Tower near a university, Sather Tower, University Of California, Berkeley, California, USA

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Bancroft Library

Berkeley

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The Bancroft houses, among other gems, the papers of Mark Twain, a copy of Shakespeare’s folios and a diary from the Donner Party. Its small public exhibits of historical Californiana include the surprisingly small gold nugget that sparked the 1849 gold rush. Rotating temporary exhibits spotlight history and art, with pieces from the library's own collections.

To register to use the library, you must present a current government or academic-issued photo ID. The registration desk is on your way in. Opening hours are affected by the school's academic calendar.

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • An aerial view of Golden Gate Park from the Pacific Ocean. Golden Gate Park is the third most visited city park in the US.

    Golden Gate Park

    14.08 MILES

    When Frederick Law Olmsted, architect of New York's Central Park, gazed in 1865 upon the plot of land San Francisco Mayor Frank McCoppin wanted to turn…

  • APRIL 24, 2018: Victorian-style homes in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco.

    Haight Street

    12.52 MILES

    Was it the fall of 1966 or the winter of ’67? As the Haight saying goes, if you can remember the Summer of Love, you probably weren’t here. The fog was…

  • SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA. 15th August, 2017: historic san francisco chinatown neighborhood

    Chinatown Alleyways

    9.71 MILES

    If you look close today at the clinker-brick buildings lining these narrow backstreets, past the temple balconies jutting out over bakeries, acupuncture…

  • SAN FRANCISCO - SEPT 2, 2017: The Beat Generation lives on at City Lights bookstore in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco.

    City Lights Books

    9.59 MILES

    No one could have predicted the cultural force City Lights would become when it first opened in 1953. Sure, it had a proletarian ethos suggested by its…

  • SAN FRANCISCO, USA - December 8, 2019, visitors are similar in color to the artifacts in question at the California Museum of Modern Art, a girl walks past the picture.; Shutterstock ID 1622086819; your: Meghan O'Dea; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI page

    San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

    9.81 MILES

    When the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art expanded in 2016, it was a mind-boggling feat that nearly tripled the institution's size to accommodate a…

  • Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill Boulevard, San Francisco, USA

    Coit Tower

    9.37 MILES

    If you want to really see San Francisco, head to Coit Tower, a 1933 art deco beaut designed by Arthur Brown, Jr. and Henry Howard that sits high up on…

  • Golden Gate Bridge at the golden hour from Baker Beach.

    Golden Gate Bridge

    12.67 MILES

    Few cities boast a structure so iconic as the Golden Gate Bridge, commemorated in everything from films like The Maltese Falcon to not one but two emojis…

  • Dolores Park - San Francisco, California

    Dolores Park

    12.04 MILES

    Welcome to San Francisco's sunny side, the land of street ball and Mayan-pyramid playgrounds, semiprofessional tanning and taco picnics. Although the…

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Nearby Berkeley attractions

1. Campanile

0.06 MILES

Officially called Sather Tower, the Campanile was modeled on St Mark’s Basilica in Venice. The 307ft spire offers fine views of the Bay Area, and at the…

2. Sather Gate

0.14 MILES

The frenetic energy buzzing from the university’s Sather Gate on any given day is a mixture of youthful posthippies reminiscing about days before their…

3. UC Museum of Paleontology

0.18 MILES

Despite the title, this isn't a museum, but rather a research facility that's closed to the public. With that said, the location within the Valley Life…

4. University of California, Berkeley

0.2 MILES

'Cal' is one of the country's top universities, California's oldest university (1866), and home to 40,000 diverse, politically conscious students. Next to…

6. Telegraph Avenue

0.36 MILES

Telegraph Ave has traditionally been the throbbing heart of studentville in Berkeley, the sidewalks crowded with undergrads, postdocs and youthful…

7. UC Berkeley Art Museum

0.43 MILES

With a stainless-steel exterior wrapping around a 1930s printing plant, this museum holds multiple galleries showcasing a limited number of artworks, from…

8. People’s Park

0.46 MILES

This park, just east of Telegraph Ave, is a marker in local history as a political battleground between residents and the city and state government in the…