Posts Tagged 2010s
A year and a half after the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, I found myself in an all-things-Canada souvenir shop in Toronto, which felt more like an Olympics pop-up shop. It didn’t matter that the Winter Games had come and gone – Canada was still very proud of hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics and wanted to make sure you were, too, by still offering hooded sweatshirts, colorful scarves, and those popular maple leaf mittens, all embroidered with the 2010 logo.
Halfway through the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, I’m here in metro Detroit wishing I had access to some of the Union Jack souvenirs attendees can be seen wearing on TV. According to this story in the Guardian, there’s definitely no lack of enthusiasm, and variety, for souvenirs this time around. Whether you’re lucky enough to attend the Olympics in person or are on the hunt for a must-have gift for your family back at home, Olympics souvenirs reflect exciting times in sports history.
Here in The Henry Ford’s collections, this lapel ribbon from the 1960 Winter Games in Squaw Valley was a welcomed souvenir for one lucky attendee as the Olympics returned to the United States for the first time since before World War II. Featuring a jumping ice skater and patriotic ribbons, you can almost picture hundreds of these badges proudly pinned to the coats of spectators as they watched their favorite athletes compete.
Which souvenirs do you think will become the most sought after for the 2012 Summer Games? Rebecca Bizonet, an archivist here at the Benson Ford Research Center, keeps this eraser (below) from the 2004 Summer Games in Athens on her desk as a small, but meaningful, reminder of the Olympics. Do you think any souvenirs from the London games will be in a museum some day?
20th century, 1960s, 2000s, California, Europe, Canada, 21st century, 2010s, sports
CAN-DO Can Do It!: The Henry Ford’s Digitized Collection Hits a Milestone
As regular readers of this blog probably already know, The Henry Ford is in the middle of a big effort to digitize its vast collections of objects, documents, and photographs. Internally, this project is called CAN-DO: Collections Access Network for Digital Objects.
In mid-June, CAN-DO hit a major milestone: over 8,000 objects photographed/scanned, documented and available online!
So we did what any hard-working team would do: we ate cake. And because of the busy meeting schedules we maintain, we had to have our cake party at 9 AM on a Tuesday...but this did not faze us.
As we ate our breakfast cake, we started to reflect a bit on the long road we’ve traveled. If you were checking our collections website last July, you would have been able to browse 516 objects from our collections. In a year, that number has expanded by a factor of more than 16. So what are you able to access now that you couldn’t a year ago?
For starters, all of the approximately 900 artifacts in the Driving America exhibit within Henry Ford Museum, from some of the largest...
...to some of the smallest.
You can also view some of your old favorites from Automobile in American Life, like Tom Thumb’s bicycle:
You can learn about the history of innovation through our extensive collection of patent models, like this one by Thomas Edison…
…or this patent model for a solar lamp — dating from 1871:
If you love annual events such as Hallowe'en in Greenfield Village or Holiday Nights in Greenfield Village, you might be able to recognize some of the historic imagery we draw upon in these vintage greeting cards, like this 1932 Christmas card...
…and this Hallowe’en example from the same era.
Or, you can relive the excitement of the 1908 New York to Paris Race with a series of digitized lantern slides, like this one, covering the entire worldwide route:
But that’s not all you’ll find in our digitized collections — not by a long shot. You can also check out collections relating to automotive designers Bill Mitchell and Virgil Exner, a variety of 19th century cabinet cards and cartes-de-visite, photographs and souvenirs from World’s Fairs from the 1870s through the 1980s, letters from a variety of notable Americans, the buildings of Greenfield Village (plus photographs of many of the buildings on their original sites — do a search on your favorite to see what we have), objects related to female racecar driver Lyn St. James, violins, quilts, advertising trade cards, photographs and memorabilia related to Presidential transport and even some of our toy collection and a few lunchboxes.
And there is still more!
The links and images above provide a few pointers into our digital collections, but the best way to discover them is to search them for yourself. Visit our collections site today and let us know what you find!
Ellice Engdahl is Digital Collections & Content Manager at The Henry Ford, and finds something new and fascinating among our 8000+ online collections objects daily.
21st century, 2010s, digitization, digital collections, by Ellice Engdahl, #Behind The Scenes @ The Henry Ford
When I saw the photo of the President of the United States sitting on the Rosa Parks Bus in Henry Ford Museum – like many - I was struck by the profundity of the image. President Barack Obama visited the museum during a private event a month ago. During his visit, White House photographer Pete Souza Tweeted the above image with this caption:
“I just sat in there for a moment and pondered the courage and tenacity that is part of our very recent history but is also part of that long line of folks who sometimes are nameless, oftentimes didn’t make the history books, but who constantly insisted on their dignity, their share of the American dream.” - President Barack Obama, April 18, 2012 (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
As the photo of the president was making the rounds in the social sphere (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), many observant commenters noted that they thought Mrs. Parks sat on the other side of the aisle. She did. This diagram from the National Archives shows that her seat was across the aisle from the where the president sat.
