Suwanee Park, a turn-of-the-century-style amusement area, opened in Greenfield Village in 1974—featuring an authentic, hand-carved wooden carousel made by the Herschell-Spillman Company. While this carousel may have seemed quaint and nostalgic in 1974, it harkened back to a time when amusement parks were new and novel, delighting young and old with their promise of escape, entertainment, and thrills.

Beginnings

American amusement parks had their roots in European pleasure gardens—large park-like settings in which people relaxed, strolled, and socialized. Over time, pleasure gardens—like Tivoli in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Vauxhall in London, England—added refreshment stands and sporting activities like tennis and shuffleboard, then noisier features like balloon ascensions, concerts, plays, and crude mechanical rides. Lights were installed to keep the parks open at night. Fireworks displays became eagerly anticipated nightly events.

The World’s Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago in 1893, was the first international fair in America to offer a distinctive amusement area in addition to the formal exhibits. This mile-long “Midway Plaisance” included an international village of restaurants and entertainment, along with a variety of concessions, side shows, and mechanical rides. The crowd-pleasing Midway inspired the creation of American amusement parks. Continue Reading

Greenfield Village, by Donna R. Braden, popular culture, Disney

 

While our annual Motor Muster weekend takes us back to an era of classic cruisers, this year's Saturday night Record Hop USA! dance party is focusing on one particular year and a moment in music history: 1964 and the arrival of the Beatles in America.

While we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the British Invasion in 2014, the recent induction of Ringo Starr into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Paul McCartney hitting the road for the summer festival circuit remind us that we don't need an official anniversary to honor The Fab Four whenever we want.

This Saturday you can join us for a night of dancing and and favorite 1960s hits in Greenfield Village during Motor Muster. For those who can't join us for dance lessons on Main Street, you can learn more about 1964 and the Beatles' first trip to America thanks to our collections and this blog post from Curator of Public Life Donna Braden.

Lish Dorset is Social Media Manager at The Henry Ford.

Additional Readings:

• Motor Muster
  
• The Henry Ford Plans for Motor Muster to Return to Greenfield Village Father’s Day Weekend, June 19-20

popular culture, by Lish Dorset, music, Greenfield Village, car shows, cars, Motor Muster, events

As the pre-Interstate American roadside has slowly disappeared, why has it taken on such meaning for us? Historical geographer David Lowenthal tried to explain it in his book with the unusual title, The Past is a Foreign Country. He said it has to do with our desire to re-establish a sense of place in an increasingly rootless world. Old buildings, old signs, old lampposts and fences—those genuine pieces of evidence that prove to us that an earlier, almost mythic time once existed—provide a sense of stability and permanence lacking in our present lives.

Today, we appreciate the buildings, signs, and landscapes of the American roadside for many different reasons: their pre-Modernist artistry; their funky and humorous attempts to beckon motorists during the Golden Age of road trips; or perhaps the entrepreneurial spirit of the many Mom-and-Pop establishments that tried to make a go of it before national chains and franchises took over. No matter what the reason, our appreciation inevitably relates to a respect for—even a reverence of—what once was but is no more. Continue Reading

photographs, John Margolies, travel, popular culture, photography, by Donna R. Braden, roads and road trips, Roadside America

Remember “New Coke”?  April 23, 2015 marks the 30^th anniversary of its celebrated—and controversial—introduction. This soft drink lasted less than three months but its legacy lives on as a cautionary tale of marketing and branding. Was this attempted innovation a great marketing blunder or did it turn out to be a great marketing success? It depends on how you look at it.

On April 23, 1985, The Coca-Cola Company introduced “New Coke” as a replacement to the old Coke that had been around for almost 100 years. The sweeter, more syrupy taste of New Coke—based on the company’s Diet Coke formula but without the artificial sweeteners—was intended to compete successfully with Pepsi. Over the years, more and more people—especially young people—had come to prefer the taste of Pepsi over Coke. Now, in numerous blind taste tests among consumers, New Coke successfully beat out Pepsi time after time. Coca-Cola spent over four million dollars developing, testing, and marketing New Coke. The company was sure they had a winner on their hands. Continue Reading

21st century, 2010s, 20th century, 1980s, popular culture, by Donna R. Braden, beverages

A couple of weeks ago on the blog, we shared slides from the John Margolies Roadside America collection, newly digitized in anticipation of a Margolies exhibit coming to The Henry Ford later this year.  However, John Margolies did not only take photographs of interesting places he encountered on the road; he also collected related items.  We’ve just digitized about 300 pennants Margolies collected, representing various cities, states, parks, zoos, circuses, beaches, landmarks, and intriguing roadside attractions.  On this colorful example, Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox invite you to visit the Trees of Mystery along the Redwood Highway, California.  To find out if your hometown or favorite childhood attraction is represented, visit our collections website and peruse all the digitized pennants—and see if you can spot any of them in the exhibit later this year!

