J. Irwin Miller Speaks before Bartholomew Consolidated School Board
Channel: Columbus Indiana Architectural Archives
Date: 22/06/2021

This is a video of J. Irwin Miller's speech before the Bartholomew Consolidated School Board in October 1973 regarding the need to renovate or replace the Taylorsville School. The school board invited J. Irwin Miller and Richard Stoner, president of the Foundation, to speak about the Cummins Foundation Architecture Program, which had been subsidizing architects’ fees for public buildings for over a decade. Miller explained Cummins Inc.’s interest in developing outstanding school buildings as both a major taxpayer and as an employer. When asked to comment on the rapid shifts in contemporary educational theory, he articulated the basic educational outcomes that Cummins needed in employees rather than specific skill sets. Although there is scant detail about specific built projects and no mention of an architect by name, this meeting documents the philosophy and priorities of Miller and the Cummins Foundation Architecture Program during its most active period. This speech was recorded by the Video Access Center, also known as Video Action Center, at the school board meeting and aired on local cable access channel 5 on October 4, 1973, at 9:00 PM, according to the Republic newspaper. After the school board meeting, the same video tape includes a partially taped-over unrelated interview between Gerald L. Olson and an unnamed man discussing the Miller family’s private support of political candidates.

This video is a part of the CIAA Audio and Moving Image Collection (C0031), Series I: Local voices. To learn more about this recording and the collection you can visit https://bcplarchives.omeka.net/items/show/479. 

To cite this recording, please use: J. Irwin Miller Speaks before Bartholomew Consolidated School Board (video recording), 10/01/1973, CIAA Audio and Moving Image Collection (C0031), Columbus Indiana Architectural Archives, BCPL Archives, Bartholomew County Public Library, Columbus, IN.

To learn more about our other collections, visit https://bcplarchives.omeka.net/. 

Please visit us online:
https://www.columbusarchives.org/
https://mybcpl.org/CIAA

Index
1. Introduction of J. Irwin Miller and the Taylorsville School Board [00:00:00]
2. Cummins Needs Good Schools to Attract a Good Workforce [00:02:03]
3. Building for the Future Provides Taxpayers Good Value for Their Dollars [00:05:58]
4. 1961 Cummins Foundation Guidelines Reviewed [00:11:41]
5. J. Irwin Miller Discusses Subsidizing Curriculum Studies and Other Planning [00:19:17]
6. Basic Educational Outcomes Are More Important Than Job Training [00:24:43]
7. Conclusion [00:27:28]
8. Unidentified Video Clip [00:28:12]

This material was made available digitally through support and funding from the Clarence E. and Inez R. Custer Foundation and the Elizabeth R. and Walter C. Nugent Foundation.