This week on “The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation” you’ll learn about the Wright Brothers. Want to learn more? Take a look below.

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Smithsonian 3D Wright Flyer

 

 

Lish Dorset is Social Media Manager at The Henry Ford.

Additional Readings:

• Just Added to Our Digital Collections: Wright Brothers Images
  
• Morgan Gies: Driver to the Presidents
  
• 1931 Pitcairn-Cierva Autogiro
  
• Reliability Tours Land Public Trust

North Carolina, Ohio, 20th century, 19th century, Wright Brothers, The Henry Ford's Innovation Nation, inventors, flying, by Lish Dorset, aviators, airplanes

For many of us, the music of our youth holds special meaning.  It was no different for successful industrialist Henry Ford (1863-1947).

Country fiddlers had provided the lively music for the rural dances of Henry Ford’s youth during the 1870s and 1880s. Ford loved the sound of a violin, even purchasing an inexpensive fiddle as a young man and teaching himself to play a bit.

In the mid-1920s, Ford—then in his early sixties—sought out this beloved instrument that had provided the “sound track” for Ford’s young adulthood in rural Michigan.

But now he had the money to buy the very best. Continue Reading

Michigan, Europe, 18th century, 17th century, 1920s, 20th century, 19th century, violins, musical instruments, music, Henry Ford Museum, Henry Ford, by Jeanine Head Miller

Tattoo History at The Henry FordOne day last fall, I encountered—by pure chance and good timing—a collection of early 20th century tattooing materials credited to “Professor Percy Waters” in the Benson Ford Research Center. The box had yet to be re-shelved, left over from a visiting school group earlier in the day. I was lucky to overhear my colleagues talking about the “tattoo collection,” and when they showed it to me, I was drawn to the contents like a moth to a flame. I had a hard time containing my excitement, showing the staff how some of my own traditional tattoos compared with the “flash” designs the box contained. This collection had an effect on me—a sort of giddy feeling of recognition—like I’d just been reunited with an old friend. Continue Reading

Michigan, Detroit, popular culture, by Kristen Gallerneaux

Last year, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) awarded a two-year “Museums for America” grant to The Henry Ford to conserve, catalog, photograph, and rehouse some of our communications collections.  We are nearing the halfway point of the grant, and have digitized more than 400 grant objects so far. Many items we’ve uncovered through this project have been one of a kind prototypes and innovations, but many others, like the pink Princess phone digitized this week, are mass market phenomena.  Browse our collections website for radio receivers, computers and peripherals, loudspeakers, vacuum tubes, and calculators, many of which were digitized through this grant.  You can also learn more about the grant and see some of the behind-the-scenes work it entails over on our blog, or peruse some of Curator of Communication and Information Technology Kristen Gallerneaux’s favorites here.

Ellice Engdahl  is Digital Collections & Content Manager at The Henry Ford.

communication, digital collections, IMLS grant, by Ellice Engdahl

Marion Served as Manager of The Henry Ford's First Educational Television Department

In the early days of television, we became a pioneer in producing TV shows for use in the classroom.  It was a way to spark students' interest in the past, assist American history teachers, and fulfill our museum's educational mission. The first show, "Window to the Past," was broadcast by WTVS-Detroit television station beginning in the fall of 1955.  A weekly 15-minute program shown live in the afternoon on television sets in Detroit Public School classrooms, it was also captured on kinescope film and made available to schools nationally.  The museum's manager of educational television, Marion Corwell, in a brochure described the programs as "designed to bring living American history into your classroom."  She planned the programs based on objects in the museum and village chosen for their important historical themes. She then wrote the scripts, produced the program and performed as the on-air "storyteller" for the televised show. By 1956 she also co-produced and hosted a 30-minute program designed for an adult audience and broadcast by WSPD-Toledo, "Yesterday Lives Today".

Following the final "Window to the Past" show in 1959 Marion Corwell developed several new television programs, including a quiz show, "You Name It".  She moderated this program which she described on-air as "a completely unrehearsed, unrigged quiz game built around objects of the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village which have played an important part in the development of our country." It featured two teams of 5^th through 8^th grade girls versus boys, competing to name the objects one at a time by asking questions that helped them come up with the correct name. Can you guess what the object is in the photo shown above?

Learn more about Marion Corwell over on our collections website.

Cynthia Read Miller is former Curator of Photographs and Prints at The Henry Ford.

Detroit, Michigan, Dearborn, 1960s, 20th century, 1950s, women's history, TV, The Henry Ford's Innovation Nation, The Henry Ford staff, educational resources, education, by Cynthia Read Miller

This week on “The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation” you’ll learn about Rosa Parks and the Rosa Parks Bus. Want to learn more about Rosa Parks and the Civil Rights Movement? Take a look below. Continue Reading

Civil Rights, by Lish Dorset, women's history, African American history, educational resources, Rosa Parks bus, Rosa Parks, The Henry Ford's Innovation Nation

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20th century, women's history, Rosa Parks bus, Rosa Parks, Henry Ford Museum, Civil Rights, by Donna R. Braden, African American history

By the end of the 19th century technological miracles were commonplace. Railroad trains routinely traveled a-mile-a-minute. Electric lights could turn night into day. Voices traveled over wires. Pictures could be set into motion. Lighter-than-air balloons and dirigibles even offered access to the sky. But the age-old dream of flying with wings like birds still seemed like a fantasy. In a simple bicycle shop now located in Greenfield Village, two brothers from Dayton, Ohio, turned the fantasy of heavier-than-air flight into reality. Continue Reading

Ohio, 20th century, Wright Brothers, inventors, Greenfield Village buildings, Greenfield Village, flying, by Bob Casey, bicycles, aviators, airplanes

Earlier this week we shared another set of items that were recently digitized for our online collections: football artifacts to supplement our latest traveling exhibit, Gridiron Glory: The Best of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. One of those items is Edsel Ford’s 1934 season pass to home games of the Detroit Lions, which is actually on display inside the exhibit. In the picture of the pass you'll see that "Cancelled" is written in one of the top corners. After we shared the photo on Twitter yesterday Dave Birkett sent us this Tweet:

Anyone have any idea why "cancelled" would be written on that pass? @thehenryford

— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) October 1, 2014

 

The explanation wasn't included in the online narrative for the pass and actually had several of us scratching our own heads - why was the pass cancelled?  Thanks to Brian Wilson, Digital Processing Archivist at The Henry Ford, we found the answer. Here's Brian's report as he took a trip to our archives. - Lish Dorset Social Media Manager, The Henry Ford. Continue Reading

20th century, 1930s, sports, research, Michigan, Ford family, football, Edsel Ford, Detroit, by Lish Dorset, by Brian Wilson

On Friday, a new traveling exhibition will open at The Henry Ford—Gridiron Glory: The Best of the Pro Hall of Fame.  As an online supplement to the exhibit, we have digitized selections from our collections related to football, including photos of football playing students from the Edison Institute Schools as well as Henry Ford Trade School; Mercury advertising photographs with a football theme; and assorted other items.  One hidden gem that we uncovered during this project is Edsel Ford’s 1934 season pass to home games of the Detroit Lions, which will be on display along with the exhibition.  Check out all of our digitized football collections in our Digital Collections, then come visit Gridiron Glory in Henry Ford Museum.

Ellice Engdahl is Digital Collections and Content Manager at The Henry Ford.

Henry Ford Museum, digital collections, football, sports, by Ellice Engdahl