The Los Altos Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution invites the community to attend their Friday (March 21) meeting, where they will present Community Service Awards, the Women in American History Award, and enjoy a talk by local author Nancy Hardesty.
Hardesty is the author of the historical fiction novel “The Bonnet Book.”
The meeting will be held in the Sequoia Room of the Los Altos Community Center, 97 Hillview Ave. The awards ceremony is scheduled 11:30 a.m. with the program following at noon. Register at the website bit.ly/21-DAR.
Author Nancy Hardesty spent five years researching her family history and writing “The Bonnet Book,” the story of her grandmother, Blanche Spencer, who came west on the orphan train and started her own millinery business.
Hardesty summarizes her book: “Sent away on an orphan train at fourteen, smart and lovely Blanche lands in St. Louis, Missouri as a nursemaid, wearing rags and sleeping in a pantry. To rise above her servitude, she begins a self-education program.
“A trade booth at the 1904 World’s Fair and a Cobden, Illinois apprenticeship launch her into a hat-making career, which she documents in a tiny diary,‘The Bonnet Book’ (This diary of hat sketches and the hat-supply wooden trunk are still in the author’s possession). An early example of self-determination and girl power, Blanche – now Bonnie – travels alone to the Wild West. Here she’s presented with the chance of a lifetime and the possibility of love – both rife with challenges that test her drive, purpose in life and sense of self.”
Hardesty was born in Jacksonville, Illinois, and spent her childhood in St. Louis, Missouri. She was trained by her father, Charles Menees, journalist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, to be a writer, but she went on to become a landscape architect. She attended University of Michigan for a degree in landscape architecture and Antioch West for a master’s degree in ecosystems management.
Hardesty had her own Palo Alto-based landscape architecture business from 1972-1995. Learn more about Nancy and her work at nancyhardesty.com.
The Los Altos Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, founded in 1950, celebrated its 75th anniversary in February. The chapter focuses on local historic
preservation projects, genealogy research, education, fundraising for a Foothill College scholarship fund, environmental conservation, service to veterans and other community projects. The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution is a nonprofit, non-political, volunteer women’s service
organization dedicated to promoting patriotism, preserving American history, and securing America’s future through better education for children. Any woman 18 years or older is eligible to join if she can prove lineal descent from a supporter of the American Revolution.
For more information, visit losaltos.californiadar.org.
