Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Friday, August 15, 2008 at 05:06:19 :
Independent Journal
Monday, December 19, 1977
Page 4
Mill Valley historian Lucretia Hanson Little
Lucretia Hanson Little, widely known Marin County historian and retired Mill Valley deputy city clerk, died Sunday in a San Francisco hospital following a long illness. She was 69.
A memorial service will be at 3 p.m. Friday in the gallery at the Mill Valley Public Library, adjacent to the Lucretia Hanson Little History Room, which she helped to establish.
Mrs. Little, who was official Mill Valley historian, had urged such a facility for years and when the city council approved the project as a Bicentennial observance she donated her large personal collection on Mill Valley. The history room was dedicated last June 5, with Mrs. Little as a proud observer.
Mrs. Little was born in 1908 in Alexandria, Va., and moved to Mill Valley with her family in 1919. She was graduated from Tamalpais High School and was a member of the first class at Marin Junior College, now College of Marin, in 1926. After a year, she transferred to Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., where she won honors in speech and writing.
While in the East she married Robert Little, from whom she later divorced. In 1950 she moved to Mill Valley with her son, Robert, now assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.
Mrs. Little became Mill Valley deputy city clerk from 1951 until she retired in 1973.
She was a leader in Mill V alley’s celebration of the city’s 75th anniversary two years ago, arranging for a parade and displays in downtown stores. She also was a founder of the Mill Valley Oral History Committee. During her long city career, she filled 27 huge volumes with minutes of Mill Valley city council meetings.
Mrs. Little had resided at Temelec, Sonoma County, for the last two years, but had planned to return to Mill Valley before she became ill.
She was an avid student of California and Marin history. Her particular historical interests, in addition to Mill Valley, were John Reed, his 1834 land grant which included most of present-day Mill Valley, and the Reed family; the Coast Miwok Indians, and Mission San Rafael.
She long planned to write a book on the mission and an advance chapter, “There’s a Mystery to the Mission,” appeared in the Independent-Journal Dec. 9, 1967.
Mrs. Little wrote “The Mill That Shouldn’t Have Been,” a treatise on Mill Valley’s Old Mill, published by the City of Mill Valley in 1967, and numerous articles, including the story of the Lyford house in Tiburon. She prepared the historical documentation submitted in 1973 with the successful application to list Rancho Olompali on the National Register of Historic Places.
Mrs. Little was generous in sharing her knowledge with other historians and with students from local schools. Until her illness, she frequently lectured before organizations and classes. She donated historical materials to the Belvedere-Tiburon Landmarks Society and to the Lyford house, as well as to the Mill Valley Library.
She was a member of the California Historical Society, Marin County Historical Society, Belvedere-Tiburon Landmarks Society, Miwok Archeological Preserve of Marin, Friends of the Bancroft Library, and Mill Valley Outdoor Art Club.
In addition to her son, Dr. Robert Little of Baltimore, she is survived by two sisters, Flora Randolph of Temelec, Sonoma County, and Amy Howell of San Francisco; and two brothers, Harry Hanson of San Anselmo and Dr.Karl Hanson of San Francisco.
Memorial donations to the Lucretia Hanson History Room, Mill Valley Public Library, are preferred by the family.
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