BANCROFTIANA Number 132 • University of California, Berkeley • Spring 2008

Newsletter of The Friends of The Bancroft Library BANCROFTIANA Number 132 • University of California, Berkeley • Spring 2008 Clipperships, the Celebrities of the Sea lipper ships conjure up images the diseases and dangers of crossing Cof long and narrow, sleek and el- the Isthmus were neither glamorous egant sailing vessels propelled by wind nor romantic. The clippers—built for captured in a cloud of sails as they cut speed, not for comfort—were bat- through the waves at a fast clip. They tered by the huge swells and howling carried eager Argonauts in record time winds as they rounded Cape Horn; to the gold fields of California and passengers and crew alike suffered brought luxury goods from the eastern sea sickness and sometimes poison- seaboard to the Barbary Coast. With ing from improperly stored food. The names such as Flying Cloud, Zouave, dominance of the clipper ship in mov- Galatea, and Invincible, the clipper ing people and goods was relatively ships were the celebrities of the seas, short-lived; vulnerability to attack in projecting adventure and romance. the Civil War, improvements in ocean- From the early 1850s, they represented going steamers, and the completion of the epitome of sailing technology, eas- the transcontinental railroad all led to ily outrunning the early transoceanic its decline. steamers, and setting record times from What remain today are the Clip- New York and Boston to San Francis- per Ship Cards advertising the quali- co. Some clippers could reach 20 knots ties of the ships in hyperbolic descrip- under full sail, almost doubling the top tions and fanciful imagery. Printed speed of any steamship. on heavy stock and in color—indeed, The realities of four-to-six months they are the first advertisements in Printed by G. F. Nesbitt & Co., Galatea, 1854; of ocean travel for those who feared color—these once-ubiquitous cards, engraving, color, and letterpress ; 6 x 4 in; BANC PIC 1963.002:1556:033–A now scarce and expensive (at the book fairs this past February in San Francisco and Los Angeles, I found beautiful examples for sale at over $1,000 each), decorated the windows of shipping firms, banks, and shops along the waterfronts of East Coast ports from the 1850s through the 1880s. Appearing mere days before a ship’s departure date (which was care- fully omitted from the card itself) the advertisements were intended to entice last-minute passengers and to secure cargo for ships not yet filled. Printed by G. F. Nesbitt & Co., Tycoon, ca.1861; engraving, color, and letterpress; 4 x 6 in; Continued on page 4 BANC PIC 1963.002:1556:102–A Newsletter of The Friends of The Bancroft Library From the Director “Home Stretch” collections immediately after the 4th of ed Press Room—have been moved to July, and Bancroft staff will move back the second floor. For the first time there along with their collections over the will be a single entrance and exit to next several months. Thus the staff of Bancroft. Access will be controlled by the Mark Twain Papers and the Center a security desk just inside the first-floor for the Tebtunis Papyri will accompany entrance, which will be staffed whenever their collections to their new homes on Bancroft is open. Within the Bancroft It is starting to get exciting. the third floor, with the Mark Twain security perimeter card keys will be We have begun the count-down Project facing east toward the Campa- required for access to all areas where to May 23, 2008, when we shall close nile esplanade and the Center for the collections are stored, temporarily or Bancroft-in-Exile off campus and begin Tebtunis Papyri facing north across permanently. the process of moving 80 staff members Memorial Glade toward the new C. The new Exhibition Gallery, four and 40 student employees back to their V. Starr East Asian Library. Ironically, times the size of the old one and with permanent homes in the Doe Library the office of Bob Hirst, the General the kind of flexibility found in museum Annex, along with a significant portion Editor of the Mark Twain Project, will galleries, will also be located on the first of Bancroft’s holdings of over 600,000 occupy exactly the same location as it floor, across from the security desk. An books and journals, 55,000 linear feet of did before he moved three years ago, exhibition corridor, with showcases on archival materials, almost eight million the only staff member who can make either side, will lead from the rotunda photographs, and 25,000 maps. For the that somewhat inconsequential claim. west to the Roger Heyns Reading Room first time in almost 150 years, the collec- More important, each of these research of the Doe Library. Whenever Bancroft tions will be stored in a seismically safe