape and understanding of Administrative Assistant

P AGE 6 / FALL 2004 N E WSLETTER OF THE FRIENDS OF THE BANCROFT LIBRARY

An Afternoon with Gertrude

oday I went fishing around in The but are quite pleased with wishes so TBancroft Library’s special collection far, we have sold actually 37 volumes archives of poets and novelists. Previ- and as many more are at the booksell- ously I had read a little article about a ers . . . contribution of 60 Gertrude Stein and The letters in the thirties are Alice B. Toklas letters written to Ralph giddy with Gertrude’s literary suc- Church and his mother, Georgia. The cess and elation. When The Making gift details were described in a 1960s is- of Americans is well received, she sue of Bancroftiana. In the mid-1920s, has no doubt that it has already be- Ralph Church had been a student of come a classic. In a 1932 letter to philosophy at the University of Califor- Georgia Church, I find this de- nia, Berkeley, with expertise on Hume. lightful, nonstop sentence of a He and his mother were introduced to paragraph: Stein in Paris in 1926 or 1927, not long . . . Bernard Fay has spent some Gertrude Stein (right) with her biographer and companion, after his graduation. time with us and he has read me the Alice Toklas (left) as they walk with a pet dog in a village in I was opening a gray, archival card- first 300 pages of his translation of southeastern France, September 1944. board box in which I found and began Making of Americans, it is frightfully One gets the sense that Gertrude is to search through several manila folders, marvelous, he has made it completely equally invested in the way The Making each labeled by a particular set of years. French and yet it has all the roll and vol- of Americans translation will also enable The letters were usually on feather- ume of the original, and the variations of her to be recognized as a French mod- weight, white paper—slightly browned the descriptions of the styles of people are, if ernist, one whose turns and shapes of with age—that lay unfolded and flat- possible, I say modestly even more wonderful language will be compared to her fellow tened outside their original places in in French . . . cubists, including Matisse and Picasso. small, three-by-four inch envelopes. Sur- I find this paragraph lovely and even Unlike other American writers of the prisingly, the backs of each envelope car- a bit astonishing in a wonderful kind of same period, Gertrude’s real commit- ried a broken red wax seal, each one way. Imagine, to have the time to sit back ment was to the smart play, shape, and stamped with an emblematic bas-relief of and listen to Bernard Fay read aloud 300 possibilities of words themselves, as with a tiny red rose. Gertrude, famous for the pages in French, which must have taken, the titles of books from Plain Editions. line, “a rose is a rose,” clearly had an in- at the least, a few days! No doubt Fay’s If as good in French, why not? nate sense of modern-day logo design performance was mixed with sun, an oc- Some say the scholarly study of his- and branding! casional summer shower, great meals, and tory is really a guise to read other Most of the time, Gertrude’s hand- certainly the ricochet of much conversa- people’s letters. Whether this statement writing, unlike Alice’s, is hard to deci- tion. is true, or only partially so, Gertrude’s pher, as if her hand is already tired from and Alice’s letters and ephemera provide a day of continuous writing. Until the us with a microscopic vision by which to early thirties, the letters are primarily look into and interpret Stein’s life and cordial such as, “Thank you for the visit work. But, sitting there in Bancroft’s and the x, y, or z kind of flowers” reading room, it was quite sweet to let brought to the house during the last those slippery little pieces of paper mo- visit. Gertrude, even though she shared mentarily rest in my fingers, while look- an interest in Hume with Ralph, does ing at the pale blue envelopes with the not mention him at all. In the early thir- red rose wax seals. What a gift! For a ties, however, the letters pick up in ex- couple of hours I could sense I was in citement and length when Gertrude and Paris having a unique and intimate time Alice start Plain Editions, a small press with Gertrude and her circle, all of that whose editions were limited to 1,000 with only a small trip to the Bancroft copies per title. from my home across the bay. . . . We are at it and there is no doubt Enlargement of letter envelope from the Ralph —Stephen Vincent that publishing is an occupying occupation Withington Church Papers, BANC MSS 71/79 c.

