Chrysler just destroyed their own historical archives..
Admittedly, that doesn’t have much to do with Orange County history, (the subject of this blog,) unless you count the millions of Chryslers that have driven our roads since the 1920s.
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However, it serves as a cautionary tale about short-sighted organizations that try to save money by axing their priceless (yet inexpensive-to-maintain) historical archives. After all, who knows what "penny wise and pound foolish" cuts still await California as our economy circles the drain?
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According to Bob Elton at The Truth About Cars, Chrysler's new owner, Cerberus (named for the three-headed dog at the gates of Hades), "eliminated its archivist position. They stopped funding the documents’ maintenance. The company limited access to their archives and then stopped it altogether. Worse was to follow. With little notice and no planning, Cerberus literally abandoned the engineering library at the Chrysler Technical Center. The library was shuttered and the librarian laid off. And then the real crime: all the library’s books and materials were offered to anyone who could carry them away… Within a week, a collection spanning decades was scattered to the winds; the books and other materials will never again be available in any coherent, comprehensive form.”
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As one reader responded, “Destroying any archival material for the chump change it would take to preserve it is insanity.”
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Another wrote, “Heritage is an asset at which the bean counters have never been able to attach an actual $ sign to, therefore, as far as they are concerned, it’s not [important]... The documentation being sold, trashed, lost, stolen, and given away… borders on illegal. At the minimum, immoral.”
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Amen.
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Remain vigilant folks.
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(The photo above shows the Chrysler Corp. building at, 1111 N Brookhurst St., in Anaheim, during the 1960s.)
How do decisions like that get made? What a monumental shame.
ReplyDeleteI have often wondered why companies don't set up a separate non-profit entity for historical preservation and fund it when times are good and let them live off the endowment when times are lean.
ReplyDeleteI witnessed the the same thing happen in Aerospace, and it's such a shame.
When the big shutdown of Hughes Aircraft Co. in Fullerton began, our publications department tasked me (no one wanted the job) to decide what to salvage and what went into the dumpster. 40 years of artwork, negatives, photos and drawings were filed and "dumped". There was no place for it to go and the company had no reason to keep it.
ReplyDeleteI took a month to sort out over 50 file cabinets, dumping stuff into the dumpster (inside), and pilling up that which I thought would be of interest to others in the department if they wanted to walk out with it.
Amazingly enough; the huge pile disappeared as fast as I could lay it out. (I kept tons, including about a 3 foot tall pile of brochures dating from the late '50s.) Even the stuff in the dumpster (mostly just order forms, phone lists, department party photos, etc.) So; it really didn't get destroyed.
Maybe someday it will start showing up on a blog, and then others could add to it. The history of Ground Systems Group of Hughes at 1901 Malvern Ave, in Fullerton, may not be lost after all. At least, I hope so. I spent 30 years of my life there.
ps: I think there is a big shopping mall there now
Actually, the Chrysler Archivist has disputed this, and has written an article saying all historical material was sent to other offices before the engineering library was closed. See http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/chrysler-fires-back-on-ttac-archive-elimination-story/
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