author
Geneve L. A. Shaffer
1888–1976
An adventurous early-20th-century writer, lecturer, and realtor, she is remembered both for her travel writing and for the publicity surrounding her pioneering flights in California. Her best-known book, The Log of the Empire State, grew out of a long commercial tour across the Pacific and captures the energy of its era.
1 Audiobook
The Log of the Empire State
by Geneve L. A. Shaffer
About the author
Geneve Lucy Angela Shaffer (July 20, 1888 – December 13, 1976) was an American writer, lecturer, and realtor. She was born in Wisconsin and later built her career in California, where newspapers also drew attention to her as an early aviation enthusiast.
She is best known today as the author of The Log of the Empire State, a travel narrative based on a three-month journey to Asia made with a San Francisco Chamber of Commerce delegation. Contemporary references to the book describe her as the San Francisco Examiner's special representative on the tour, and the writing reflects both her eye for detail and her interest in public life.
Beyond her writing, Shaffer had a varied public profile: she worked in real estate, gave lectures, and was reported in 1909 as "the first woman in the world to sail in a flying machine." That mix of travel, publicity, and professional ambition gives her story a lively place in early California history.