Posts Tagged digital collections
If you’ve visited the Fully Furnished exhibit in Henry Ford Museum in the last month or two, you might have noticed a new and perhaps surprisingly humble addition to the rest of the furniture. The distinctive burnt-orange-and-plaid 1961 chair (shown here) represents the first La-Z-Boy product to feature both a built-in ottoman and rocking functionality. The chair was just one of a number of chairs, other artifacts, and corporate archives donated to The Henry Ford Archive of American Innovation™ by La-Z-Boy in 2015, which in their totality tell compelling stories about the iterative development of comfortable seating, as well as product sales and marketing. Visit our online collections to peruse a number of these just-digitized materials, including (in addition to the chair on display) a telephone stand designed in 1928, a 1929 recliner, and “Jake,” a life-size mannequin used in testing ergonomics in the early 1980s.
Ellice Engdahl is Digital Collections & Content Manager at The Henry Ford.
digital collections, furnishings, Henry Ford Museum, by Ellice Engdahl
Henry Ford collected many highly significant buildings for the historical and educational institution that would become Greenfield Village—Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park Lab, the Wright Brothers’ Cycle Shop, and Luther Burbank’s Garden Office among them. However, some of the buildings destined for the Village had a very personal connection to Henry Ford’s own history. One such building is the Chapman Family Home, where John B. Chapman and his wife Susie lived during the 1870s. Chapman was a teacher first at the Scotch Settlement School and then at Miller School—and at both schools was a favorite of one of his young pupils, Henry Ford. We’ve just digitized a few photographs related to the home and to the teacher, including this portrait of Chapman himself. Visit our digital collections to see more images of the Chapman home and the family and learn about the teacher who inspired Henry Ford.
Ellice Engdahl is Digital Collections & Content Manager at The Henry Ford.
education, teachers and teaching, Scotch Settlement School, school, home life, Henry Ford, Greenfield Village buildings, Greenfield Village, digital collections, by Ellice Engdahl
Paradise Valley: Detroit’s Lost African American Entertainment District
In the 1920s, the African American population in Detroit tripled as the automobile industry drew workers from southern states. Housing options in a segregated city were limited, however, and many African Americans found themselves living in the poor and crowded neighborhood of Black Bottom. In the adjacent Paradise Valley area, some residents of Black Bottom were able to make a living working in the many nightclubs and theaters providing entertainment options for audiences of multiple races. Urban renewal projects and freeway construction in the 1960s almost completely razed both neighborhoods. Archivist Brian Wilson, intrigued by this story as one factor setting the scene for later race riots in Detroit, discovered some related photos in The Henry Ford Archive of American Innovation, which we’ve just digitized. They depict various performers at Club Harlem in Paradise Valley in the 1930s, such as this group of finely costumed dancers.
Revisit this lost neighborhood by browsing the rest of these images on our collections website.
Ellice Engdahl is Digital Collections & Content Manager at The Henry Ford.
1930s, 20th century, Michigan, digital collections, Detroit, by Ellice Engdahl, African American history
Greenfield Village at The Henry Ford contains many homes associated with famous people: the Wright family home, the Robert Frost home, the Noah Webster home—and the Edison homestead, the Canadian farmhouse owned by Thomas Edison’s grandparents. Henry Ford wanted his historical village to feature not only Menlo Park Lab, the fabled workplace of his friend and hero, but also to trace his upbringing with this home that young Thomas visited as child, where his parents had been married. We have just digitized over 50 images related to the Edison homestead on its original site, including this photo of Edison family gravestones taken in 1933.
Trace the lineage of an innovator for yourself by visiting our digital collections to browse all of the Edison homestead images.
Ellice Engdahl is Digital Collections & Content Manager at The Henry Ford.
Greenfield Village buildings, Greenfield Village, Thomas Edison, by Ellice Engdahl, digital collections
The Henry Ford Archive of American Innovation contains such a breadth and depth of artifacts that rediscovering and sharing its treasures often involves a number of our staff working together. Assistant Curator Saige Jedele was recently investigating our collections in support of Curator Kristen Gallerneaux’s story on the Jacquard loom featured on The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation, and turned up a woven silk image of a baseball game. Conservator Fran Faile noted we had a number of similar artifacts in the collection, which our digitization team then imaged and cataloged. These pieces, like this bookmark featuring George Washington, are known as “Stevengraphs,” after the man who built on the punchcard technology of the Jacquard loom to create the intricate fabric pictures.
Visit our online collections to view all of the rare and delicate Stevengraphs that have just been digitized.
Ellice Engdahl is Digital Collections & Content Manager at The Henry Ford.