PAGE 7 / FALL 2004 N E WSLETTER OF THE FRIENDS OF THE BANCROFT LIBRARY Annual Meeting of the Friends: May 8, 2004

also reported on the selection of architects for the project, a partnership between Ratcliff of Emeryville and Noll and Tam of Oakland. Both firms have a long history on campus. Kit Ratcliff’s grandfather designed the Morrison Library in 1927 and the renovation of the Life Sciences Building in the late 1980s, while Chris Noll and Janet Tam have worked exten- sively with the Library. A tribute was also offered for Jean Stone, a great supporter of Bancroft, a generous philanthropist and a former recipient of the Hubert Howe Bancroft Award (1999) who passed away in April at the age of 92. In reporting upon the day-to-day opera- tions of The Bancroft Library, Faulhaber noted that in the past year the library added almost 6,500 items to the collection, ranging from medieval manuscripts to extensive archival collec- tions. Highlights include additions to the papers of Beat era po- ets Michael McClure and Jack Spicer, a medieval French poetic miscellany written in Avignon around 1450, a 16th century copy of the Chronicle of King Henry IV of Castile, and a large collection of the works of iconoclast author H.L. Mencken. The Heller Reading Room hosted more than 12,000 research visits last year, a third of them by undergraduates. For compari-

Maxine Hong Kingston, noted author and poet addressed a gathering of son, this is twice as many users as at Princeton and half again as Friends in the Maud Fife Room, Wheeler Hall. many as at UCLA. These researchers examined over 60,000 in- dividual items. n Saturday, May 8, 2004, members and guests attended Charles Faulhaber reported on the many extramural grants Othe 57th annual meeting of the Friends of The Bancroft that support much of Bancroft’s work. The 2003-2004 aca- Library in the Heller Reading Room. On a perfect Berkeley af- demic year included the final year of a four-year-project to digi- ternoon, the Friends gathered to celebrate a number of accom- tize all of our materials on the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake plishments and honor a select group of award winners. The & Fire and the fourth year of a project funded by Genentech day’s events began with refreshments and a viewing of the cur- on the early history of the biotechnology industry. A Hearst rent exhibition, Breaking Through: A Century of Physics at Berkeley. Following the luncheon, Charles Faulhaber, the James D. Hart Director of The Bancroft Li- brary, and Camilla Smith, Chair of the Friends of the Bancroft Library, convened the Business Meeting. In his report, Charles Faulhaber ac- knowledged the support and hard work of many members of the Friends and highlighted a selec- tion of notable Bancroft acquisitions and activi- ties during the past year. He also outlined the plans to renovate and enhance the Doe Library Annex, home to The Bancroft Library, and the fundraising effort needed for this crucial project. Special thanks were offered to Camilla Smith and the other members of the Campaign Lead- ership Committee, particularly its co-chairs, The “first family” of The Bancroft Library, (left to right), Kimberley Bancroft and parents Chancellor Emeritus Mike Heyman and Vice Pete and Monica Bancroft pause for a photograph alongside the bust of Pete’s great grandfather, Chancellor Emeritus Mac Laetsch. The Director Hubert Howe Bancroft.

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without a certain sense of humor.” To his many friends and family members, Bill Barlow offered appropriately “humble” and humorous remarks on his many adventures in collecting and bibliogra- phy. This surprised none who knows of his generosity, wit, and charm. Charles Faulhaber delivered the Treasurer’s Report in the absence of Peter Frazier and the report of the Nominating Committee in the absence of its chair, John Briscoe, owing to illness. The new slate of candidates for the Council of the Friends nominated and approved by the membership include: Pete Bancroft, Beverly Maytag, Katherine Schwarzenbach, James Spitze, and Midge Zischke. (Left to right) Charles B. Faulhaber, James B. Hart Director of The Bancroft Library, At the conclusion of the Business Meeting, mem- congratulates Hubert Howe Bancroft Award winner Bill Barlow. bers and guests traveled next door to Wheeler Hall to Foundation grant supported processing and microfilming effort enjoy a presentation, “Poetry and Peace,” by acclaimed author for all of the Hearst Family Papers in our collections, including and poet Maxine Hong Kingston. the papers of George, Phoebe, William Randolph, and William Born in Stockton, the eldest of six children, Maxine Hong Randolph Jr. An experimental digital project is now underway Kingston attended Cal, taught high school in Hayward, lived to digitize Phoebe Hearst’s Papers using the microfilm copy. for seventeen years in Hawaii, and returned to California in National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grants sup- 1984. When living in Hawaii, she was named a “Living Trea- port processing work on the records of the Western Region of sure of Hawaii.” Charles Faulhaber aptly described her as “one the National Association for the Advancement of Colored of Cal’s living treasures, too.” People (NAACP) as well as our Women Political Activists Col- Ms. Kingston delivered a thought-provoking presentation lection, which contains materials ranging from the suffragettes on her journey as a writer and activist. “I began writing when I of the early 20th century to the antiwar and environmental was nine,” Kingston has noted. “. . . I was in fourth grade and movements of the 1960s and 1970s. all of a sudden this poem started coming out of me. On and on The presentation of the 6th Hill-Shumate Prize, for under- I went, oblivious to everything, and when it was over I had graduate student book collecting, followed. Bill Brown, Associ- written 30 verses. It is a bad habit that doesn’t go away.” ate Director for Development and Outreach, presented awards Kingston signed numerous copies of her works for members of to Cal students Raul Diaz (first place) for his collection, “Evolu- the audience following the lecture and discussion. tionary Biology and Herpetology,” Billy Chen (second place) for his collection, “Feminist and Queer Cultural Studies and Psychoanalysis,” and, in absentia, David Singer (third place) for his books on “Jewish Religion and History.” These three interesting and diverse collections— and their creators—exemplify the best efforts of young book collectors. The meeting concluded with the presenta- tion of the seventh Hubert Howe Bancroft Award, to noted book collector, William P. Barlow Jr. Deputy Director Peter Hanff pre- sented a small bust of Hubert Howe Bancroft and a framed resolution on behalf of the Friends, who honored Bill Barlow for his de- cades of service to The Bancroft Library and to the Friends. The award also recognized Barlow’s many other bibliophilic accomplishments and standing as a preeminent book collector. Peter Hanff described Bill Barlow’s contributions to bibliophily as “simulta- (Left to right) Camilla Smith, Chair of the Friends of The Bancroft Library, George Smith, and neously astonishing, enviable, and not Connie Loarie (Friends Council member) celebrate the year’s many accomplishments.

