About the Project

The Diary of Patrick Breen is a pilot project undertaken by the The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, as part of a campus-wide New Directions Initiative to develop innovative ways to meet the evolving needs of library patrons and researchers on campus and throughout the world. This project has the added benefit of promoting the vast and diverse collections of The Bancroft Library at minimal cost to ye olde library’s coffers.

Although transcriptions of the diary have been published elsewhere on the web, it is hoped that accessing the primary source material in this format may afford readers a unique opportunity to relate to the exceptional narrative contained within, a story that has become fundamentally intertwined with the history of California and the mythology of the West.

The Bancroft Library is the primary special collections library at the University of California, Berkeley. One of the largest and most heavily used libraries of manuscripts, rare books, and unique materials in the United States, Bancroft supports major research and instructional activities and plays a leading role in the development of the University’s research collections. The Bancroft Collection, the Library’s largest resource, documents the history of western North America, particularly from the western plains states to the Pacific Coast and from Panama to Alaska, with greatest emphasis on California and Mexico.