Everyone Deserves to Have Their Story Told – SCV History

Eva Gritz isn’t your typical archivist.
She works diligently in her office at the Saugus Train Station at the Santa Clarita History Center to account for every artifact, document, ephemera, and memento donated to the Center’s collection, using cotton gloves and appropriate papers, boxes and containers, keeping detailed records of every item. She schools volunteers on the proper way to scan documents and pictures.
But she brings something to her position that you don’t find on job search sites – intimate knowledge of the communities she is serving, because the Santa Clarita Valley is where she was born and raised. You might say she knows where all the bodies are buried, as well as their stories.
A 1985 Saugus High graduate, Eva launched herself into a career in floral designing, but after 25 years of making everything from corsages to casket sprays, she decided to expand her horizons. She took two years to travel the country, skipping the tourist traps and finding little cafes and bars where she could visit with the locals and learn about their colorful history. You might say she listened her way across America.
Eventually she came home and answered a call for a job scanning yearbooks for scvhistory.com. That quickly led to organizing and cataloging the massive collection of items housed on the Center’s property and a new education in archiving.
One of her favorite things is hearing stories from donors when they bring in items.
“You always find out that there is more to something than you originally thought,” she said. Details come out.
“Everybody is relevant,” she continued, looking around at the collection of items from movers and shakers of the past 100 years all around her. “Everyone has a story and deserves to have their story told.”
She does have one piece of advice for everyone, whether they are donating their memorabilia to an organization or just keeping it for future generations of their family.
“Mark your stuff. Put names and dates on the back of pictures or things and put that information on a cloud or a drive somewhere. Have a plan.”
Gritz is always looking for volunteers to help with scanning items; contact her at egritz@scvhistory.com.