Biography of Virginia Hanson (1907-78)
Virginia Hanson was an important local figure in Cache Valley but most especially the small town of Cornish, Utah. As head librarian at the Cache County public library for thirty years Miss Hanson instilled a love of reading into generations of young people. But Virginia Hanson was more than simply a librarian. Her influence was felt through her varied activities, which included organizing games and writing and presenting plays for the Cornish L.D.S. ward.
Nellie Virginia Hanson was born in Logan, Utah on February 19, 1907. Virginia, as she was known, was the daughter of William O. and Hilma Anderson Hanson. One of six children, Virginia had three sisters Mae, Inez, and Helvie and two brothers Carl and Byron. Mae, who became a school teacher was Virginia's constant companion. Those who remember Virginia remember that Mae was always at her side. The Hanson family settled in Cornish, Utah in 1914. The farm the Hansons settled on became known locally as "Dreary Acres."
Virginia attended elementary school in Cornish then went to the Brigham Young College in Logan. Later, she graduated from Utah State University.
Early in her career Virginia Hanson was a teacher. She taught elementary school at Cornish and Lewiston in Cache County and at Hiawatha in Carbon County and at Heber City in Wasatch County.
But Miss Hanson is best remembered as a librarian. She began work as an assistant librarian at the Cache County public library in 1941. She quickly rose to the position of head librarian which she held for thirty years, from 1944 until her retirement in 1974. A voracious reader and lover of books, Virginia Hanson encouraged reading at every opportunity. She read to the residents of Sunshine Terrace and was active in promoting the enjoyment of books through the Lewiston Literary League.
Community and church affairs were the stuff of Hanson's life. She served as the co-chairman of the Cache Bicentennial Committee, a member of the board of directors of the Sunshine Terrace Foundation, a charter member of the Lewiston Literary League, and a sponsor of the Foreign Students Association at Utah State University. She was a member of the Utah Library Association. She was score keeper for the Cornish baseball team.
In addition, Virginia and Mae Hanson were travelers. They visited every state in the Union and traveled in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and South America. The sisters had returned from a B.Y.U. tour of Central America only weeks before the fatal train-car accident.
Virginia, and her sister Mae (1909-1978) were killed on January 25, 1978 when a Union Pacific train struck their car at a railroad crossing at "Dreary Acres" in Cornish, Utah. Both sisters, constant companions in life, were buried in the Logan City cemetery.
Scope And Content
The collection consists of her journals 1933-1978, letters from prominent literary figures, speeches, miscellaneous writings play scripts, and a scrapbook of playbills. Includes reminiscences of early residents of Cornish, Utah and correspondence from Senator Arthur V. Watkins on the proposed discontinuance of the Cornish post office.
Inventory
Virginia Hanson (1907-1978) Diaries
Box 1
Volume 1 1933
Volume 2 1934
Volume 3 1935-1939
Box 2
Volume 4 1940-44
Volume 5 1945-1949
Volume 6 1950
Box 3
Volume 7 1951-1955
Volume 8 1956-1960
Box 4
Volume 9 1961-1965
Volume 10 1966-1970
Box 5
Volume 11 1971-1975
Volume 12 1976-1978
Box 6
Mae Hanson (1909-1978) Diary 1936-1940
Gerald E. Thompson Diary 1942
Licaes Portuguese
Fd 3 Cache County Library Board of Trustees April 21, 1973
Fd 4 Caudill, Bennet May 19, 1965
Fd 5 Cerf, Bennet May 19, 1965
Fd 6 Chase, Daryl February 5, 1955
Fd 7 Cornell, Katherine December 12, 1940
Fd 8 Crockett, J. Allan June 22, 1977
Fd 9 Ferber, Edna November 25, 1940
Fd 10 Fowler, Charles A. August 13, 1963
Fd 11 Hoffman, Malowa November 23, 1940
Fd 12 Hughes, Langston August 30, 1958
Fd 13 Lantz, Walter March 23, 1964
Fd 14 McClellan, C. E. January 11, 1954
Fd 15 Merrill, Milton R. December 11, 1965
Fd 16 Minear, V. L. February 17, 1964
Fd 17 Musser, Elsie F. December 3, 1940
Fd 18 Nascimento, Derly Fraga May 15, 1958; May 21, 1976
Fd 19 Patil, Uttamrao Anatrao April 23, 1974; July 2, 1974. Visa petition.