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MARK TWAIN PAPERS What Paine Left Out 200 New Letters by Samuel Clemens and His Wife

hen Albert Bigelow Paine agreed in early 1906 to write 2003. Cushman’s widow, Anne T. Cushman, after consultation WMark Twain’s biography, he gained access to the with Marianne Curling, recently decided to give these typed author’s life and thoughts in a way that was then unprec- copies to the Mark Twain Papers. edented—and that, in some respects, has never been equaled. Mrs. Cushman and Ms. Curling have our most heartfelt Between 1906 and Clemens’s death in 1910, Paine spent thanks for their generosity. A preliminary analysis shows that the uncounted hours with him—talking, asking questions, playing typescripts include texts for at least 200 letters from Clemens billiards, and also reading and copying his letters. and his wife Olivia, as well as two dozen letters to them, which Mark Twain publicly acknowledged Paine as his biographer are entirely new to us. Paine’s typed copies are very likely the and also provided letters of introduction, so Paine easily best text we will ever get for most of them. persuaded Clemens’s many correspondents to let him borrow The new documents significantly brighten our window on letters he had written to them. He copied those letters on a Mark Twain himself. And because they are often letters that typewriter before returning the originals, but he published Paine felt he should leave out, they paint a portrait of Mark only a small portion of what he collected, first in 1912 with Twain which contrasts sharply with the more staid, proper, and the biography, then in 1917 with a collection of some five well-behaved figure Paine described. Clemens says things in hundred letters. them that Paine, the ultimate Victorian, was not comfortable Thanks to an extraordinary recent gift consisting of most allowing him to say in public. of the typed copies Paine collected between 1906 and 1917, For instance, in a letter written in 1868 from Washington, we are beginning to know just how extensive his reach was. At D.C., two months after first meeting Olivia Langdon but least 1,800 letter copies survived, ultimately, in the hands of several months before he proposed to her, Clemens wrote as his grandson, Bigelow Paine Cushman, who died in April follows to his sister-in-law Mollie: I was glad to hear from so many friends whose names are familiar to my memory— Ick, & the Ellas, Al. Patterson’s folks, India, your parents, Belle,—why, it is a party in itself! And Miss Mason—will you borrow a mustache & kiss her once for me—or several times? I received a dainty little letter from Lou Conrad, yesterday. She is in Wisconsin. But what worries me is that I have received no letter from my sweetheart in New York for three days. This won’t do. I shall have to run up there & see what the mischief is the matter. I will break that girl’s back if she breaks my heart. I am getting too venerable now to put up with nonsense from children. The New York “sweetheart” was not Olivia Langdon, but a mysterious young lady named Pauline. Paine obviously found this talk of girl friends and other flirtations unsuitable for the portrait he was painting, which highlighted Clemens’s fairy-tale romance with Olivia. In any case, none of these paragraphs found its way into Paine’s volumes. Similarly, Paine quietly suppressed part of a letter to the Rev. Joseph Twichell written in 1898 from Kaltenleutgeben, Austria. The original is lost, Paine’s typed copy of a letter to the Rev. Joseph H. Twichell, dated March 7, 1905, from New York but Paine’s typescript preserves the text of a City. The original letter does not survive among the Twichell Papers at Yale University. Paine began, touching domestic scene which Paine simply in pencil, to edit out parts of the text which he thought unsuitable for publication, but in the end he suppressed the whole letter. omitted from the published text:

