As I research my historical novels, I often refer to Hubert Howe Bancroft’s History of Oregon and History of California. They are not the most readable of reference books, but they are encyclopedic on their coverage of issues related to 19th-century settlement of these Western states.
A couple of months ago as I researched, I came across a reference stating that the two-volume History of Oregon had been written by Frances Fuller Victor and merely edited by Hubert Howe Bancroft.
Huh? I thought. And my research that day went down a new rabbit hole. Who was Frances Fuller Victor?
An article by William Alfred Morris titled “The Origin and Authorship of the Bancroft Pacific States Publications: A History of a History,” published in the Oregon Historical Quarterly (1903), describes Bancroft’s publication process. After lauding Bancroft’s intent in publishing a complete history of Western states, Morris says (p. 290):
“this work, the greatest of the kind, . . . has suffered greatly in the estimation of historians because they do not know who is authority for the statements contained in them.”
Although the title pages of these books all state they are the writings of Hubert Howe Bancroft, in fact, they mostly are not. Bancroft hired assistants who he said studied and drafted “certain minor sections of the history which I employed in my writing after more or less condensation and change” (Morris, p. 292)
So where did Frances Fuller Victor enter the picture?
Frances Fuller was born in New York in 1826 and grew up in Ohio and Pennsylvania. She and her sister Metta were established poets and story writers in the East. In fact, Edgar Allan Poe called her one of America’s “most imaginative” young poets.
Frances first married a man with whom she homesteaded in Nebraska Territory. The couple separated, though who left whom is not clear, and Frances then lived with Metta in New York City, where she published dime novels. In 1862, Frances married Henry Victor, and they moved to San Francisco. In 1864, they moved to Portland, Oregon. Within a few years, Henry Victor’s enterprises failed, and the couple’s marriage faltered. Henry died not too many years later.
Throughout this time, Frances needed money, and she continued to write. In Oregon, Frances wrote biographies of the state’s leaders such as Joseph Meek and Oliver Applegate, as well as fiction that centered on western pioneers. She also wrote for Abigail Duniway’s newspaper, The New Northwest.
The pay for female writers was low, and in 1878, Frances returned to San Francisco, where she agreed to write for Bancroft. She was the only Bancroft assistant who had a literary reputation before hiring on with him.
It appears she had some hesitancy about working for Bancroft. He wrote her before she accepted his contract to describe his working relationship with his employees:
“‘The work is wholly mine. I do what I can myself, and pay for what I have done over that; but I father the whole of it and it goes out only under my name. All who work in the library do so simply as my assistants. Their work is mine to print, scratch, or throw in the fire. I have no secrets; yet I do not tell everybody just what each does. I do not pretend to do all the work myself, that is, to prepare for the printer all that goes out under my name. I have three or four now who can write for the printer after a fashion; none of them can suit me as well as I can suit myself. One or two only will write with very little change from me. All the rest require sometimes almost rewriting.’” (Morris, p. 340)
But, in fact, Bancroft often did not edit or rewrite what his assistants did. According to Morris, Bancroft wrote about 60 pages of the seven-volume History of California, and hardly any of the two-volume History of Oregon.
The first volume of History of Oregon was published in 1886, and the second volume in 1888. She also contributed to several of the other tomes listed as Bancroft’s works.
As the first volume of History of Oregon went to press in 1886, a publication notice went to Oregon newspapers stating that Frances Victor was the author. Bancroft objected, asserting in a letter to the Oregonian that “no entire volume of the series had been written by Mrs. Victor.” (Morris, p. 342)
Bancroft also wrote Mrs. Victor on October 16, 1886:
“I do not want for myself the credit due to my assistants. At the same time, I do not deem it necessary to explain to the public just what part of the work was done by each. Everybody knows that you have been at work on Oregon, and that is all right, although I have done considerable work on your manuscript for better or worse, or at all events to make it conform to the general plan.” (Morris, p. 342)
Clearly, Bancroft had no intent of crediting his assistants for their work and claimed the authorship of these histories for himself.
Frances worked for Bancroft for ten years. One commentator describes her time there as follows:
“Mrs. Victor usually wrote or worked 51 weeks a year, six days per week, nine hours a day, with an hour at noon for exercise and lunch. She never received more than $100 per month—‘less than a copyist in the City Hall would be paid.’”
In 1890, Frances returned to Oregon and continued to write historical works. She died in 1902, at age 76. Later historians have praised the work she did in History of Oregon. (Morris, p. 362) It is too bad she didn’t receive appropriate recognition and compensation during her lifetime. But she did have a viewpoint on Crater Lake named after her.
When have you been surprised by something you found in your research?
At least you’ve brought her into the light a little. What a trooper! Thank you.
I learned of the “Year of the Turnip” which referred to the year of 1890 as the Oklahoma locals called it. The crops failed. A prairie fire consumed what little survived in the field. There was nothing to eat but turnips. They fed pigs and chickens turnips. When they harvested those animals even their meat tasted like turnips.
I think I’d be pretty ticked if someone took my work and claimed it as their own!
“Year of the turnip” — just like Scarlett O’Hara!