Introduction (Final Post)

Sam as a toddler, circa 1916

Blogs being what they are, this is the last post I'm writing here but will serve as an introduction to this site.
 

Sam as an elder, circa 2004

Sam and Jean Hanson

My dad, Sam Hanson, was a journalist for most of his life.  He saved much of his writing in scrapbooks and boxes.  He also wrote a few essays for a book of memoirs.  His third and best wife, Jean Hanson, worked with me to put together these essays and publish them in the book, Off The Beat: Memoirs of a Mid-Twentieth Century Reporter in Idaho and California, available at Lulu self publishing.   Sadly, this memoir has nothing in it about Jean, her family, or the last act of his life in Pocatello, Idaho, where he returned after his retirement and 1977 divorce from Barbara Ferney Hanson.

This blogsite is an "internet-eternal" memorial to Sam Hanson.  It contains links to many scanned articles and editorials, most of which were uploaded as they were scanned: sideways.  (Should be easy enough to tip your tablet or laptop.  Those readers with desktops may need to download.)  Some of his other papers may be found in special collections at the Eli M. Oboler Library at Idaho State University.

Sam as painter

San Francisco Wartime Work for United Press

 (For more information about this post, see previous.)

During World War II, Dad worked not for an individual paper but on a desk for UP, United Press, in San Francisco.  (He wasn't fit enough for any of the military services.)  Among his papers were a few stories he filed for them.  As a self-historicizer, he kept some of the original assignments, typed manuscripts, and copies of the stories as they were printed in various newspapers.

Follow the link below to see his very first UP assignment, an invitation to UP from the Republican Party to cover the visit of glamorous congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce to San Francisco in January, 1944.  Her daughter was tragically killed in a car accident, however, the day before she was due to speak.  Dad saved his assignment and the picture of her printed after her daughter's death.

UPI First Assignment







The following links contain his original typed draft and the various publications of a story about the destruction of Manila by the Japanese.  It's from 1945.

 Original typed manuscript and some publications of Manila atrocities

More publications of Manila story

San Jose Mercury News, 60s and 70s

(For further explanation of the purpose of this post, see previous.)

In the Sixties, Dad became the education writer for the San Jose Mercury News and won some awards.  This post contains a selection of articles from the early 1960s and mid to late 1970s.   The articles from the sixties are focused primarily on education, while those in the seventies seem to focus mostly on the elderly, especially the ones written shortly before his own retirement.  (Dad was a "Gray Panther.")

(Should you choose to access these documents, you will see that the gentleman using the scanner used a Knight Library brochure as a place holder.)

Mixed dates, including September 1962, September 1963 (clipped articles)

Fall, 1963, (clipped articles) (including reaction to Kennedy assassination)

Mixed dates, including September 1963 and February 1964 (clipped articles)

Winter, spring, 1964 (clipped articles)

Summer, 1964 (clipped articles)

Fall, 1974 (full pages)

December, 1974 into spring, 1975

Spring into Summer, 1975

October to December, 1975

December, 1975 to January, 1976

San Jose Evening News 1956-57

(For information about what this is, please see previous posts.)

Dad eventually got a job at the large paper from which he would retire in 1976:  The San Jose Evening News which later became the San Jose Mercury News.   He brought along his "Off the Beat" column to the News.

Downtown San Jose, 1950s, From SPUR

On a personal note, I well remember the old, old Mercury building, and not only because Dad took me to visit there.  I remember vacations that began in the morning dark when Mom would bundle us into the car, giving me and my younger sister half-tabs of Dramamine to make sure we slept.  Nevertheless, I would wake up just twenty minutes later as Dad absent--mindedly allowed the car to take as to the front of his workplace in downtown San Jose.  I would look up and see the spinning planet above the front doors.  Later, this home was replaced by a larger building which itself has now been abandoned.   


July, August, 1956, (columns in scrapbook)

August, September, 1956 (columns in scrapbook)

October, 1956 and March, April, 1957

August, October,  November, 1956 (columns in scrapbook)

November, December, 1956 (columns in scrapbook)

December, 1956 - January, 1957 (columns in scrapbook)

January, February, 1957 (columns in scrapbook)

San Jose Mercury News HQ, 1966-2014