Posts Tagged digital collections
Many modern students and parents have been the proud recipients of notices or awards sent home from school recognizing any number of positive behaviors. However, this tradition is not new. We’ve just digitized about 60 examples of school rewards of merit, mainly dating from the late 18th through late 19th centuries, designed to be handed out by teachers to exemplary students. The colorful papers rewarded students for conduct such as academic achievement, good behavior, diligence in study, punctual attendance, correct deportment, and attentiveness. You can imagine how excited young Jared Long must have been to have received two honors from the “Bank of Industry” in this example from 1853. Visit our collections website to browse the rest of the rewards.
Ellice Engdahl is Digital Collections and Content Manager at The Henry Ford.
teachers and teaching, education, 19th century, 18th century, school, digital collections, childhood, by Ellice Engdahl
October may seem a bit soon to be thinking about Christmas, but if you’ve ever visited Holiday Nights, you know The Henry Ford starts thinking about the holiday season early. Curator of Photographs and Prints Cynthia Miller got into the spirit earlier this fall by selecting some of our Thomas Nast material for digitization. Thomas Nast (1840–1902) was an editorial cartoonist who is well known for his work for Harper’s Weekly and for creating the modern image of Santa Claus. We’ve just digitized Cynthia’s selections, including this etching of Santa visiting a Union camp during the Civil War. Visit our collections website to view all our digitized Thomas Nast material, including additional Christmas images along with some depicting Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day, and no holiday at all.
Ellice Engdahl is Digital Collections & Content Manager at The Henry Ford.
art, holidays, Christmas, digital collections, by Ellice Engdahl
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
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
You may know that the Sikorsky VS-300A helicopter on display in Heroes of the Sky in the Henry Ford Museum was the first practical helicopter in the United States. Inventor Igor Sikorsky piloted this craft for about an hour and a half on May 6, 1941, setting a world endurance record. In 1943, as shown in this photograph, Sikorsky demonstrated the machine on the front lawn of the Henry Ford Museum just before donating it. Attendees at the event included Henry and Clara Ford, Henry Ford II, Charles Lindbergh, and Les Morris, Sikorsky’s chief test pilot. We’ve just digitized a number of photos related to the ceremony, Sikorsky, and helicopters in general—view them all in our digital collections.
Ellice Engdahl is Digital Collections and Content Manager at The Henry Ford.
20th century, immigrants, Heroes of the Sky, inventors, Henry Ford Museum, flying, digital collections, by Ellice Engdahl
Lillian Boyer (1901–89) was a young waitress in 1921 when two customers took her for a ride in their airplane. The same week, she took another ride and climbed out of the cockpit onto the wing, thus beginning a career as an aerial exhibitionist. In her eight-year career, she was featured in 352 shows throughout the United States and Canada, performing stunts including wing walking, parachuting, and transferring herself from moving automobiles to flying planes. We’ve just added a selection of photos of Boyer to our collections website, including this one-handed hang from around 1922. View more death-defying photos of Lillian Boyer by visiting our Digital Collections.
Ellice Engdahl is Digital Collections and Content Manager at The Henry Ford.Additional Readings:
- 1917 Curtiss JN-4 “Canuck” Biplane
- A Stunt-Flying Aviatrix
- Morgan Gies: Driver to the Presidents
- Ford Flivver Airplane #1, 1926
20th century, women's history, digital collections, by Ellice Engdahl, airplanes
Though Molly Malcolm’s summer internship with the Historical Resources department at The Henry Ford has sadly ended, we are continuing with the project she initiated and digitizing materials related to some of our historic buildings. This week, we’ve digitized over 80 photographs of Daggett Farmhouse on its earlier sites. Daggett wasn’t moved to Greenfield Village until 1977—so this photo depicts a television and mid-century furnishings from the house’s stay in Union, Connecticut, from 1951 through 1977. Visit our collections website to view all the recently added material related to Daggett Farmhouse, and keep an eye out for additional photos to be added soon.
Ellice Engdahl is Digital Collections & Content Manager at The Henry Ford.
farms and farming, Greenfield Village buildings, Greenfield Village, digital collections, Daggett Farmhouse, by Ellice Engdahl
Back in June, we announced the digitization of selections from our collection of slot cars, model race cars most popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Recently, we’ve been digitizing a collection acquired last year of spindizzies, an earlier type of model race car. Spindizzies were popular in the 1930s and 1940s, incorporating model airplane engines powered by gasoline, and were either raced together on grooved tracks or tethered to a pole and run singly on circular tracks. Our new collection, donated by Eric Zausner and the E-Z Spindizzy Foundation, includes cars, tools, and accessories. You can now view a number of these, including this 1939 “Silver Streak” model, in our Digital Collections. Check out all the cars and accessories we’ve digitized from this collection so far, and keep watching as we add more over coming months.
Ellice Engdahl is Digital Collections & Content Manager at The Henry Ford.
Henry Ford Museum, Driven to Win, toys and games, racing, digital collections, cars, by Ellice Engdahl
John Burroughs (1837–1921) was an American naturalist who wrote frequently and with a literary sensibility on nature and the environment. He joined the Vagabonds, and as a result took a number of camping trips with Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Harvey Firestone. Henry Ford also provided his friend Burroughs with multiple Ford vehicles, including a Model T touring car, to assist him in his nature studies. We’re currently digitizing selections from our collections related to Burroughs, such as this photograph of a sculpture of Burroughs created by C.S. Pietro. You can see Pietro working on what appears to be the same sculpture in another photograph. Thus far, we’ve digitized over 250 photographs, letters, writings, and postcards documenting Burroughs’ life, including his travels, famous friends, and retreats—browse them all on our collections website.
Ellice Engdahl is Digital Collections and Content Manager at The Henry Ford.
digital collections, nature, John Burroughs, by Ellice Engdahl
We are continuing on our summer project with intern Molly Malcolm to digitize photographs and other materials related to the structures in Greenfield Village. Over the last few weeks, it’s been the turn of Farris Windmill, originally constructed in Cape Cod, Massachusetts in the mid-seventeenth century. This photograph, which appears to capture a newspaper clipping, shows that not every community wanted Henry Ford to purchase and relocate their architectural treasures to Dearborn. On a cheerier note, you can also review close to 100 images showing crowds of Ford dealers at the dedication of the windmill in the Village, and some surprisingly atmospheric shots of the windmill in its earlier locations. Visit our Digital Collections to see more items related to Farris Windmill.
Ellice Engdahl is Digital Collections & Content Manager at The Henry Ford.
power, Greenfield Village buildings, Greenfield Village, digital collections, by Ellice Engdahl
