Editing Frederic Bancroft (section)

==Biography==
Bancroft was born in [[Galesburg, Illinois]], and graduated with an A.B. from [[Amherst College]] and a PhD from [[Columbia University]]. He was a lecturer for one year at Columbia, and served as librarian of the [[State Department]] from 1888 to 1892.<ref>Obituary, ''[[The Journal of Negro History]]'', Vol. 30, No. 2 (April 1945), pp. 245–247</ref>

Bancroft was an active member of the [[American Historical Association]], and was the unofficial leader of a group from 1913–1915 that called for the reform of the organization's election procedures, ultimately securing such reforms at the 1915 meeting although failing to topple what he viewed as the [[oligarchy]] led by [[J. Franklin Jameson]].<ref>[[Robert Roswell Palmer|Palmer, R. R.]] (February 1971). [http://www.historians.org/info/AHA_History/rrpalmer.htm "The American Historical Association in 1970"]. ''[[The American Historical Review]]''. '''76''' (1): 1–15.</ref>

Bancroft was the author of two well-regarded books on the South, ''[[Slave Trading in the Old South]]'' in 1931<ref>{{cite book |last=Bancroft |first=Frederic |date=1996 |url=http://www.sc.edu/uscpress/1996/3103.html |title=Slave Trading in the Old South |publisher=[[University of South Carolina Press]] |series=Southern Classics |edition=New |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090414112706/http://www.sc.edu/uscpress/1996/3103.html |archive-date=April 14, 2009 |ISBN=1-57003-103-7}}</ref> and ''A Sketch of the Negro in Politics, Especially in South Carolina and Mississippi'' in 1885.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bancroft |first=Frederic |date=1885 |title=A Sketch of the Negro in Politics, Especially in South Carolina and Mississippi |location=New York |publisher=[[AMS Press]] |edition=1976 reprint}}</ref> In 1900, he also wrote a biography of [[William H. Seward]].<ref>Bancroft, Frederic (1900). ''The Life of William H. Seward''.</ref>

Through his bequest, in 1948 the [[Bancroft Prize]] was established at [[Columbia University]] in his memory and that of his brother, diplomat and attorney [[Edgar Bancroft]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110523202344/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,797277,00.html "Education: Historian's Heritage"] ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', March 12, 1945.</ref> It is considered one of the most distinguished academic awards in the field of history.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/news/libraries/2006/2006-05-18.bancroft_dinner.print.html |title=Columbia University Hosts 2006 Bancroft Prizes Dinner |publisher=Columbia University Libraries News & Information |date=May 18, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060922143647/http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/news/libraries/2006/2006-05-18.bancroft_dinner.print.html |archive-date=September 22, 2006}}</ref>