Henry Ford
49 artifacts in this set
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1896 Ford Quadricycle Runabout, First Car Built by Henry Ford
Automobile
The Quadricycle was Henry Ford's first attempt to build a gasoline-powered automobile. It utilized commonly available materials: angle iron for the frame, a leather belt and chain drive for the transmission, and a buggy seat. Ford had to devise his own ignition system. He sold his Quadricycle for $200, then used the money to build his second car.
Henry Ford's "Kitchen Sink" Engine, 1893
Gas engine
Henry Ford built his first experimental engine using scrap metal for parts. He tested it on the kitchen sink after supper on December 24, 1893. For ignition he ran a wire from the ceiling's light bulb. His wife Clara hand-fed gasoline to the intake valve while Henry spun the flywheel. The engine roared into action, shaking the sink.
Henry Ford's Employee Badge, circa 1945
Badge
Even Henry wore a badge! Ford identification badges began to appear around 1912 and changed in design several times over the years. Henry Ford's badge shown here was standard during World War II for all employees, who were also issued a laminated ID card with a facsimile of Harry Bennett's signature. These picture badges were discontinued in November 1945.
1932 Ford V-8 Engine, No. 1
Automobile engine
Henry Ford and Ford Motor Company revolutionized the auto industry once again in 1932 with the introduction of a low-priced V-8 engine. By casting the crankcase and cylinder banks as a single unit, Ford cut manufacturing costs and could offer its V-8 in a car starting under $500. Ford's original V-8 design remained in production, with modifications, until 1953.
Invitation to the Wedding of Clara Bryant and Henry Ford, Greenfield, Michigan, April 11, 1888
Invitation
Henry Ford courted Clara Bryant from 1885-1888 before Clara's mother granted her daughter permission to marry. The ceremony was conducted by the Reverend Samuel W. Frisbie, for a $10 fee. Henry wore a blue suit and Clara a dress she made for the occasion. They were wed in the old-fashioned bay window in the home of Clara's parents, Melvin and Martha Bryant.
1901 Ford "Sweepstakes" Race Car
Racing car
This is Henry Ford's first race car. After his first auto company failed, Ford turned to racing to restore his reputation. He raced "Sweepstakes" against Alexander Winton on October 10, 1901, and, to everyone's surprise, the novice Ford beat the established Winton. The victory and resulting publicity encouraged financiers to back Ford's second firm.
Michigan Driver's License Issued to Henry Ford, 1919
Driver's license
This copy of Henry Ford's driver's license allows us to have a better sense of his physical presence. Information on driver's licenses hasn't changed much in the past century.
1903 Ford Model A Runabout
Automobile
After his first two attempts at commercial automobile manufacturing failed, Henry Ford found success with Ford Motor Company, established in 1903. The new company's first product, the Model A, was conventional by the standards of the day. It featured a two-cylinder engine mounted under the seat and rear wheels driven by a chain.
Ford Motor Company Clipping Book, Volume 2, January 6-10, 1914
Scrapbook
Henry Ford's office kept a file of newspaper articles from across the country that covered Ford Motor Company and other topics of interest to Henry. These pages are from the days following Ford's announcement of the $5 per day profit sharing plan in January 1914. While Ford's primary objective was to reduce employee turnover, the $5 day was also excellent publicity.
Fordson Tractor, 1917-1918, Used by Luther Burbank
Tractor (Agricultural equipment)
The Fordson tractor, manufactured by Henry Ford and Son, Inc., was the first lightweight, mass-produced tractor that was affordable to the average farmer. Through this and other efforts, Henry Ford sought to relieve farmers of the burden of heavy labor. Ford gave this Fordson, the first production model, to fellow innovator Luther Burbank, creator of hundreds of new plant varieties.
Students at the Reopening of Scotch Settlement School in Greenfield Village, September 16, 1929
Photographic print
Scotch Settlement School was where Henry Ford spent his first two years of schooling from 1871 to 1873. In later life, with only a sixth grade education, Ford became known as an educational pioneer with his early Greenfield Village school system. This picture depicts the new class of 1930 at the start of the school year.
Radio Beacon Station Building Used at Ford Airport, 1927
Radio station
Early pilots depended on visible landmarks, preventing reliable navigation in bad weather. Henry Ford's engineers developed a radio beacon that simultaneously transmitted two Morse code letters. Pilots steered until the separate signals merged into one steady hum. The original beacon station building at Ford Airport was removed in 1933 and is now displayed in Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation.
