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Nancy Lund is well known for her role as Portola Valley’s historian, but did you know that she’s also an author and a former educator? In recognition of her 50 years of civic, educational and historical contributions to the town, the Portola Valley Town Council presented Lund with the Founders’ Award on Feb. 25.
“I have felt that serving in this wonderful volunteer job all these years has enriched my life a great deal,” Lund said in a speech. “I’ve learned so much and I have met wonderful people who have served on the committee with me all these years, people who are doing things out and around town, and it’s made my life richer.”
In 1982, Lund was the first person to join the archives committee, working alongside other committee members to organize piles of newspapers and documents stored in a file cabinet and a closet located in the old council chambers. The committee was renamed the Historic Resources Committee in 1994 when the Historic Element was added to the town’s General Plan and later became a “working group” in 2024.
Sometime after joining the committee, Lund succeeded former town historian Dorothy Regnery, who died in 1990. Regnery began researching Portola Valley’s history in the late 1950s and contributed two file cabinets’ worth of historic documents, maps and photographs to the town. Lund said that she spent many years looking through Regnery’s archives, learning about the town’s past: Chinese strawberry farmers, the Italian and Irish community that farmed on Windy Hill and the barkeeps at Rosotti’s Alpine Inn.
Lund is best known for writing two books including “Ladera Lore,” which she co-authored with Hallis Friend, and “Life on the San Andreas Fault: A History of Portola Valley.” According to Council Member Mary Hufty, Lund has also written books about Palo Alto, Hillsborough and Los Trancos and is currently working on a piece about Stanford University’s Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve.
While teaching at La Entrada Middle School in Menlo Park, Lund gained an interest in California history and did a project on Ladera for a course at Foothill College, according to a 2003 story in The Almanac. She also taught at Ladera Elementary School for over a decade, before it closed in 1989.
Founders’ Award recipient Nancy Lund addresses the Portola Valley Town Council during a meeting on Feb. 25, 2026. Photo by Magali Gauthier. 
Nancy Lund listens as the Portola Valley Town Council presents her with the Founders’ Award during a meeting in Portola Valley on Feb. 25, 2026. Photo by Magali Gauthier.
Through the town’s Cultural Arts Committee, Lund also co-founded Blues and Barbecues, an annual community fundraiser, said Hufty. She also notably lobbied for a dedicated space to store archives during the building of the new Town Center, giving historical documents a home in the Portola Valley Library’s Heritage Room.
“She is a true leader,” wrote Portola Valley resident Gary Nielsen in a letter nominating Lund for the award.
Other local residents called her an “irreplaceable gem” and “embodiment” of the Founders’ Award.
“It is an honor to recognize someone whose dedication to our community spans nearly five decades; someone who has quietly and persistently worked to ensure that Portola Valley’s history is not just remembered but preserved for generations to come,” Parks and Recreation Committee Chair Patty Dewes wrote in her letter of recommendation to the council.
Historic Resources Working Group member Jim Lipman outlined in his letter the many accomplishments that the committee has been able to achieve with the help of Lund at the helm of the historical group. He added that Lund spends countless hours updating the town’s records and correcting entries.
Lund was happy to announce that the committee is actively working on digitizing all of its archives to make the town’s history more accessible and continue to preserve the town’s history as it progresses through present day.
“We are recording our era so that when the next generation comes to take over to be stewards of the land, hopefully they will understand our era as we understand the era of the people who came before us,” said Lund in her speech.