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Livy let fly viciously over the news of Will Sage’s second intellect to the world by sternly marriage—I was up, shaving, in my night-shirt at the time, putting the shackles on it & & she was back of me on the other side of the room in bed— keeping it within bounds. At & I followed her lead with sympathetic emphasis, & that thirty, with firm & wise care, pleased her. But you know how it is with a charitable man Sammy’s ought to be the who is argumentative: after a moment of reflection it comes brightest rising name in so natural to begin to cast about for an argument on the America—& if he should be other side. I did that. As I went along I began to be surprised, blind & an imbecile to boot, myself, to see how much there was to say on Sage’s side; & I at that age, don’t lay it to him, grew more & more interested, & less & less conscious that for he will not be to blame. there was anything left in the world but me & my argument; In school yet! For shame, to & at last happened to say, “Why, I see now that I ought to so wantonly trifle with so Paine as one of the guests at Mark begin to be looking around, myself, because—” imperial an intellect! No Twain’s 70th birthday dinner, Then a Bible or something whizzed past my cheek & creature can be such a traitor December 5, 1905. broke the glass; & that adjourned the subject. to a child as its own mother— no love so disastrous as a mother’s indulgence. You need to comprehend that yours is no common trust. It is not the ordinary hulk of clay & stupidity that you are put in keeping of—& so not to be cared for in the ordinary way. You are placed in charge of a future great philosopher, statesman, or general, & by the Lord you are playing with it!—amusing yourself with its feats & its inspirations! You fall away below a just appreciation of the work that is given into your hands. God knows it is never the smart boys’ fault they are dolts at maturity,—but their own parents’, & a pity & a shame it is. Poor John Garth!—gifted like a God—& his parents & teachers reduced him to mediocrity & below it in eighteen years—at least below it in some respects. Now don’t destroy this letter but keep it—& at 30, when

Albert Bigelow Paine and Mark Twain playing billiards in 1908, presumably at he is a very one-horse doctor or lawyer in a very one-horse Stormfield, Mark Twain’s new house in Redding, Conn. village, & of no sort of consequence in the world & doomed never to be, read this letter over again & confess that I was a Paine must have thought this elaborate joke too boyish, or prophet—or bequeath it to him & let him read it himself. perhaps too cruel, for the portrait he was constructing. If you will put that boy on a farm where there is not a As a last example of the kind of letter that Paine suppressed, single book, & where they will keep him out of doors & work here is one to Clemens’s sister Pamela which is, again, wholly him just enough & play him just enough to build up a strong new to us. It was written in September 1874 after a brief visit constitution for him—& then turn him loose on the books to her home in Fredonia, N.Y., where Clemens had seen her again 2 or 3 years from now, he will add an illustrious name young son, Sam. Sam Moffett had been troubled with weak to his country’s honored men—but just at present he is eyes and other mysterious ailments, but Clemens had a very pointing as straight at the asylum for idiots as the needle high opinion of his intellect, and was currently doing all he points to the pole. could to secure him a first-rate education. The true import of these comments is, of course, what they Elmira, 4th tell us about Clemens himself—especially when we recall that Dear Sister— young Sam Clemens hated school so much that his mother was Only a line—to warn you that at eighteen Sammy obliged to apprentice him to a printer at the age of eleven. These will be not more than 3 removes from an idiot, provided his insights into his thoughts about education and about great mother goes on with her trust as she is now. It is strong achievers are but samples of what we, and the world, can expect language but true. It is a common saying that smart boys to learn from Anne Cushman’s most generous gift to Mark turn out fools at maturity—but they wouldn’t if their Twain scholarship. parents’ vanity did not sit weakly by & see them destroying —Robert H. Hirst their brains without the power to deny themselves the daily Curator, Mark Twain Papers, and glory of the child’s prodigies & triumphs, & save a great General Editor, Mark Twain Project

