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, students, and history-buffs. Written between 1874 and 1890, the massive thirty-nine volume History of the Pacific States has been lauded as the finest history of the West of that time. However, the set was originally boycotted because writers hired by Bancroft to work on the project were never credited for their extensive contributions. Because complete sets are very rare and sell for thousands of dollars, this work has been little read. Bancroft begins his History of Colorado (Volume XX, copyrighted in 1889) with the geology, flora and fauna of Colorado and the history of its earliest recorded inhabitants. He then discusses early explorers, fur traders, and Spanish settlements, before delving into the initial discovery of gold on Clear Creek. Bancroft continues with the settlement of the state, the political organization of Colorado, treaties with the Indians, and details on mining, ranching and farming. Bancroft was involved early-on in the California gold rush, but made his money in printing, newspaper work, stationary, and selling books. He eventually sold his enormous collection of Western History manuscripts, books, and art to the University of California, where it now resides as the nucleus of the Bancroft Library. Because of his early interest in Western History, he personally preserved numerous narratives and artifacts that otherwise would have been lost to time.