Preserving GM's Heritage
Visitors to the GM Heritage Center are most familiar with its work in preserving examples of significant production and concept GM vehicles, as well as the historic records and artifacts that document them. An equally important mission for the Heritage Center is its work to collect, catalog and preserve the history of GM’s component divisions, plants and non-automotive units. GM’s recent economic challenges and its rapid transition to a new organization have increased the Center’s work in this area significantly.
Many of these GM units have been part of the GM family for most of its one hundred year history. During that time, they have generated a significant amount of important historical documents and records that must be preserved in order to capture as complete a history of GM as possible. Some of the information has been carefully cataloged and filed over the years and is not too difficult to find and move to secure storage at the Heritage Center and Media Archive. Other parts of the historical information remain exactly where they were last used back in the day. Significant documentation is often found in unlabeled boxes at the far end of a warehouse, in office filing cabinets, in basements or just about any out of the way place. Those are the areas that pose the greatest challenge and require sustainable efforts to find and preserve.
Once a significant change has been announced for a GM Division, the Heritage Center begins the preservation process by connecting with the unit’s leadership team. Their support is essential throughout the process to communicate with their staff and to take the lead in preventing the accidental destruction of any documents or artifacts. In most cases, at least one site visit is required to access the amount of material to be saved.
After the overall scope of the project is understood, the Heritage Center staff creates an action plan that is reviewed with the unit’s leadership. Once the plan is approved by stakeholders, staff members work onsite with a local team and make a complete inventory of the key materials. Working with the local unit’s team, the Heritage Center staff collects the material from the unit’s facilities that should be preserved and packages them for shipment to the Heritage Center.
The Heritage Center is the central receiving point for all historic information and artifacts. This is where the contents of the hundreds of boxes, crates and file drawers are carefully sorted and evaluated. Collections that include three dimensional artifacts, books and service manuals, etc… are assigned donation acquisition numbers and placed in the Heritage Center storage units. Two dimensional materials are frequently scanned at high resolution for inclusion in GM’s huge digital database. Original material is then placed in archival storage modules and sent to the fireproof, long-term storage vault. Once included in the digital asset management system, the material is easily accessible to GM units, media and other researchers.
Most recently, the Heritage Center staff has been working on preserving the history of the GM Powertrain Willow Run Engineering Center and Plant. This huge complex has been part of GM since the early 1950s. Over the years, in addition to building engines and transmissions, GM has utilized this complex to build Corvairs, Novas and Caprices. As you can imagine, there is a significant amount of material that will be preserved.
Over the last few years, the Heritage Center has worked to preserve the history of a number of GM facilities including assembly plants in: Janesville, Wisconsin; Doraville, Georgia; Moraine, Ohio; and two former Fisher Body plants - most recently known as the Grand Rapids Metal Center and the Pittsburgh Metal Center. The Heritage Center has also conserved the Mesa, Arizona GM Desert Proving Ground's collection of still photography and motion picture footage as it moves to a new location.
The Heritage Center is always interested in reviewing and scanning historic materials that has been preserved by current or former employees. Employees have been involved in the day to day working world of any facility and most often know best what needs to be saved as a record of their accomplishments. Once scanned, the originals can be returned. In some cases individuals have decided to donate the materials to the GM Archive. The Heritage Center recognizes those contributions on a special “Contributors” wall panel in its main display area.
Do you have a GM vehicle that you would like to add to GM’s collection? Perhaps you have some documents, artifacts or automobilia that represent a significant period in GM’s history. Why not donate them to the GM Heritage Center where they can become part of GM’s permanent historical records, preserved for posterity.
For more information, contact the GM Heritage Center at gmhc@gm.com.
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