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ach year The Bancroft Library hosts a number of UC rethinking of asymmetrical race relations, constructed in the Egraduate students who receive fellowships supported circuits of the burgeoning mass culture industry along with by the UC Berkeley Graduate School for the 2004-2005 immigration policies in the 19th century, to demonstrate the academic year and by the Friends of The Bancroft Library. complexity of gendered laboring practices in the United This year’s fellows reflect the strength and diversity of States within a postnationalist frame. Bancroft collections. Media representations of three women—Lola Montez, an Irish immigrant who made a career as a Spanish dancer and 2004 – 2005 Fellows writer; Ah Toy, a Chinese businesswoman and madam; and Mary Ellen “Mammy” Pleasant, an African American entre- Rachel A. Chico, Department of History, University of preneur—will inform this project. California, Berkeley Navigating Nation: Communication and Orientation in the Summer 2004 Fellows Veracruz-Mexico City Corridor, 1812-1867 This dissertation project explores the impact that Penelope Anderson, Department of English, University of change in the political topography had on individuals’ California, Berkeley identities in the aftermath of Mexico’s independence from The Rhetoric and Politics of Audience: Lucy Hutchinson, John Spain in 1821. This study focuses on one of Mexico’s Milton, and Katherine Philips central information arteries, the highly trafficked corridor This project explores the rhetorical construction of between the port city of Veracruz and the national capital, audience in the poetry and prose of three writers overtly Mexico City. Rich documentation exists in government identified with oppositional political communities: Lucy records, travelers’ accounts, and mercantile proceedings Hutchinson, John Milton, and Katherine Philips. It analyzes housed in The Bancroft Library the material evidence for readership and composition in conjunction with addresses to and frustrations with audience Anil K. Mukerjee, , Santa Barbara and nation evinced in the works themselves. An Examination of the Engel Sluiter Historical Documents Collection Stephen M. Fountain, Department of History, University of This project will support a dissertation that examines California, Davis the colonial roots and the early development of Brazil´s Big Dogs and Scorched Streams: Horses, Beaver, and economy and will focus on its financial administration Ethnocultural Change in the North American West, 1769-1849 during the 17th century. The overall aim of the disserta- The fates of two animal species shaped an era in the tion is to establish the extent to which the colonial impera- North American West. One was the horse, an exotic species tive shaped Brazil´s post-colonial economic realities. The that became so abundant they were vermin in the eyes of “Engel Sluiter Historical Documents Collection” contains californio ranchers. The other animal was the beaver, a material pertaining to the history of Brazil during the late valuable fur-bearer nearly exterminated by trappers in a 16th and early 17th centuries and reflects Professor geopolitical struggle between Britain and the . Sluiter’s interests in the economic and political history of This research project explores the impact of Europeans and Latin America. The collection amounts to more than these animals upon the peoples and environment of the 160,000 transcribed pages of manuscripts from Spanish northern Great Basin. and Portuguese archives and remains largely unexamined following its acquisition by The Bancroft Library. Jean V. Gier, Department of English, University of California, Berkeley Hellen Lee, Department of Literature, University of Writing Communities and Constituencies: Literature of the U.S. California, San Diego Filipino Press During the Early Twentieth Century Never Done: Women’s Work and Culture in the United States, This dissertation focuses on the recovery and study of the 1870-1910 literary discourse (poems, short stories, essays, and their historical This dissertation project explores the important role and material contexts) emerging from the culture of early U.S. that culture plays in mediating the processes of Filipino print media on the West Coast prior to and during the racialization and gender formations of labor. The archival Depression era. The Filipino Student’s Magazine (1905-1907) and and print resources of The Bancroft Library will support a The Filipino Student (1912-1914) are the earliest of these

