Gladys Hansen

She was an expert on the history of San Francisco and the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.

The official death toll stated in 1907 was 478, but she estimated that over 3,000 were killed.

Gladys Cox Hansen (June 12, 1925 – March 5, 2017) was an American librarian, archivist and author.

Hansen was born in 1925 in Berkeley, California.

She moved to San Francisco as a child, and lived there for the rest of her life.

She graduated from Lowell High School and attended San Francisco State College (now San Francisco State University) briefly, but did not earn a degree.

At age 17, Hansen began working part-time at the Presidio branch of the San Francisco Public Library.

She then moved to the main branch, and by 1963 she was in charge of the California collection of the library.

In 1963, Hansen began to research the identities of those killed in 1906 Earthquake.

In 1972, she was named city archivist by Mayor Joseph Alioto.

In 1989, Hansen co-authored the book Denial of Disaster, claiming that the number of casualties from the Earthquake was dramatically and deliberately understated.

In 1991, Hansen founded the Museum of the City of San Francisco.

She also created a virtual museum website.

Aside from her library work, Hansen established San Francisco City Guides, a volunteer organization that gives walking tours of the city.

Hansen retired from the San Francisco Main Library in 1992, but continued her work on identifying Earthquake victims.

In 1997, Hansen received the Ron Ross Founder's Award from the San Francisco History Association.

Hansen married William Hansen, who was an Air Corps pilot in World War II.

They had a son, Richard.

In 2005, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution, co-authored by Hansen, that set aside the official 1907 death count.

Hansen died of natural causes in San Francisco on March 5, 2017, at the age of 91.