Ford Motor Company Meeting Minutes Book, 1903-1911
Corporate minutes
This bound volume contains the minutes of the first stockholders' meeting of the newly formed Ford Motor Company on June 18, 1903 (see pages 7 and 8). The meeting was called to select a chairman and board of directors. A later meeting on July 22 would direct Mr. Ford's salary to be $3600 a year and Mr. Couzens to receive $2500.
1928 Ford 4-AT-B Tri-Motor Airplane, "Floyd Bennett," Flown Over the South Pole by Richard E. Byrd
Airplane
The Ford Tri-Motor was the most popular airliner of the late 1920s and early 1930s. Its rugged dependability led Richard Byrd to choose a Tri-Motor for his attempt to be the first person to fly over the South Pole. On November 28-29, 1929, Byrd and a crew of three achieved that goal in this plane.
Ford Motor Company Meeting Minutes Book, 1911-1919
Corporate minutes
These few paragraphs from the January 5th meeting of Ford's Board of Directors announcing the a $5.00 a day wage for an eight hour work day brought thousands of workers to Detroit and sent shock waves through the upper echelon of the automobile industry.
Ford Motor Company Original Stock Certificate, June 26, 1903
Stock certificate
This is one of the first shares of Ford stock. It was issued to Alexander Malcomson, a wealthy Detroit coal merchant. He took a liking to young Henry and agreed to back his third attempt at starting a company despite the fact that Ford had failed twice before. Malcomson was instrumental in finding wealthy backers for the new company.
Tap and Die Set Used by Henry Ford, 1882
Tap and die set
This tap and die set was used by Henry Ford when building the Quadricycle. Taps and dies are cutting tools used to create screw threads.
Ford Motor Company Checkbook, 1903
Checkbook
Ford Motor Company's first checkbook, kept by Secretary James Couzens, shows the struggling company's transition. The bank account started with $14,500 on June 26, 1903. It sank to $223.65 by July 10 after 60 checks. Then on July 15, Ford sold its first car for $850. From then on, the balance kept increasing and the company was off and running.
Westinghouse Portable Steam Engine No. 345, Used by Henry Ford
Steam engine (Engine)
Portable steam engines like this powered grain threshers, sawmills, or corn shellers. Horses pulled them from farm to farm. In 1882, 19-year-old Henry Ford was able to make this engine run well when an older man could not; his first accomplishment in the adult world. Thirty years later Ford tracked down the engine, bought it, and returned it to operating condition.
Ford Motor Company Articles of Association, June 16, 1903
Articles of incorporation
These four pages are the original Articles of Association that established Ford Motor Company on June 16, 1903. They provided the company name, the purpose for which it was formed, the place of operation, the amount of capital stock, the term of years the company would exist, and the names of the stockholders. Note that Henry Ford was not president.
Cornerstone of Edison Institute Signed by Thomas A. Edison, September 27, 1928
Cornerstone
The cornerstone commemorates the dedication of The Henry Ford. It suggests a union of nature (Luther Burbank's spade) and technology (Edison's signature and footprints). That unity is borne out by the block itself, made from Portland cement refined from blast furnace slag at the Ford's Rouge plant--a great example of Henry Ford approaching industry like a good farmer, denying the concept of waste.
Letter from Clyde Barrow to Henry Ford Praising the Ford V-8 Car, 1934
Letter (Correspondence)
On April 13, 1934, Ford Motor Company received this unusual product testimonial. In it notorious bank robber Clyde Barrow extolled the virtues of Ford V-8s as getaway cars. Handwriting analysts have questioned the letter's authenticity, but it is the sort of thing the publicity-seeking Barrow might have written.
Highland Park Plant Engine- Generator, 1915-1916
Engine (Power producing equipment)
Ford's Model T mass production system would not have been practical without electricity; by 1919 nine of these Ford-designed hybrid internal combustion/steam engines generated the power needed by the Highland Park plant's assembly lines and associated machinery. By 1926 the engines were rendered obsolete when electricity was fed from the power plant at Ford's River Rouge plant ten miles away.
First Ford Model T Production Card, September 27, 1908
Record (Document)
This is the Ford Motor Company record of the very first Model T, which was assembled on September 27, 1908, at the Piquette plant in Detroit. The production card lists it as Model 2090, car #1. It had 4 cylinders, 2 levers (the second for reverse), and 2 foot pedals. About 1,000 of these early Ts were produced.
Ingersoll Milling Machine Used at Ford Motor Company Highland Park Plant, 1912
Milling machine
The Model T's distinction as a landmark car design can be traced in large part to machines like this -- a high capacity precision machine tool that performed just two production steps on the car engine's cylinder block. The Model T as a design achievement is inseparable from many hundreds of engineering, materials, and production innovations.