P AGE 12 / FALL 2004 N E WSLETTER OF THE FRIENDS OF THE BANCROFT LIBRARY periodicals. The Philippine-American News Digest (1940) tional artistic movements on Russia from the beginning of the includes a crucial (and hard-to-find) record of early U.S. 20th century to the Russian Revolution of 1917. Filipino literary criticism, foreshadowing significant issues that This research will explore how these journals provided would rise for Filipino-American literature after World War II. visions for symbolist poetry and contribute to our own The Papers contain correspondence understanding of the literary works published within the between editors of The Filipino Student’s Magazine and the journals. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the then President of UC Berkeley. principal developments of Russian modernism, particularly those of Russian symbolism, took place on the pages of these Ki Won Han, Department of History, University of Califor- journals. The articles in them delineate the broader contexts, nia, Berkeley both indigenous and international, from which Russian The Rise of Oceanography in the United States, 1900-1940 modernists would find inspiration for their literature. Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley pio- neered American oceanography. William R. Ritter, Charles A. Marissa López, Department of English, University of Califor- Kofoid, and others established a summer biological station, nia, Berkeley which would evolve into the Scripps Institution of Oceanogra- Nationalism, Narrative, and History: The Formal Case for phy. Soon, oceanography at the University of California Chicana/o Literature became the model for American oceanography. This project This research project focuses on the papers of Mariano will explore how the specific economic, political, social, Guadalupe Vallejo, specifically his memoir, Recuerdos geographic, and academic circumstances of California at that Historicos y Personales Tocantes á la Alta California, 1769-1849. time influenced the development of American oceanography. It will explore the narrative strategies authors employ in treating history, how those strategies change over time, and Stacy C. Kozakavich, Department of Anthropology, Univer- what these changes tell us about the shifting value of the sity of California, Berkeley national identify. The Archaeology of The Kaweah Co-operative Commonwealth’s Advance Townsite Elisabeth R. O’Connell, Ancient History and Mediterranean This project explores the documentary and material Archaeology, University of California, Berkeley histories of 19th-century “intentional communities” in Recontextualizing the Tebtunis Papyri western North America, in particular, the Advance Townsite, The Bancroft Library maintains the texts on papyri from occupied between 1886 and 1892 by members of the Califor- the Tebtunis excavations while the objects are in the Hearst nia-based Kaweah Co-operative Commonwealth. Museum of Anthropology. Using the Tebtunis Papyri Collec- The Kaweah Co-operative Commonwealth was a socialis- tion, Hearst Museum records, Museum catalogue publications tic community created in reaction to industrial and commer- by H. Lutz, and a newly acquired facsimile of a field notebook cial conditions in urban California during the late 19th belonging to Hunt, this research project endeavors to reestab- century. Archaeological investigation of the group’s main lish, to the extent possible, the archaeological context of the habitation site of Advance, in Tulare County, California, will texts and objects belonging to Berkeley’s Tebtunis collections. help us understand the complex negotiations of materiality and social status that members experienced while attempting Julie K. Tanaka, Department of History, University of to transform their daily activities and habits to those more California, Berkeley fitting their trustees’ envisioned utopia. Germania Fiat: German Historiography and Identity in the Holy Roman Empire Michael Kunichika, Department of Slavic Languages and This dissertation project examines the conceptualization of Literature, University of California, Berkeley a German identity within the larger political and religious Visions for Verbal Art in the Russian Symbolist Journal, 1899- cultures of the Holy Roman Empire as the empire began to 1917 transform from the medieval empire of Latin Christendom This project focuses on discussions and reproductions of into what would eventually become Germany. Fundamental visual arts in four journals that span the Silver Age of Russian to this research is The Bancroft Library’s collection of early Literature—The World of Art (1899-1904), The Balance printed German books, including Hartmann Schedel’s Liber (1904-1909), The Golden Fleece (1904-1909), and Apollo Cronicarum (Nuremberg, 1493), Sebastian Franck’s Germaniae (1909-1917). Published during tremendous political upheaval, Chronicon (Frankfurt a.M., 1538), and Sebastian Münster’s these journals testify to extraordinary developments within Cosmographia (Basel, 1544). Russian artistic culture, the mutual interaction and influence of the visual and literary arts, and the influences of interna-