Fd 20 Pike, Edward W. March 22, 1957
Fd 21 Reynolds, Stanley A. March 21, 1946; August 11, 1946
Fd 22 Rice, Moyle Q. May 1, 1950
Fd 23 Rockefeller, Laurance S. June 30, 1955
Fd 24 Roosevelt, Eleanor November 20, 1940
Fd 25 Sanger, Margaret January 3, 1941
Fd 26 Thomas, Elbert D. February 8, 1944
Fd 27 Thorne, Kip April 18, 1973
Fd 28 Wall Street Journal December 24, 1971
Fd 29 Wolffsonn, Erica December 1, 1977
Fd 30 Donna to Ione October 1, 1960
Fd 31 Edna July 21, 19[?]; July 21, 19 [?]
Fd 32 Mildred to Aunt Delia September 30, 1960
Fd 33 Bill Griggs letter to Santa Claus [August 1965]
Fd 34 Virginia Hanson to Mr. Stephens February 9, 1945 concerning teaching
Box 9
Fd 1 Play script "After P. T. A. (A Tragedy in One Brief Spasm)"
Fd 2 Play script "Bertram and the Anting-Anting"
Fd 3 Play script "Columbus"
Fd 4 Play script "Gypsy Rosita"
Fd 5 Play script "If Men Played Bridge Like Women" 1932 baseball club program
Fd 6 Play script "Little Red Riding Hood" (German)
Fd 7 Play script "Make Up Your Mind"
Fd 8 Play script "A Morning at the Pre-Fabs"
Fd 9 Play script "Mr. G. S. B."
Fd 10 Play script cast for "Santa Claus' Defenders" December 22, 1976
Fd 11 Play script "The Spirit of Christmas"
Fd 12 Play script "Sweet Day of Rest: A Cornish Family Getting Ready for Sunday School"
Fd 13 Play script "The Torch of Destiny"
Fd 14 Play script "Uma Tragedia Humana" (Portuguese)
Fd 15 Speech on books and reading
Fd 16 Speech on the Occident and the Orient
Fd 17 Speech "The Place of the Library in Supplementing School Libraries"
Fd 18 "The Role of the Public Librarian"
Fd 19 Speech to Mt. Plains Conference in Estes Park
Fd 20 Speech on books to P. T. A.
Fd 21 Speech to P. T. A.
Fd 22 Speech to Rotary Club
Fd 23 Speech to Rotary Club
Fd 24 Speech to Utah Library Association
Fd 25 Speech at birthday of Eleanor G. Nelson May 11, 1950
Fd 26 Speaking notes on various subjects
Fd 27 Church talk "A Study in Transition"
Fd 28 Advanced composition 110 Spring 1941 essays
Fd 29 Physics 88 research paper "The History of Light"
Fd 30 Short stories and essays
Fd 31 Short story "Stockings vs. Romance"
Fd 32 Newsletter to friends April, June, August 1957
Fd 33 A prophecy written for M. I. A. closing social May 1938
Fd 34 Local happenings
Fd 35 Travel 1972 Alaska trip notebook
Fd 36 Travel U. S. S. R., Spain and the Pacific Islands
Box 10
Fd 1 Poetry
Fd 2 Notebook book list
Fd 3 Christmas cards some created by Virginia Hanson; miscellaneous humorous items
Fd 4 Minnie McDonald Ross "A Short Life of Methuselah" published by the Sagebrush Press Dreary Acres Cornish, Utah 1970
Fd 5 Stories written by children
Fd 6 Children's Art, Soo Pool Won School Dooghil, Korea
Fd 7 Cornish reminiscences of May Clayson Butler, Marie Christoffersen, Hattie S. Neeley, Vilate L. Romney and others
Fd 8 Cornish LDS ward dedication services program April 12, 1970
Fd 9 Cornish a poem by Margaret Gunter Hayes 1976
Fd 10 Cornish Post Office. Letters from Assistant Postmaster General N. R. Abrams, Cache County Republican party Chairman Golden Buttars, congressman Douglas R.
Stringfellow and Senator Arthur V. Watkins on the proposed discontinuance of the post office.
Fd 11 Newspaper clippings on Cornish, Cache County Library and miscellaneous events.
Fd 12 Handwriting analysis of Virginia Hanson
Fd 13 Obituaries and memorials to Virginia and Mae Hanson 1978
Fd 14 Party Games
Fd 15 Ration book World II
Fd 16 Scrapbook. Photocopies (original removed to photograph section)
Fd 17 Utah Library Association program of the 35th Annual Convention 1947
Box 11
Scrapbook of playbills for theatrical productions 1920-1941
For more information: 435/797-2663; Manuscript Librarian.
Special Collections & Archives, Merrill Library, Utah State University Libraries, Utah State University 84322-3000
