As president of the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society for the past 13 years, Dr. Alan Pollack has led the quest to preserve the rich history of the Santa Clarita Valley, including maintenance and restoration of the historic buildings of Heritage Junction, adding to the extensive archives of documents and photographs of the community’s history on scvhistory.com, running a lecture series that has brought dozens of renowned historians to Santa Clarita to talk to the public about the valley’s history.
Dr. Pollack has also become one of the premier local historians in Santa Clarita. He has written numerous articles on the valley’s history, delivered historical lectures for the Historical Society, Placerita Canyon Nature Center, Rancho Camulos, Santa Clarita Public Libraries, Westerners Los Angeles Corral, Valley Relics Museum, Cal State Northridge Archeology Department, and Society for California Archaeology. He is the co-author of two books, “Legendary Locals of the Santa Clarita Valley” and “Santa Clarita Then and Now”. He has been interviewed by and promoted the Historical Society and the valley’s history on SCVTV, KHTS radio, and Santa Clarita Signal newspaper. He has appeared on national television on the Travel Channel series “Mysteries at the Museum” discussing the St. Francis Dam disaster. Dr. Pollack has also been an internal medicine physician at Kaiser Permanente in Panorama City for over thirty years.
After a visit to the Johnstown Flood National Memorial in Pennsylvania in 2012, Dr. Pollack originated the idea to bring a National Memorial to the site of the St. Francis Dam disaster to honor the memories of the over 400 victims of the flood. Since then he has been working tirelessly to make this dream a reality. He and Dianne Erskine-Hellrigel were featured in Newsweek Magazine in April 2016 regarding their advocacy for a National Memorial. In May 2016, Dr. Pollack testified with Congressman Steve Knight before the House Natural Resources Committee in Washington, D.C. to advocate for a bill to establish the St. Francis Dam Disaster National Memorial. His efforts, along with a host of other advocates, finally culminated in the establishment of the St. Francis Dam National Memorial and National Monument signed into law by the President of the United States on March 12, 2019, coincidentally the 91st anniversary of the dam disaster.