Volunteers Make History Every Day

April might be National Volunteer Month, but recognizing the work done by the dedicated volunteers at the Santa Clarita History Center, where pay is plentiful in knowledge, experience, camaraderie and helping their community, is a year-round celebration.
Kathy Ensell, a retired bank administrator, heard that the archivist for the SCV Historical Society needed volunteers to scan documents and pictures, so she offered her help.
Her attention to detail came in handy, as Ensell has done much more than scan documents; she’s been through dusty storage containers, recovering artifacts and recording their provenance and helped move things around the buildings in the Santa Clarita History Center.
“It’s very interesting,” she said. “I am not a native of this valley, so everything I learn about the people is new. I get to do a little bit of everything. “A lot of people are just faces to me, but it will mean a lot to people who grew up here.”
Along with being a volunteer, Ensell is also a Quester, which is a national group dedicated to preservation and restoration of historic resources. Her involvement with the History Center seems to be a natural fit.
Vicki Allen is another volunteer who works in the archiving department. She moved to the area from Indiana after retiring and was looking for a volunteer job that had flexible hours.
“Every time you walk in, there’s something different,” she said. Previously, Allen designed software for document scanning that went much faster than the methodical machines she works with now, but she appreciates the results that will preserve and educate others.
Madison Traylor started out as an intern in May 2023 as part of her graduate work at Syracuse University. She initially wanted to get a degree in Library Science, but archiving has won her heart. Because of skills developed during her volunteer stint at the Society, she was recently hired as an archivist.
“The old things have stories honoring people who came before us,” she said. “The passion that Eva (Senior Archivist) has for the collection and her enthusiasm rubs off on everybody. My library electives had no historic archiving classes, but I’ve learned so much working here. I’ve decided I’m not going to be working in a library, I’m going to be in a museum because that’s where I belong. The difference between a library and here is like night and day.”
Traylor said that working with artifacts makes her feel like “I’m walking through people’s lives.” She got that feeling especially strongly as she helped preserve the Randy Wicks cartoon collection.
The Santa Clarita History Center depends on volunteers to get a variety of important jobs done. Every member of the board of directors donates their time and talents to various tasks and responsibilities. And along with Kathy and Vicki, Laura Gruhn scans and processes artifacts for the collection; Michael Tcherkassky scans documents and books; Michael Jarel oversees and works on all things to do with the Mogul Engine and caboose and Guy Horanberg helps with restoration projects and grounds keeping. Volunteers are a critical part of moving the Santa Clarita History Center closer to becoming a state-of-the-art museum complex!
If you’re interested in volunteering, send an email to crock@scvhs.org.​

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