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proclaimed that “to learn about the archaic An AWESOME Experience ways in which books had to be produced … gives new value to their existence.” Undergraduates Search for Shakespeare The students were also very surprised to learn that we have never had the manu- ost students in the Spring 2004 represented in his poetry with such rare scripts from which Shakespeare’s First Folio Mclass, English 17: Introduction to life. was typeset, and that differences in skill Shakespeare, began the semester believing To instill this historical consciousness among compositors, as well as the exigen- that Shakespeare not only thought up the in my students, I met with Tony Bliss and cies of running a 17th-century print shop, stories in his plays, but left his works to he agreed to introduce my class to have produced a First Folio edition so full of posterity in the way that he originally Berkeley’s copy of the 1623 First Folio of typographical errors that no two copies are imagined them. The students did not yet Shakespeare’s Works, as well as to a 1611 exactly alike. Moreover, the students were know that Shakespeare took the plot of first edition of the King James Bible, a taken aback by the textual differences King Lear, for example, from a partly Quarto version of Hamlet, and a 15th- between the Folio and the two Quarto historical, partly fictional chronicle of century manuscript version of the Brut versions of Hamlet, which Bliss revealed to ancient kings, or that Hamlet was “origi- Chronicle, from which Shakespeare took them first-hand, as well as by the disappear- nally” printed in three different versions, the plot of King Lear. We divided the class ance in modern editions of a significant two of which are now considered almost into five groups of approximately 23 orthographical pun which is found in Act equally authoritative. With the help of students each, and over the course of one III of the Folio version of As You Like It. Anthony Bliss, Curator of Rare Books and heroic day in a Bancroft seminar room, Such concrete evidence of textual indeter- Literary Manuscripts at The Bancroft Tony showed each student group these minacy did much to destabilize the stu- Library, however, I found a way to show invaluable texts, while offering, five times dents’ assumptions about Shakespeare’s my students that Shakespeare’s creativity over, a witty and engaging lecture both on ability to have authorial control over his was less visionary than revisionary, and the vexing issues raised by Shakespeare’s works: as one student put it, “that [we have] that the publication of his plays was texts and on the broader history of book no original manuscripts only adds to the almost entirely out of his hands. production in medieval and renaissance Shakespeare mystery.” I wanted to show students these things Europe, complete with a hands-on My students were awestruck by the not to thwart their sense of Shakespeare’s demonstration of typesetting. The strange glamour of the rare books in front genius, but to cultivate their historical students were fascinated. One student of them, and by the Shakespearean presence sense of the strange parameters of genius remarked afterwards that she “didn’t that these books seemed to conjure up. One in Renaissance England. Indeed, I wanted expect that learning about the details and young man exulted: “The Bancroft Library to offer students the experience of wonder problems of the printing process would be visit was AWESOME . . . I can’t believe I that comes from seeing, across the dark so interesting,” and she attributed at least saw the works of Shakespeare in person.” backward and abysm of time, other minds some of her interest to “Tony Bliss’s alert Another student although she feared that and other worlds, worlds that Shakespeare sense of humor.” Another student she would sound like “a dork for putting it this way,” admitted that she found the experience “enchanting.” And, being particularly touched by both historical wonder and school spirit, one student summed up the day definitively: “The Bancroft was indeed an incredible experi- ence. Being able to look at a book that is centuries old is absolutely humbling and awe inspiring. Knowing that Berkeley holds the First Folio instills incredible pride in me for my university.” Indeed, the treasures of Bancroft The Bancroft Library—its curators like Tony Bliss as well as its books—are prize holdings in the trust of a great research university, and an invaluable and endlessly renewable store for teachers and students of Shakespeare at Berkeley. —Geneivieve Guenther Bancroft curator Tony Bliss shows English 17 students the First Folio of Shakespeare. Graduate Student Instructor

