I created an Allis-Chalmers History Museum a few months back and have been making some progress on it. Right now it is just webpage powered by Omeka.net I am hoping that it can be a major source of information for Allis-Chalmers enthusiasts. Instead of it just being solely about tractors or other products, I am trying to tell the stories of the men and women who worked there, and about the company. It may take some time, but hopefully the project will turn into a valuable source of information.
Some of the things I have put together so far are pages about the brief history of the company and a paged with some of the hard-to-find documents. I am working on scanning and uploading PDFs of documents to be viewed right on the site. Essentially, I want it to be an open library of information. These publications are hard to find and pricey when they do pop up from time to time. I want to be able to share these with everyone in hopes of preserving the history of Allis-Chalmers, the workers, and the products they made.
There are a few features I would like to add in the future:
- Biographies- People who worked at the various plants, what they did, and for how long. ( Text & Audio)
- Photograph Archive- Albums broken up into categories depicting work at the plant.
- Patent Archive- I have started this but would like to eventually list out all patents in separate categories.
- In-Depth Histories- Specific histories about labor disputes, special projects, company expansion, etc.
- Film/Video- Adding original film reel segments or videos the company released.
It will take some time, but this is what I hope to accomplish with my little, online museum. Who knows, maybe in the future it will turn into a real museum with real exhibits. I am encouraging any interested historians to help me. I know there are other AC enthusiasts/historians out there! Another possibility is getting some other historical societies involved to contribute. The West Allis Historical Society, Milwaukee County Historical Society, and LaPorte County Historical Society are a few that I have visited/contacted about AC history before. They, as well as others, could be a great source of information.
Contact me if you have information to share or would like to help!
Austin M. Frederick 