[1] Hanar's father, known by his Paiute name, Makes Dust When He Walks, was the sole survivor of an ambush by cavalry at Cane Springs in 1865.
[2] James Shaw eventually returned to the Pyramid Lake Reservation, where he became a deputy police officer and raised a large family, including nine children.
[1][3] Harnar's teaching career began at the Indian Colony School in Washoe County, Nevada, where she was the inaugural teacher for the first three grades.
[2] Her career culminated with a long tenure at the Stewart Indian School in Carson City, Nevada, where she taught for 29 years and met her husband, a Cherokee from Oklahoma.
[3] Harnar helped write Our Desert Friends, a booklet on the history and culture of Nevada's Native American communities.
[3] Her contributions to the field of education and Native American history were recognized when she was chosen to speak at the Nevada Intertribal Indian Conference in 1964.
[2] She recognized literary achievements of earlier Native American writers, such as Sarah Winnemucca who greatly influenced her work.