Elaine Tennant Is the First Woman Director at Berkeley’s Bancroft Library

Elaine Tennant, a professor of German at the University of California at Berkeley, was appointed the James D. Hart Director of the Bancroft Library at the university. She is the first woman to hold the position in the library’s 151-year history.

Professor Tennant joined the Berkeley faculty in 1977. She conducted her graduate studies at Harvard University and the University of Vienna.

The Bancroft Library holds major collections on the history of California and the American West. It holds the Mark Twain papers and many rare books and manuscripts. In 2009, a $64 million renovation was completed.

The Bancroft Library on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley