The quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, Vol. 4, March, 1903-December, 1903Oregon Historical Society
History
The quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, Vol. 4, March, 1903-December, 1903
Oregon Historical Society
Oregon -- History -- Periodicals
A review of the facts shows that if we exclude the comparatively few
interpolations and changes made by Mr. Bancroft, we can with assurance
declare the authorship of all portions of the third volume of Central
America, of the volumes on California, and of those on the North
Mexican States, Arizona and New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming,
the Northwest Coast, Oregon and Washington, Idaho and Montana, and
that we can give in general terms, though without being able to locate
the exact parts done by individuals, the names of the authors of two
volumes of Central America, and all of Mexico, Utah, British Columbia,
and Alaska. In these works Oak and Nemos were agreed that there were
scattered fragmentary bits aggregating several volumes so worked over
by different writers in different ways as to render it impossible to
determine the exact authorship.
Turning to a consideration of the individual field of writing, we find
that of the twenty-eight volumes of history proper, Bancroft is to be
credited with four, no one entire, Oak with seven and a half, Nemos
five, no one entire, Mrs. Victor a little less than five, Savage over
three, Peatfield one and a half, principally in small parts, and Bates
one and a fourth. (This is a computation based exactly upon the facts
as given, except in Bancroft's case.) Nemos upon the same basis makes
the shares, except Savage's and Bancroft's, all slightly greater. He
assigns to Oak between seven and a half and seven and two thirds
volumes, to himself and Mrs. Victor over five each, to Peatfield about
two, and to Bates one and a half. An actual count of the parts of
volumes written by Bancroft gives a total of three and a half, but
Nemos said that he took four as the number upon the authority of Oak.
This would allow him a half volume of interpolations in the
twenty-four and a half volumes done by others. Griffin, Petroff, Kuhn,
and a man named Rasmus were the authors of fragments. Oak thought that
the name was Erasmus, but said that Nemos who gave Rasmus was the
better authority.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account