Gallery Hosts Bring Their Own Heritage to Caterpillar Visitors Center

When stopping by the Caterpillar Visitors Center (CVC), be sure to ask the gallery hosts about their own story as well as the story of Caterpillar, as many are rehired retirees that have served the company for 19 to 42 years. This February, the CVC celebrated its first "Heritage Day" where the retirees could display items from their Caterpillar career and showcase their own history to fellow CVC employees.

From engine-shaped cufflinks and Caterpillar matchboxes to a nostalgic photo of Building HH and an engraved steel hard hat, CVC employees were captivated by each host's memorabilia and story that accompanied it. Corporate Archivist Lee Fosburgh made a point to stop by the center to look at the items the hosts were showcasing. "It's more than just finding the object itself, but getting the story and putting everything into context," said Fosburgh. "Each item is the piece of a larger puzzle."

"I was presented with this custom hard hat from Trakindo Cat^® for working a trade with a NACD dealer to get a 773 off-highway truck immediately  to their mine site in Indonesia," said Jean Hurt, who retired after working for 42 years at Caterpillar. "I started as a "tub file" clerk in 1967 and my favorite memory is looking out the window of a plane in awe on my first business trip in 1979, thinking 'Caterpillar believes I can do this!'"