The word “archive” is often associated with past, dead things. The preservation of endless stacks of paper files with unintelligible words and video footage wrapped around old projector wheels whose technology is long lost to history. Collections of slides in mislabeled bags and boxes — that seem to dissolve in our very hands — full of trinkets, tchotchkes, and the miscellaneous parts to those trinkets and tchotchkes. Obscure labels, unfamiliar names and irrelevant places that, to the untrained eye, mean little. And all these, we imagine, are being dusted off and sorted by their keeper, the archivist, who is buried below the mountains of past, dead things.
But not Lori.
Cummins Heritage Center’s lead archivist, Lori Ann Lindberg, paints an entirely different picture.
Archivists, Lori argues, have a way of looking into the future by using objects from the past - something important and timely for a company like Cummins, which continues to push the industry forward with first-of-its-kind technologies and products. Every day, Lori discovers new stories about Cummins' 106-year history. Many of these reaffirm the values, innovations and aspirations the company continues to uphold and practice today.
One item that has stood out to Lori during her time as Cummins’ archivist is a letter written by J. Irwin Miller, a former president and chairman of Cummins for over 40 years.
Miller was a staunch supporter of civil rights. While serving as the 1963 President of the National Council of Churches, he and the Council co-sponsored Martin Luther King Jr.'s March on Washington. At the time, a potential investor wrote to Miller, expressing displeasure over Cummins' hiring of people of color and other marginalized groups. In response, Miller firmly stated that he would not stop hiring these individuals - all types of people worked at Cummins, and that was the way it would remain. He emphasized that this diversity contributed to Cummins' success. Miller concluded his letter by suggesting that the investor should consider placing their money elsewhere.
"That letter resonated with me, and I just got so emotional reading it because it's at least 70 years old now. It shows that this is Cummins, this is the way Cummins is and the way it's going to stay," Lori says. "And it's one of the things that I love about this company, and the fact that I can keep that evidence is just a point of pride to me."
If you've ever had the privilege of visiting Lori and the Cummins Heritage Center, you know that Lori has a special way of taking you along with her into Cummins' past. She knows nearly all there is to know about Cummins, though she would refute such a statement and argue that there's much more she has left to uncover.
The Center is surrounded by - sturdy - boxes of Cummins magazines, training manuals, letters, photos and plaques, with nearly every wall covered in vintage Cummins advertisements, posters and banners. There are tables with old engine schematics and components renderings, and cabinets full of global gifts, pins and paperweights. Just when you think you've seen all there is to see, a row of engines, from Cummins' first to nearly every decade after, leads you toward the restoration side of the Center. It's here where Cummins' litany of Indianapolis 500 race cars, a 1938 Cadillac, and a 1935 Auburn, receive their fine-tuning.
But the question remains: how does one become an archivist, much less for a global company?
Lori's path to becoming an archivist began in music. Lori graduated from Indiana University's School of Music, now Jacobs School of Music, studying opera theater. Growing up in Indiana, Lori sprang at the opportunity to explore the states and headed to Southern California. After several years in Los Angeles, Lori eventually found her home in San Francisco. It was here that she began working for a record store chain and soon developed a passion for organizing while sorting through crates of music records.
Lori characterizes her career as an archivist as a second birth. "I became a totally different person. And I found that passion," she says. "I just, you know, I love it."
That passion led to Lori receiving her Master of Library and Information Science, and for many years, Lori worked at various big corporations as their archivist while teaching scholars the art of archiving. Her work teaching led her to create the first master's program in the country for Archives and Records Administration.
Eventually, Lori moved back to Indiana and, in 2020, applied for an archivist position at an undisclosed company. She had a feeling, though, that the company was Cummins, as it had just celebrated its centennial anniversary. Lori was right, and the rest was, well, history. Lori began as a contractor before officially joining Cummins full-time in 2023.
"You know everybody when you grow up in Indianapolis, you know - and you know Cummins," Lori laughs. "My dad was a supervisor for Chrysler at the electrical plant. You didn't grow up in the automotive industry and not know about Cummins."
Lori says she can still remember how her dad's face lit up when the Dodge Ram came out with the Cummins engine. "He was just biting at the bit to drive one of those Dodge Rams. It was the coolest thing. So, I always had a great impression of Cummins from very young."
Lori may work in Cummins archives, but she doesn't stay confined to the Heritage Center. She often attends meetings across Cummins' Business Units, actively hunting for new information to add to the collection. These meetings give her a look into the future, allowing her to stay on the pulse of where Cummins is heading.
According to Lori, the Cummins Heritage Center staff does their best to be truthful in everything they do and collect. They want to portray Cummins' true story most accurately.
“I hope that the Cummins Heritage Center really reflects the many positive aspects of the company, as well as the great influence of Cummins,” Lori expresses, “not only on its industry through its products but through its people and with its people and on its people.”
When future leaders and archivists are collecting Cummins artifacts, they won’t need a magnifying glass to see that Lori was one of the people whose passion for the company captured and created a legacy.
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