programs will have its own climate- is open, that corridor will provide direct and climate-controlled building with controlled storage vault adjacent to its access to Bancroft from the Doe Library. state-of-the-art security systems. offices and reading room. The adminis- We still must store little-used books trative offices will also be housed on the and archival materials in the Northern third floor, looking out on South Hall. Regional Library Facility in Richmond, Public services and technical ser- but our storage capacity on campus will vices staff, the curatorial staff, and the be about 25 percent greater than before, administrative offices will move during thanks to the addition of compact August and September. The curators shelving. When we return we shall have and the public services staff will have shelving sufficient for five years expan- their offices on the second floor, in close sion at historic rates of acquisition. The proximity to the new Heller Reading basement and first-floor storage areas Room and the Reference Center, while (the latter with 12-foot-high shelves) the technical services staff—catalogu- The gold-leaf dome progresses during construction. have been sized to accommodate 20 ers, acquisitions staff, manuscript and years growth; and additional shelving archival processors, pictorial archivists, The signature space of the renovated will be purchased as needed in the fu- digital archivists—will occupy the west building will be the two-story rotunda, ture. It is going to be an interesting race side of the third floor and all of the with its gold-leaf dome and marble floor to see whether the decline in paper ar- fourth floor, formerly Bancroft’s attic. inset with four bronze medallions sym- chives over that period and the increas- Finally, the offices of the Regional bolizing Bancroft’s collections: a map ing amount of “born digital” materials Oral History Office, which by defini- of the American West and Mexico circa will allow us to approach something like tion do not contain rare or unique 1840; iconic images of California— a steady state of storage. I am betting materials, will be housed outside the a grizzly bear, a California poppy, a that paper wins. The paperless office and security perimeter on the first floor. Sequoia gigantea, and the Golden Gate the digital book have been touted for This will allow ROHO staff to work Bridge surrounding an outline map of many years, but the archival community after hours and to teach evening classes the state; the transmission of knowl- sees no certain sign of them. in their seminar room. edge—a clay tablet, a papyrus scroll, a University Librarian Tom Leonard To enhance security, all of Ban- microphone, a computer with its screen and his senior staff will be the first occu- croft’s public areas—the Heller Reading and keyboard, all surrounding the image pants of the renovated building, early in Room and Reference Center, the three of a wooden printing press; and, finally, July. The movers will start on Bancroft’s seminar rooms, and the much-expand- the seal of the University of California. Page 2 / Spring 2008 Newsletter of The Friends of The Bancroft Library Renaissance to the stalwart pioneers who rushed in to California from the four corners of the earth. We have treasures, and we will gladly spread them before you. All you have to do is ask. This is a special place.” We have not yet fixed the opening date in the fall. It will undoubtedly take us some time to learn the ways of the new building. We do intend to hold a formal dedication ceremony on October 24. At a minimum we shall be open to the public during Home- coming Weekend, October 3-4, with a special exhibition, “Mark Twain at Play,” mounted by the staff of the Mark Twain Project in honor of the Fiftieth Reunion of the Class of 1958, whose 45th and 50th reunion gifts L to R: Tom Leonard (University Librarian), Jack Jackanicz (University Relations), Jeffrey Farber and Debra England (Executive Director and Program Officer, Koret Foundation), Charles Faulhaber (Director, Bancroft Library). have been dedicated to building an Photo taken by Jim Wert (Capital Projects). endowment for the project. The new Bancroft is the culmi- From this entrance users will ing with the Beaux-Arts exterior of nation of many years of hard work climb the grand staircase to the Refer- the building. It is intended to tell the on the part of many people, formal ence Center and the Heller Reading student, the scholar, and the casual planning having begun in 1981, more Room. The latter, paneled in cherry visitor alike: “This is a special place, than 25 years ago. We think that it and with a cork floor and a coffered apart from care and strife and hurly- has been worth the effort.

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