Original Site of the Bancroft Library

Original Site of the Bancroft Library is a California Historical Landmark in San Francisco, San Francisco County.

1538 Valencia Street, San Francisco · location approximate

Directions to the area ↗Start a road trip Historical trails

Here, from 1881-1906, stood the library of Hubert Howe Bancroft, who in 1860 began to collect the wealth of material which was to subsequently result in the writing of his monumental history of western North America. In 1905, the library was purchased by the University of California and removed the following year to its Berkeley campus.

1971 register text, presented as a historical document. It uses the period's terms for Native people; the state's landmark listings still carry most of this wording, and the California Office of Historic Preservation maintains the program's current texts.

Many of these plaques have since been recast or their texts revised. The California Historical Landmarks program and its current texts are maintained by the California Office of Historic Preservation. California Office of Historic Preservation ↗

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1854 · Bai San Francisco und Vereinigung des Sacramento mit dem San Joaquin. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1860 · Map of the Property of the City Land Association, Incorporated under the Laws of the… (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1869 · City and County of San Francisco. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1869 · San Francisco Peninsula. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1873 · San Francisco from latest surveys. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

City and County of San Francisco, 1869, covering the location of Original Site of the Bancroft Library, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — City and County of San Francisco, 1869, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours and the location is approximate.

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What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

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The marker isn't at this spotOur pin may be off. If you know where it stands, tell us.I couldn't find the markerWe record what the source recorded. We have not been to look.The sign reads differentlyExpected here. This page shows the older published text, and some signs were recast later. Telling us still helps.The historical map looks wrongThe period map behind the pin, not the marker itself.Something else

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Marker data: State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation, California Historical Landmarks (1971)

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