The presenters at The Henry Ford knowledgeably point out the actual seat to visitors - who are welcome to sit on the bus. I've watched some eagerly slide right into the spot she sat, while others, like me, don’t feel quite as bold. Mrs. Parks’ personal civil disobedience makes the seat seem a bit like hallowed ground to me. I will say - while sitting on the bus and listening to the recording of Mrs. Parks' tell the events of that day in 1955 - that quiet moment in history really comes alive.
If you’ve ever traveled through With Liberty and Justice for All – the permanent exhibit at the museum that includes the bus – you can’t help but be reminded of the long line of people who stood up (or sat down) for freedom in this country starting from its very founding.
The photo above shows the camp cot and chest used by George Washington when he was commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.
Visitors can get up close and see the rocker in which President Abraham Lincoln sat when he was assassinated on April 14, 1865, while watching Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC.
Of course there are more non-presidential items in that exhibit, but I found myself prompted to investigate some of the other items that are part of The Henry Ford's collections specifically because of their relationship to past presidents.
There are five presidential limousines in which many presidents sat. There are photographs of presidents sitting such as Abraham Lincoln reading a book to his son Tad, President Warren G. Harding and family sharing a dining table with the Vagabonds* on a 1921 camping trip, and my personal favorite is this one of President and Mrs. Herbert Hoover at the California Pacific International Exposition, San Diego, 1935. (Is he sleeping?) Whatever they are sitting in, I want one.
There are letters to and from some of the 44 men who have held the office - so in writing letters (maybe not reading) I can assume they were seated as well.
All sitting aside, there are also archived collections of presidential bumper stickers and banners, buttons and ribbons marking campaigns, elections and celebrating inaugurations (you can see some of these on The Henry Ford's Online Collections site).
There gifts given by and to presidents or items used by presidents while in office or at home.
Examples include the above Galvanometer used to receive Queen Victoria's message to President James Buchanan over the first transatlantic cable in August 1858, or the newly acquired portable outdoor kitchen once owned by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
I’m sure some artifacts from President Obama’s time in office will eventually make it into an exhibit somewhere in The Henry Ford (some election and inaugural memorabilia are already part of the collections). But for me - as a fan of The Henry Ford - it was especially poignant to see the county’s current (sitting) president seated in that particular artifact. It's a perfect example of how the institution uniquely gives visitors the opportunity to not only look at some of our nation's treasures from the outside, but to climb right in, take a seat and experience history from the inside.
* Between 1916 and 1924, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, and John Burroughs, calling themselves the Four Vagabonds, embarked on a series of camping trips.
Kristine Hass is a blogger and long-time member of The Henry Ford.
Michigan, Dearborn, 21st century, 2010s, Rosa Parks bus, presidents, Henry Ford Museum, by Kristine Hass, African American history
Confetti-Covered Car Earns Prestigious Parking Place in Driving America
“If we ever do anything worth doing, maybe we can get a car in here.”
That’s what Wood Brothers Racing's Eddie and Len Wood said following a 2008 visit to Henry Ford Museum when they had the opportunity to get up close and touch the 1965 Lotus-Ford race car that is part of their family’s 60-year racing legacy.
Well, to make a long (great!) story short: They did something. And it was big. Really big.
The Wood brothers and driver Trevor Bayne were in Dearborn yesterday to present to Henry Ford Museum that really big something: the famous No. 21 Ford Fusion that a 20-year-old Bayne drove to an unlikely victory in the 2011 NASCAR Daytona 500.
Fans and press were on hand to see and cheer on the unveiling of the museum's newest artifact.
- Fans take photos as the car is unveiled at Henry Ford Museum.
The car is in the exact same condition it was when it left victory lane at Daytona in 2011. The exterior is ornamented with confetti - stuck to the car thanks to a glue of cola and Gatorade that bathed the car when celebrating the win. The car is authentically dirty; even Bayne's water bottle is still under the seat in the cockpit.
Eddie Wood gave a moving account of how events that led to the win just seemed to fall into place. Edsel Ford II told the crowd that although he's witnessed some exciting races in his life - including the 1966 Le Mans when Ford beat Ferrari - the Feb 20, 2011 win at Daytona topped them all.
