Revitalizing history: City of Auburn names volunteer City Historian

With the goal of fostering and promoting the history of Auburn, the city named Carol Cramer the official City Historian last month. The volunteer position was a role Cramer was asked to fill time and time again while she was throughout town working on one of her many historical projects. "Finally, one day I said yes," she said. "You know, there are two aspects to history – there's the present and the past and preservation and presentation. One of the things our community has been incredibly good at is preserving." Cramer has spent many years shining a light on Auburn's history. She has 20 years of experience as a docent with Placer County Museums, is a Placer County Historical Society board member and can be found giving cemetery tours in the fall. Her reputation for highlighting history started when she revitalized the Living Classroom program at the Bernhard Museum. Most recently, Cramer has spent her time with projects around City Hall, updating displays in the Benton Welty Historic Classroom and promoting unique characters in Placer County history in the halls of City Hall. "I think my role is more to make sure that people are aware of what's been preserved and appreciate it and to keep it going. If you preserve something and then don't do something with it, what happens to it? It goes away and then no one appreciates it," she said. Part of her efforts has led to the historic classroom at City Hall to be open daily from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. "Most people, when they come into this classroom, they immediately take a trip down memory lane and they want to reminisce about their school days," she said. While enjoying the historical artifacts throughout the room, visitors can interact with the space and practice their writing, reading and 'rithmitic on chalkboard tablets. Cramer helped support the installation and updating of glass displays at the side of the classroom that chronicle education in Auburn from the 1800s to today. "We need to acknowledge (history) so we can enjoy it," she said. "Just to preserve it isn't enough. That isn't the end; that can't be the end. So I'm part of that next step." Auburn also benefits from Cramer's constitutional knowledge. Part of the city's effort to name a city historian was so they could serve in an advisory capacity to the city manager and other city staff. Just last week, Cramer walked Public Works Manager Mengil Deane through Bicentennial Park citing points of historical reference. Cramer said she wouldn't be able to accept the role of city historian without the help of Auburn's other lovers of history. "I wouldn't have even thought about saying yes without this huge, huge historical support community behind me," she said. Cramer said she calls on her friends in the same way she was called upon to champion local history. It's all about "twisting arms." She said she is not an expert researcher, but she depends on some of Placer County's best and brightest resources for that. Her love of history also is a love of accuracy, she said, as citing sources is very important to her. "If you do come up and tell me a story, you better come up with some primary sources to prove it," she said. Future projects Cramer has in mind include working on a history of the Auburn City Fire Department, creating a display of Auburn Fire artifacts at city hall and continuing to display unique Auburn residents. This month, Esther (Etta) Birdsall Darling is featured as a part of the Placer County Historical Society's Unique Characters display at city hall. Her life, which begins and ends in the Aeolia Heights area of Auburn, is a fascinating tale which includes world travel and eventually settling in Alaska, where Etta was surrounded by sled dogs and inspired to write books about their tales. "We will continue look for unique Auburnites. We have a few rules though," Cramer said. "They have to be born before 1910, they have to have resided in Placer County at some point, and the family has to provide some artifacts."