Stories of
Innovation

Walk alongside our country’s most famous innovators as they face great uncertainties and uncover lasting discoveries. Listen as our curators make connections between seemingly unrelated objects from The Henry Ford Archive of American Innovation™ and arrive at new meanings. Learn about innovation from America’s greatest makers, thinkers, and doers.

From aviation to agriculture, industrial design to information technology, civil rights to social justice, America’s greatest innovators ask big “What If” questions—and answer them in even bigger ways.

From millions of artifacts in The Henry Ford’s collections, our experts choose three and reveal the surprisingly curious connections between them.

Connect

Detection

Discover how a radio telemetry device, a polygraph, and a detective camera relate to one another.
Connect

Powered by Wind

Discover how a 17th century windmill, an 1830s mechanical winnower, and a 1960s dream car have to do with one another.

Visionaries on Innovation

The Henry Ford is dedicated to advancing a culture of innovation. One way we’re doing that is through our collection of interviews and first-person essays from today’s visionaries.

Visionaries

Bob Metcalfe

In the early days of Silicon Valley, Bob Metcalfe developed Ethernet, the standard for networking as we know it today.
Visionaries

The Right Mentality

Emanuele Pirro drives innovation—literally. The Formula One driver describes the famous Edison2 ultra-efficient car and discusses the risks and technical challenges that come with building a groundbreaking new vehicle.