Fans were eager to hear from Trevor Bayne who shared his account and gave some insight into all the people who are part of the story that led to victory lane. He also shared his own excitement about his car being part of Henry Ford Museum.
"When I walk up to my car and they call it an artifact, it kind of throws me off a little bit," he joked. "I got to flip the ignition switch. I never thought it'd be something I'm not allowed to touch anymore."
After the unveiling before the cheering crowd, there was a fan Q & A led by Michigan International Speedway president Roger Curtis.
Fans collected some autographs and had some photo ops with car and crew.
Kristine Hass is a writer and long-time member of The Henry Ford.
Florida, racing, race cars, race car drivers, Henry Ford Museum, events, Driven to Win, by Kristine Hass, 21st century, 2010s
Steve Jobs, Apple’s visionary co-founder, passed away yesterday, and the web is filled with an astounding outpouring of respect and gratitude for his work. It’s a testament to the impact personal technology – mass-produced consumer products – can have on people’s lives.
At The Henry Ford, we document not only the work of innovators, but the ways people use technology in their everyday lives. We collect artifacts that by their physicality and tangibility, their heft and their look, connect visitors to history and the lives of the people who used them. The Apple products in our collection – including an Apple IIe, a Lisa, a Macintosh, an iMac, an iPod and an iPhone – were used by ordinary people to write, teach, do business, play games, listen to music and connect to each other. Jobs’ product genius was in making those activities easy, transparent and fun – and in making the products highly desirable.
In the early 1980s, with Jobs at Apple’s helm, the company popularized the mouse and “graphic user interface” – the cheerful icons and desktop and folder metaphors that we still use in everyday computing. These innovations made computing accessible to everybody, not only people who could code. Over at our OnInnovation site, Steve Wozniak, Apple’s brilliant engineer co-founder, talks about how making computing fun and easy was the company’s goal from the beginning.
Jobs famously described the company as located at the intersection of technology and the liberal arts. He infused a respect for creativity, intelligence and design into the company’s products – integrating color graphics quite early, for instance, and making one of his own passions, music, the key to a new kind of product, the digital music player.
The products Apple made under Jobs were never cheap. They were aspirational consumer goods that promised to make your life better, to make you a cool nonconformist, to make you “think different.” Did they? Maybe and maybe not, but Jobs’ legacy reminds us that our tools can change not only the way we live our lives, but the way we think about ourselves.
Suzanne Fischer is former Curator of Technology at The Henry Ford.
20th century, 21st century, 2010s, technology, music, in memoriam, computers, communication, by Suzanne Fischer
My husband, the kids and I spent the better part of Sunday at Old Car Festival at Greenfield Village. After all the bad weather we've been having, it was truly glorious to be out and about admiring the hundreds of vehicles displayed (and driving!) in the show.
Vehicles at the show are those built from the 1880s to 1932. It was fascinating to see how many unique ideas different vehicle manufacturers had building some of those really early machines. Since this show is more about what you could see (although the sounds of the old engines were like music), below are (some) photos of this wonderful event. And here's a video of the 1770 Fardier de Cugnot in action.
Kristine Hass is a mother of five and long-time member of The Henry Ford. She frequently blogs about her family's visits to America's Greatest History Attraction.
Michigan, Dearborn, 21st century, 2010s, Old Car Festival, Greenfield Village, events, cars, car shows, by Kristine Hass
Thirty years ago today, Ronald Reagan - 40th president of the United States - survived an assassination attempt by John Hinckley, Jr.
One of his Secret Service agents, Jerry Parr, recently filmed a segment with CNN inside Henry Ford Museum, recounting the terrifying events of that day while exploring the presidential limousine that carried them both to the hospital immediately after the shots were fired.
Today, you can see this vehicle on display inside Henry Ford Museum; due to security restrictions, it is the last of the presidential limousines that will ever be preserved (all others are now destroyed).
A few interesting facts about the vehicle itself include:
For more background on this historic event, USA Today published an article by Mr. Parr describing what happened after the shots were fired (including their ride to the hospital in the limousine), and CNN.com also has a gallery of rarely-seen photographs from the attack.
Where were you when you heard that President Reagan had been shot? What do you remember most from that day?
Additional Readings:
- 1912 Baker Electric Victoria: Transportation for Five First Ladies
- Building a Presidential Vehicle
- Rawhide Cool
- The Henry Ford at Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance
Washington DC, 21st century, 2010s, 20th century, 1980s, presidents, presidential vehicles, limousines, Henry Ford Museum, convertibles, cars
