Richards–Bancroft Letter (1885)

Transcription | 𐐓𐑉𐐰𐑌𐑅𐐿𐑉𐐮𐐹𐑇𐐲𐑌

We provide a clean transcription of the Richards–Bancroft letter along with access to a scan of the original.

About the Letter | 𐐈𐐺𐐵𐐻 𐑄 𐐢𐐯𐐻𐐯𐑉

Western historian Hubert Howe Bancroft solicited information from LDS apostle Franklin D. Richards regarding the history of the Deseret Alphabet for his 1889 History of Utah. Dated by archivists between 1883 and 1885, Richards’ response to Bancroft must have been written after Richards received relevant information from Thomas W. Ellerbeck in a letter dated 24 February 1885.

The original Richards–Bancroft letter is preserved at the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Its catalog record can be viewed here.

Historical Context | 𐐐𐐮𐑅𐐻𐐱𐑉𐐮𐐿𐐲𐑊 𐐗𐐱𐑌𐐻𐐯𐐿𐑅𐐻

In his 1885 letter to historian Hubert Howe Bancroft, LDS apostle Franklin D. Richards traced the Deseret Alphabet to Brigham Young’s push for a phonetic script and attributed its invention largely to George D. Watt. First promoted under the University of Deseret’s Regency, Richards explained, the alphabet saw limited use in Brigham Young’s financial ledgers, in the Church Historian’s Office, and in the Deseret News.

Richards remembered the 1868 revival marked by new schoolbooks and LDS apostle Orson Pratt’s 1869 Deseret-letter Book of Mormon. Yet he observed that awkward typography, inconsistent spelling, and diminishing public interest as “busier times came on” (p. 3) soon brought the experiment to an end.