World War II Poster, "To the Men and Women of Ford Motor Company...On the Production Line," circa 1944
Poster
This poster is a reminder of the invaluable service extended by the men and women of the Ford Motor Company in the creation of the B-24 bombers so important in helping to win World War II.
Pocket Watch, 1850-1875
Pocket watch
Pocket watches were the first mechanical devices to catch Henry Ford's fancy. He made his first successful repair at the age of 13, when he removed the casing on schoolmate Albert Hutchings's watch and extracted a sliver from the works. Hutchings's family donated this watch, believed to be the original, to the Henry Ford Museum in 1933.
Postcard Advertising the Ford Model T, "High Priced Quality in a Low Priced Car," 1908
Postcard
This postcard was sent just before the introduction of the Ford Model T on October 1, 1908. Ford exhibited at the Carriage Dealers Show, held annually in New York City. Ford's proposition was probably to entice dealers to sell the Model T. Postcards like this are very ephemeral and we are lucky to have this piece.
Violin, "The Rougemont," by Antonio Stradivari, 1703
Violin
In the 1920s, Henry Ford purchased several exquisite Italian violins, including this 1703 Stradivari. From the 1680s until the 1730s, Antonio Stradivari was the leading stringed-instrument maker in Cremona, Italy--an important center of stringed instrument production. Henry Ford's 1703 Stradivari violin was made during Stradivari's "golden era." It is known as the "Rougemont" because it was thought to have been owned by a family of that name.
Crowd of Applicants outside Highland Park Plant after Five Dollar Day Announcement, January 1914
Photographic print
Ford workers disliked the new assembly line methods so much that by late 1913, labor turnover was 380 percent. The company's announcement to pay five dollars for an eight-hour day compared to the previous rate of $2.34 for a nine-hour day made many workers willing to submit to the relentless discipline of the line in return for such high wages.
Radio Goniometer Used at Ford Airport, circa 1927
Goniometer
The radio beacon may be Henry Ford's most important contribution to aviation. Early pilots depended on landmarks, preventing reliable navigation in bad weather. Ford's engineers developed a radio beacon that simultaneously transmitted the Morse code letter "A" (dot-dash) in one direction and the letter "N" (dash-dot) in another. The pilot steered until the separate signals merged into a steady hum.
Magneto Assembly at the Ford Highland Park Plant, 1913
Photographic print
The first Ford assembly line at the Highland Park, Michigan, plant was relatively crude. Here, in 1913, workers put V-shaped magnets on Model T flywheels to make one-half of the flywheel magneto. Each worker installed a few parts and simply shoved the flywheel down the line to the next worker.
Folding Portable Spinning Wheel Used by Mahatma M. K. Gandhi
Spinning wheel
In response to a letter of good wishes from Henry Ford, Mahatma Gandhi sent this spinning wheel to the industrialist as a gift in December 1941. Gandhi used the spinning wheel as a symbol in his struggle for India's independence and economic self-sufficiency. Gandhi and Ford shared a mutual admiration for one another because of their longstanding commitments to peace.
Clara Ford and Henry Ford Birdwatching at "The Bungalow," Dearborn, Michigan, 1910-1915
Photographic print
Henry and Clara Ford lived in Detroit, but preferred spending time in nature. Around 1910, the Fords built a small home west of the city on private farmland near the Rouge River in Dearborn. Here, at "the Bungalow," the Ford family could enjoy birdwatching, entertain friends, and stay overnight. Henry and Clara soon selected this secluded site for their Fair Lane estate.
Radio Beacon Transmitter Used at Ford Airport, 1927
Transceiver
The radio beacon may be Henry Ford's most important contribution to aviation. Early pilots depended on landmarks, preventing reliable navigation in bad weather. Ford's engineers developed a radio beacon that simultaneously transmitted the Morse code letter "A" (dot-dash) in one direction and the letter "N" (dash-dot) in another. The pilot steered until the separate signals merged into a steady hum.
Portrait of Henry Ford as a Child, 1865-1866
Photographic print
Henry Ford was born July 30, 1863, and he was no more than three years old when he posed for his first photographic portrait. His parents, William Ford and Mary Litogot Ford, had lost their first son at birth in January 1862, but Henry arrived safe and sound. He was followed by five siblings: John, Margaret, Jane, William, and Robert.
Ford Home
Farmhouse
Henry Ford was born in this farmhouse on July 30, 1863. The house stood near the corner of present-day Ford and Greenfield Roads in Dearborn, Michigan. Ford grew up in the house and moved out at age 16 to find work in Detroit. He restored the farmhouse in 1919 and moved it to Greenfield Village in 1944.
