Utah State Historical Society State Capitol—Salt Lake City, Utah Volume XXII
April, 1954
No. 2
HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT AND THE HISTORY OF UTAH* BY GEORGE E L L S W O R T H I
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contributions to U t a h historiography a n d for many years the only brief a d e q u a t e history of t h e territory was published in 1889 as V o l u m e X X V I of The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft u n d e r t h e title History of Utah, 1540-1886} There had appeared the w o r k s of several w h o treated U t a h in connection with M o r m o n studies, 2 in addition t o a few monographic or brief studies presented b y L a t t e r - d a y Saint essayists, 3 but it remained for the historian of t h e Pacific slope of N o r t h NE O F T H E EARLY
* The present article is concerned primarily with the Bancroft manuscript collection and is intended as an introduction to the writer's "Guide to the Manuscripts in the Bancroft Library Relating to the History of Utah," which will appear in the July, 1954 issue of this Quarterly. f Assistant Professor of History, Utah State Agricultural College, Logan. The writer expresses deep appreciation to Elder Joseph Fielding Smith, President of the Council of Twelve of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Church Historian, and to his staff, for many kindnesses and services, and to Mrs. Julia H. Macleod, Manuscripts Division, Bancroft Library, University of California, for skilled assistance and enduring cooperation. 1 San Francisco, the History Company, Publishers. It was as much a history of the Latter-day Saints as of Utah Territory, and as such was an equally singular contribution to Mormon historiography, being somewhat replaced in that field by W . A. Linn, The Story of the Mormons (New York, 1902). 2 For example: Charles Mackay, The Mormons or Latter-day Saints (London, 1851); John W . Gunnison, The Mormons, or. Latter-day Saints, in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake . . . (Philadelphia, 1852); Samuel Mosheim Schmucker, The Religious, Social and Political History of the Mormons (Auburn, N. Y., 1852); Sir Richard F. Burton, The City of the Saints (London, 1861); Jules Remy and Julius Brenchley, A Journey to Great-SaltLake City (2 vols., London, 1861); and T. B. H. Stenhouse, The Rocky Mountain Saints (New York, 1873). 3 George A. Smith, The Rise, Progress and Travels of the Church (Salt Lake City, 1869); Andrew Jenson's monthly historical periodical, in Danish, Morgenstjernen, Volume V (1886) of which appeared in English under the title The Historical Record; and monographic articles of worth in Tullidge's Quarterly Magazine, published in Salt Lake City, from 1880-84.
