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<\/p>\nSome of Sacramento’s biggest stories are not in history books. They are tucked away in drawers, boxes and film reels.<\/p>\n
Now, Sacramento’s new city historian, Ty Smith, is working to connect the region’s past with the people shaping its future.<\/p>\n
Inside the Center for Sacramento History are millions of records, artifacts and collections that help tell the story of how the region became what it is today.<\/p>\n
“Every turn of this place, every opening of the drawer is a new kind of discovery,” Smith said. “At random, I opened up a drawer and there’s a signed, autographed picture of Walt Disney.”<\/p>\n
Smith previously served as director of the California State Railroad Museum and has spent 26 years working in and around parks and museums through California State Parks.<\/p>\n
“I haven’t lived in Sacramento my whole life, but I have an affinity for Sacramento. I keep returning to it. This is the third time,” Smith said.<\/p>\n
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Ty Smith, Sacramento’s new city historian. \u00a0<\/p>\n
His new job as city historian is a broad one. He oversees the Center for Sacramento History, preserves records and collections, and helps guide the city’s vision for how its history should be shared with the public.<\/p>\n
“I’m a historian, but I spend an awful lot of time thinking about the future,” Smith said.<\/p>\n
For Smith, Sacramento’s local history is bigger than many people realize.<\/p>\n
“In Sacramento, our local history is world history, and when I say that, people go, ‘oh yeah, the Gold Rush,’ but it’s more than that. It’s also the Transcontinental Railroad. Tower Records was born here in Sacramento and grew into a global iconic brand,” he said.<\/p>\n
Preserving Sacramento’s history for the future <\/p>\n
Smith is joined by volunteers, researchers and colleagues like Chris Hendricks, who spends much of his time digitizing the millions of documents kept at the center.<\/p>\n
“That’s the way I work, fast. My brain is just a process brain and it fits me really well, actually,” Hendricks said.<\/p>\n
In the center’s cold storage unit, thousands of reels of old CBS13 footage are being preserved.<\/p>\n
“As news is, it’s a slice of life at that time. But here we have it all collected so we can reach back into time to tell a story,” Smith said.<\/p>\n
For Smith, preserving Sacramento’s history is only part of the job. He says the bigger mission is taking those stories beyond the walls of the center.<\/p>\n
“It can anchor us to something. I think of history as empowerment. I think of history as a way to connect and give people a sense of identity,” Smith said.<\/p>\n
Smith said he plans to be hands-on and front-facing with the public, encouraging conversations about Sacramento’s past and how it can help shape the region’s future.<\/p>\n
For him, history is not meant to sit on a shelf. It is meant to be shared one story, one conversation and one discovery at a time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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