Henry Ford's Jot Book, "Things to Do Today," 1880-1935
Notebook
Henry Ford always carried a small notebook to jot down important pieces of information or simple reminders of things to remember. The over 50 small jot books give a sense of a busy man trying to capture information on the fly. The contents vary from questions to ask Thomas Edison to names and addresses to grocery lists.
Flag, Peace For All Nations, circa 1915
Flag
This flag is associated with Henry Ford's "Peace Ship" expedition of 1915. Ford paid to sail more than 100 delegates and reporters to Europe in December 1915. His goal was to establish a conference of neutral nations that could end World War I. While the mission failed to bring peace, it brought extensive publicity to Ford and the pacifist cause.
Poem, Written by Henry Ford for Clara Bryant, 1886-1888
Poem
This lovely poem sounds a bit flowery for Henry but whether composed or copied it is reflective of his strong feelings for his soon to be wife that would last for the remainder of his life. Henry Ford the romantic -- who knew!
1909 Ford Model T Touring Car
Automobile
Henry Ford crafted his ideal car in the Model T. It was rugged, reliable and suited to quantity production. The first 2,500 Model Ts carried gear-driven water pumps rather than the thermosiphon cooling system adopted later. Rarer still, the first 1,000 or so -- like this example -- used a lever rather than a floor pedal to engage reverse.
Handwritten Note from Henry Ford to Six-Year-Old Edsel Ford, 1900
Letter (Correspondence)
Henry Ford the businessman and innovator had a softer side as reflected by this note written to his son Edsel in May 1900. Edsel and mother Clara were away on a trip to Louisville, Kentucky, to visit her brother Milton. Notice that Henry printed this letter in capital letters to ensure his six-and-one-half-year-old son could read it easily.
Universal Peace Flag, Used during Henry Ford's Peace Ship Expedition, 1915
Flag
This flag was used on Henry Ford's "Peace Ship" expedition of 1915. Ford paid to sail more than 100 delegates and reporters to Europe in December 1915. His goal was to establish a conference of neutral nations that could end World War I. While the mission failed to bring peace, it brought extensive publicity to Ford and the pacifist cause.
Ford English School Diploma, 1914-1915
Diploma
In 1914, Ford Motor was hiring workers in droves. Many were immigrants who could not read or write English and were unable to carry out instructions. Henry Ford organized classes in English. These lessons also included instruction in United States naturalization requirements which led over 6,000 Ford employees to obtain diplomas accepted by U.S. emigration officials resulting in eventual citizenship.
Model of Soybean Oil Extractor, circa 1935
Model (Representation)
Henry Ford had a vision of farmers being part of the industrial process -- an idea he called "chemurgy." This idea was most completely played out in his experimentation with soybeans, a versatile crop that could be used for industrial products as well as food. This model demonstrates how oil could be extracted from soybeans and converted into many plastic-like products.
Campaign Brochure, "Henry Ford for United States Senator," 1918
Brochure
In 1918, at the request of President Woodrow Wilson, Henry Ford reluctantly agreed to run for the Senate, stipulating he would not actively campaign. His opponent, Truman Newberry, former Secretary of the Navy, lavished thousands in advertising and public appearances. Surprisingly, Newberry only defeated Ford by the relatively narrow margin of 2,200 votes. Henry never ran for public office again.
Henry Ford's Private Railroad Car "Fair Lane," 1921
Passenger car (Railroad car)
By 1920, Henry and Clara Ford found it increasingly difficult to travel with any degree of privacy. They purchased a private railcar and named it Fair Lane. The car had four private rooms, an observation lounge, a dining room, and a fully equipped kitchen. It could accommodate eight passengers. The couple made over 400 trips using Fair Lane before selling the passenger car in 1942.
Agreement between Detroit Automobile Company and Henry Ford, 1899
Agreement
Henry Ford's first company was the Detroit Automobile Company. Aside from letterhead paper, a few photographs, some newspaper clippings, and this document, nothing remains of it. This agreement stipulates Henry's job as Mechanical Superintendent. In his early years Henry was not the actual president. In this case C.A. Black was president. The company failed because it offered a poor vehicle.
Test Tube, "Edison's Last Breath," 1931
Test tube
This test tube was one of several that Charles Edison noticed standing open in a rack in the bedroom in which his father had just died in 1931. The attending physician was asked to seal the tubes, one of which Charles later sent on to Henry Ford who kept it with other Edison mementos at his home, Fair Lane.