Visitors Center Time Capsule Full of Caterpillar History

Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman holds his nephew while filling the Caterpillar Visitors Center time capsule opening day, October 20.

The Caterpillar Visitors Center, which welcomed its 20,000th visitor just six weeks after opening, is now part of the rich history of Caterpillar. To commemorate the opening and to help re-hatch history in the future, a time capsule was placed in the globe in the lobby on opening day, October 20, of the Visitors Center.

"The Visitors Center grand opening only happens once and we're all a piece of that history," said Autumn Wickenhauser, responsible for marketing and communications for the Visitors Center.

Jim Baumgartner, director of Corporate Affairs, suggested the idea of placing a time capsule in the Visitors Center. The capsule will be opened in 38 years, in association with the 125th anniversary of Caterpillar, an important milestone.

A total of 78 items were placed into the time capsule. More than 100 subject matter experts contributed to the development of the exhibits in the Visitors Center, and upon hearing about the time capsule reached out to provide items to be included.

"It was important to capture not only items pertaining to the Visitors Center, but also things that are important to Caterpillar," Wickenhauser said. "We just thought, 'How can we tell the story of the Visitors Center and Caterpillar to people 38 years down the line?'

"It started off being items around the Visitors Center and kept expanding. People wanted to be a part of this history, and we were happy to include them."

Caterpillar Archivists Nikki Thaxton and Lee Fosburgh boxed, numbered and labeled each item based on proper archiving techniques.

Some items sealed into the time capsule include:

• Caterpillar Visitors Center ground-breaking, opening day and opening day coverage newspapers
• Caterpillar Visitors Center grand opening photos
• Sound bite from Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman
• Caterpillar engine portfolio
• Peoria-Area Visitors Guide
• Quotes from Stu Levenick, Rich Lavin, Jim Buda, Gerard Vittecoq, Ed Rapp and Steve Wunning
• Cat brand list
• Caterpillar Our Values in Action book
• 2012 Cat^® dealer directory
• Bucyrus purchase newspaper
• Cat work boots and hard hat
• D7E machine blueprint
• 2012 Cat product guide
• Diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) tank cap
• Caterpillar employee population