P AGE 14 / FALL 2004 Banc N E WSLETTER OF THE FRIENDS OF THE BANCROFT LIBRARY Jean Stone, 1911–2004

ean Stone was a great story-teller. functioned as a well-balanced team, JShe had a keen, inquisitive mind with with Irving selecting the subject of each a steel-trap memory for detail and facts. book, building a research library around As the young Jean Factor she attended the subject, and Jean serving as major public high school in the Bronx, New researcher in libraries throughout the York, but at her mother’s urging spent world, sole editor, business manager, Wednesdays and Thursdays at the theater and career coordinator. Cal alumnus, to learn about life. Irving Stone, became one of the most Late in high school Jean, to provide popular writers of his era. moral support, accompanied a friend to At least three of the books were an open call from a local theater. Her heavily researched at The Bancroft friend joined the other hopefuls, while Library, including Immortal Wife, which Jean sat in the auditorium to read. A focused on the life of Jessie Benton “man, very handsome with a beautiful Fremont and her marriage to John C. book and its related research collection voice, California accent, which appealed Fremont, Men to Match My Mountains, would serve the educational purpose just as to me immediately,” walked over to her, about the opening of the far west, and well. With a new plan Jean made a major learned that she was not trying for a part, There Was Light: Autobiography of a gift and after a short conversation, quietly University. A book on John Muir was also to The Bancroft Library that involved the told Jean that her friend had the part and begun at Bancroft, but uncompleted entirety of the Irving Stone archive, an he’d like to take Jean to dinner. The man when Irving Stone died in 1989. endowment to support biography and was the theater’s director, Irving Stone. In the early 1990s, the University history at Bancroft, and the creation of He was captivated by her intense asked Jean to prepare an expanded the Jean and Irving Stone Seminar Room, knowledge of modern theater. He soon version of There Was Light. She reestab- which opened in April 1996. As a feature revealed that he had written a book about lished her connection at Bancroft, and of that room, her personal collection of a Dutch artist. Seventeen publishers had we developed an instant rapport. I was Irving’s works in all languages (“The Stone rejected the manuscript, and he won- fascinated by her tales of the life she and Wall”) is displayed in the room along with dered if Jean would read it and perhaps Irving led as they researched his numer- the collection Irving built to support advise him on the book. Jean had never ous books. In listening, I learned about Passions of the Mind, his biography of looked over a manuscript before, but her own sense of the importance of . The Stone Seminar Room undertook the task.With considerable research with primary sources, the has become the most popular and most diplomatic skill she critiqued the book to significance of libraries, and the great heavily booked of Bancroft’s spaces, and Irving. Her approach worked, and he value she placed on education. serves Jean Stone’s commitment to educa- asked her to mark up the manuscript. She and Irving were instrumental in tion and research in just the way she had From Jean’s perspective, she simply supporting the Madera Method, a hoped. Her son, Ken Stone, has continued eliminated the academic approach, program founded by Bill Coate in the her generous support for education. adjusting the book to tell the story Madera Public Schools. Gifted sixth Jean Stone died at her home on April 16 directly. Irving was pleased with the graders are selected for year-long immer- still surrounded by many books and the art result, and the first publisher to receive sion in research and writing using she and Irving collected in their long and the revised text published it as Lust for primary sources on a single-subject productive literary life together. A moving Life. With his phenomenally successful biography. Jean believed that the Stone memorial service was conducted at Leo first biographical novel, Irving Stone research method has broad educational Baeck Temple by the temple’s Founding introduced the world to the life and art of application, and had long hoped to place Rabbi, Leonard I. Beerman, and Senior . Using the same Irving’s papers in a library to demonstrate Rabbi, Kenneth Chasen. Cantor Emeritus approach he commenced his thoroughly the method through a complete display William Sharlin served as cantor for the researched biographical treatment of such of the books, their manuscripts, and service, and built his hymns around Jean significant figures as Charles Darwin, Irving’s research collections. and the reminiscences shared by each of the Sigmund Freud, , Clarence Years later Jean quoted me as saying rabbis. Her legacy at The Bancroft Library Darrow, —some already of Bancroft, “We don’t have enough continues to illuminate. famous, others largely made so through room for all that.” That led her to re- Peter E. Hanff Irving Stone’s efforts. Jean and Irving think her plan. She realized that one Deputy Director PAGE 15 / FALL 2004 Fall 2004 Calendar The Council of the Friends of The Bancroft Library ROUNDTABLES EXHIBITS 2004–2005 September 14 – November 13 An open, informal discussion group, Bancroft Roundtables feature presenta- Paul Bancroft III Theresa Salazar Memory Lines: Fifty Years of Oral History Cynthia Bennington Katherine Schwarzenbach The year 2004 marks the fiftieth anniver- tions by Bancroft staff and scholars. All Lucy Campbell Bruce C. Smith sary of the Regional Oral History Office sessions are held in the Lewis-Latimer Robert Chlebowski Catherine Spieker (ROHO) in The Bancroft Library. The Room of The Faculty Club at noon Peter Frazier, Chair James M. Spitze collection of more than 2,000 interviews on the third Thursday of the month. John Horsley Robert Gordon Sproul III documents the relationship of personal Russell Keil Jeffrey Thomas September 16 and social transformation in the state of Connie Loarie Robert R. Tufts JoAnn Levy, Author Alexandra Marston Daniel Volkmann California during the past century in a Beverly Maytag Craig Walker, Vice Chair wide variety of fields. Unsettling the West: Eliza Farnam and Georgiana Bruce Kirby in Frontier California Sylvia McLaughlin Sue Warburg December 1 – March 23, 2005 Robert L. Middlekauff Christopher Warnock October 21 Terry O’Reilly Midge Zischke Gifts to The Bancroft Library Peter Howard, Antiquarian Bookseller Richard Otter, Treasurer Charles B. Faulhaber, Selections of recent gifts and acquisitions William Saroyan, Heroin and Ethics: Secretary include rare books, manuscripts, photo- “The Sad Tale of an Archive Broken” graphs, illustrations, letters, diaries, and BANCROFTIANA other documents and publications. November 18 Number 125 Robert E. Barde, Deputy Director, PLEASE NOTE! Editor Camilla Smith Institute of Business and Economic Managing Editor William E. Brown, Jr. The Kickoff Event announced for Research, Haas Business School Copy Editor Ben McClinton October 1 has been cancelled. Watch Guardians of the Golden Gate: John Birge Digital Images Erica Nordmeier your mailbox for information about an Sawyer, Angel Island, and the Great Immi- Production Catherine Dinnean exciting special event we are planning for grant Smuggling Scandal Printer Autumn Press the Spring.

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100 YEARS OF PHYSICS Page 1

GERTRUDE STEIN Page 7

WHAT PAINE LEFT OUT Page 10

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