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

popular culture, roads and road trips, by Ellice Engdahl, John Margolies, Roadside America

Late last year, I was invited to present to students at Wayne State University in Detroit. Their seminar, “Women Who Motor,” examined the many connections between American women and the automobile industry, whether as the producers who design and build cars, or as the consumers who buy and drive them. The class also studied depictions of women and their autos in popular culture, from literature, to film, to music. That’s where I came in – with a look at the relationship between women and automobiles in popular song.

It’s no great revelation that the automobile is fertile inspiration for pop music. The car is a rolling metaphor for social status, wealth, style and any of a hundred other things. Sing about someone in a Cadillac, and you paint a picture of an affluent sophisticate; sing about someone in a Chevrolet, and you describe someone more down-to-earth or – if that Chevy is old and tired – someone down on her luck. In other words, the car is a spectacular lyrical shortcut. (And I’ve said nothing about the car as a metaphor for romantic activities… but I will.) In sharing some examples with the students, I broke female-focused car songs into three general groups: 1.) those about using the car to attract a mate, 2.) those about the car as a setting for romance, and 3.) those about women behind the wheel. Continue Reading

popular culture, by Matt Anderson, women's history, music, cars

John Margolies spent decades traveling the United States and photographing roadside attractions, restaurants, shops, and motels, with a particular focus on interesting or quirky shapes and signage.  Many of the places he photographed are in varying states of abandonment and decline, but harken back to the excitement of the golden era of road trips and the unique commercial designs they spawned.  Last year, The Henry Ford acquired about 1500 slides by John Margolies, and a little later this year, we will be putting on an exhibit of selected material, transformed from 35mm slide format into art prints.  If you’d like to get a jump on the exhibit, you can currently view over 120 recently digitized Margolies slides on our collections website (including, in most cases, the slide mounts with John Margolies’s hand-written notes).  Some of these images—perhaps this dinosaur offering up live music and a really good deal on a large t-bone—will be featured within the exhibit.

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

digital collections, photographs, photography, popular culture, John Margolies, roads and road trips, Roadside America, by Ellice Engdahl

This year, many transformative things have been set into motion at The Henry Ford. One of the most rewarding projects has been all of the hard work that has culminated with the first season of The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation, an educational television show produced by Litton Entertainment. Perhaps you’ve been watching the episodes on CBS, Saturday mornings? If not, you can view them here.

When we entered into a partnership with Litton, we also took the opportunity to turn our gaze inwards, to research the history of our own involvement with broadcast media. A dive into the archives of the Edison Institute revealed some gems—photographic collections that captured the visual history of media events on our campus spanning 60 years. Previous blogs detail how in 1955, Marion Corwell began hosting Window to the Past, our first live television show. That same year, NBC filmed an all-day live event using the then-new medium of color broadcasting; episodes of The Howdy Doody Show were captured that day. Other discoveries revealed Gladys Knight and the Pips on the Phil Donahue Show in 1973. Continue Reading

lighting, TV, Thomas Edison, The Henry Ford's Innovation Nation, technology, popular culture, Greenfield Village buildings, Greenfield Village, events, by Kristen Gallerneaux, actors and acting

As most of you who follow The Henry Ford know, television crews have begun filming the Saturday morning educational show, The Henry Ford's Innovation Nation. Some visitors also may have actually seen the production crews in Henry Ford Museum or Greenfield Village several weeks ago as they shot footage for upcoming episodes. This has not been the first time The Henry Ford has played host to national television aspirations. Nearly 60 years ago in 1955, television crews invaded our campus on three separate occasions to broadcast live remotes. And like today The Henry Ford staff was there to help things run smoothly. Continue Reading

Michigan, Dearborn, 20th century, 1950s, TV, The Henry Ford's Innovation Nation, popular culture, music, Greenfield Village buildings, Greenfield Village, cars, by Andy Stupperich, #Behind The Scenes @ The Henry Ford

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