Gladys Hansen is an 88-year-old former city librarian who has worked tirelessly for 50 years finding the names of those who died in the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire. After discovering that San Francisco did not have an official death list, Gladys began combing newspapers, tax records, registries, and reaching out to genealogy societies to create her own. She soon found out that the city had grossly underestimated the number of dead, and in fact, had intentionally downplayed the fatalities and damage from the Earthquake to avoid discouraging future investments in city business. As the Dead List grew and grew, Gladys became the pivot point for hundreds of families who wanted to find out more information on missing relatives.