May 29, 2016, will mark the 100th running of the iconic Indianapolis 500 auto race. The Henry Ford Archive of American Innovation contains many objects and archival materials related to the race over its long history, and we’ve just digitized more than 1,600 images from the 1964 race, as well as 500 images of the 1961 race. Both sets of images come from the extensive Dave Friedman collection, and join previously digitized sets of Indy images from 1962, 1963, 1968, and 1969. Each set of images covers both vivid racetrack action and behind-the-scenes shots, like this relatively serene 1964 shot taken from above.
If you’re a racing fan, visit our digital collections to peruse more than 7400 photos, documents, and objects related to the Indy 500.
Ellice Engdahl is Digital Collections & Content Manager at The Henry Ford.
photographs, Indy 500, by Ellice Engdahl, racing, race cars, digital collections
The Richart Wagon Shop is another example of Henry Ford’s interest in American transportation history. It was built in 1847 by Israel Biddle Richart in Macon, Michigan, and operated for over 50 years in the business of building, repairing, and painting wagons. In fall 1941, it was acquired for and moved to Greenfield Village.
We’ve just digitized a number of photographs of the building on its original site, including this image showing the distinctive lower and upper double doors still visible today—though notably missing a ramp to allow carriages access to the second floor.
To see all these digitized images of Richart Wagon Shop taken between 1931 and 1941, visit our collections website.
Ellice Engdahl is Digital Collections & Content Manager at The Henry Ford.
20th century, 19th century, Michigan, horse drawn transport, Greenfield Village buildings, Greenfield Village, digital collections, by Ellice Engdahl
Henry Ford greatly admired his friend Luther Burbank for his work as a naturalist and botanist—it’s no coincidence that the shovel buried in The Henry Ford’s cornerstone belonged to Burbank. Greenfield Village also holds a strong Burbank presence—his garden office was moved to the Village in 1928, and eight years later, his birthplace was added. As part of our ongoing project documenting the histories of Greenfield Village buildings, we’ve just digitized a number of images showing Luther Burbank’s birthplace on its original site in Lancaster, Massachusetts, including this photograph labeled “south end.”
To see more artifacts related to the famed developer of the Russet Burbank potato, still one of the world’s most popular varieties, visit our digital collections.
Ellice Engdahl is Digital Collections & Content Manager at The Henry Ford.
by Ellice Engdahl, agriculture, Greenfield Village buildings, Greenfield Village, Luther Burbank, Henry Ford, digital collections
Just Added to Our Digital Collections: Rocks Village Toll House Materials
We continue to digitize materials documenting the histories of the many buildings in Greenfield Village. This week, it’s the turn of Rocks Village Toll House, previously known as East Haverhill Toll House. This building was originally located on the banks of the Merrimac River in Rocks Village, Massachusetts, connecting the towns of East Haverhill and West Newbury, and was acquired by Henry Ford because of his interest in American transportation history and related structures. The photograph shown here depicts the Toll House on its original site in 1928, the same year it was moved to Greenfield Village; the front of the Toll House is just barely visible beyond the building with three windows in the side. Visit our digital collections to view more materials related to the Rocks Village Toll House.
Ellice Engdahl is Digital Collections & Content Manager at The Henry Ford.
roads and road trips, digital collections, by Ellice Engdahl, Greenfield Village buildings, Greenfield Village
Just Added to Our Digital Collections: Detroit News Photographic Negatives
In 2014, the Detroit News donated over 220 photographic negatives to The Henry Ford. They depict photos of and taken from various News aircraft between the mid-1920s and mid-1930s, including a Lockheed Orion and a Lockheed Vega. A substantial number relate to the 1931 Pitcairn-Cierva Autogiro, which has been in The Henry Ford’s collection for over 80 years and is currently on display within Henry Ford Museum in the Heroes of the Sky exhibit. The image shown here includes a hand-written note on the envelope: “Airplanes to ship newspapers.” We have just digitized the complete set of negatives, so you can now visit our online collections to browse the Autogiro-related images, or everything related to the Detroit News, including all of these images.
Ellice Engdahl is Digital Collections & Content Manager at The Henry Ford.Additional Readings:
- Just Added to Our Digital Collections: Lillian Boyer Photographs
- Amelia Earhart: Designing Fashion to Finance Flying
- 1925 Fokker F.VII Tri-Motor Airplane, "Josephine Ford," Flown Over the North Pole by Richard Byrd
- A Teenie Weenie Tri-Motor
newspapers, Michigan, flying, digital collections, Detroit, by Ellice Engdahl, airplanes
