DAILY, Marla
DAILY, Marla (b. 1950) cultural anthropology graduate of the University of California Santa Barbara and California Channel Islands historian. She spent the summer of 1973 as a participant in an archaeological survey on Santa Cruz Island with archaeologists Albert Spaulding and Michael Glassow.
From 1974-1979 Daily worked for the University of California's Santa Cruz Island Reserve as assistant to Reserve Manager, Lyndal Laughrin. In 1980 Daily was hired by Carey Stanton, island owner, to work for the Santa Cruz Island Company as his personal assistant.
In 1985 Stanton formed the Santa Cruz Island Foundation (SCIF) with Daily appointed as Vice-President. In 1987, Daily published her first book, California’s Channel Islands: 1001 Questions Answered(published in three editions). This book became the foundation of Daily's Islapedia.com, a comprehensive online Channel Islands Encyclopedia.
Upon Stanton’s death on December 8, 1897, Daily became president of the Santa Cruz Island Foundation (SCIF), a position she held until her retirement. Under Daily’s management, SCIF published dozens of books and articles about all eight of California’s Channel Islands.
On a 1983 research voyage to the Pacific Islands of Baja California, Daily met Kirk Connally, captain of the R/VDiamaresa. His family founded Island Packers in 1968, eventual concessionaire to Channel Islands National Park. Marla Daily and Kirk Connally married on July 8, 1989.
» Allen, Kerry Island Fever, Marla Daily's long love affair with the Channel Islands in Santa Barbara Magazine (13) Winter 1995;
