The Bancroft Library Reckoning Committee was formed in response to a proposal to unname Bancroft Library, which outlines the writings and views of Hubert Howe Bancroft, for whom the library is named. The Bancroft Library Reckoning Committee is charged to consider and acknowledge the history of the name of The Bancroft Library, and to make recommendations regarding possible actions. The committee is asked to make its recommendations by the end of the fall 2024 semester to the university librarian, the vice chancellor for equity and inclusion, and the Chancellor.
View an FAQ on the committee and its process
Listening sessions with the community
The committee would like to connect with the campus community and key stakeholders for input. It has scheduled opportunities for engagement, which will have a defined number of slots in order to facilitate thoughtful engagement and account for room size. A virtual session is also available.
The sessions will be held:
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Thursday, Sept. 12, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., UC Berkeley campus
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Friday, Sept. 20, 2-3:30 p.m., Zoom
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Monday, Sept. 23, 3-4:30 p.m., UC Berkeley campus
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Friday, Sept. 27, 1:30-3 p.m., UC Berkeley campus
Submit your interest in participating in a listening session
About The Bancroft Library
The Bancroft Library is one of the largest and most heavily used libraries of manuscripts, archives, rare books, and unique materials in the United States. It is the largest special collections repository in the University of California system, and its collections on the U.S. West are arguably the best in the country. The library stewards nearly 400 million physical items (rare books, manuscripts, archives, audio and video recordings, photographs, pictorial items, oral histories, maps, papyri, and more), close to 10 million files (200 TB) in digital holdings, and regularly curates public exhibitions of the materials it stewards. Bancroft’s collecting strengths include rare books, literary manuscripts, pictorial collections, and Western Americana and Latin Americana collections, spanning the colonial era to the present. Bancroft is also home to three internationally acclaimed academic research groups: the Mark Twain Papers & Project, the Center for the Tebtunis Papyri, and the Oral History Center.
Bancroft’s collections, services, and staff support learning and research on the UC Berkeley campus, a national and international community of researchers, and the general public. The library is free and open to all.
Source material
As part of its research and review process, the committee consulted a variety of primary and secondary sources on Hubert Howe Bancroft. The committee assembled a list of citations for some of those materials into a guide, which is available on the Library website
Committee Membership
The committee is composed of users of the library (faculty, undergraduate, and graduate student representatives); Bancroft Library and UC Berkeley Library staff; a representative from Berkeley’s Restorative Justice Center; a representative from the Friends of The Bancroft Library; and an external scholar.
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Kate Donovan (co-chair), Director of The Bancroft Library & Associate University Librarian for Special Collections
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Amber Johnson (co-chair), Assistant Vice Chancellor and Chief of Staff, Division of Equity & Inclusion
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Benjamin Porter, Associate Professor of Middle Eastern Archaeology and a member of the Academic Senate Committee on the Library (LIBR)
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Chloe David, undergraduate student
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David Eifler, Environmental Design Librarian
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David Lei, Friends of The Bancroft Library
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Flavio Santini, graduate student
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José Adrián Barragán-Álvarez, Curator of Latin Americana Collections, The Bancroft Library
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Julie Shackford-Bradley, Director of the Restorative Justice Center and Lecturer at Berkeley Law
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Lee Anne Titangos, Information and Instruction Specialist, The Bancroft Library
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Lisa Tsuchitani, Continuing Lecturer in the Department of Ethnic Studies and a member of the Library Equity and Inclusion Committee
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William Deverell, Professor of History, University of Southern California
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Erin McDevitt (committee staff), Interim Associate Chief of Staff, Office of the Chancellor
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Tiffany Grandstaff (committee staff), Executive Director of Communications, UC Berkeley Library