Photographic Vertical File Series
The Photographic vertical file series is an assembled collection of photographs from a variety of sources. The series contains both original photographs and copy photographs, covering a wide range of topics.
Scope and Content Note
This assembled collection consists of the most often used images relating to Henry Ford and Ford Motor Company. Started in the 1950s, these photoprints were gathered from larger photograph accessions (particularly Accessions 188, 189 and 833) and from...
MoreThis assembled collection consists of the most often used images relating to Henry Ford and Ford Motor Company. Started in the 1950s, these photoprints were gathered from larger photograph accessions (particularly Accessions 188, 189 and 833) and from miscellaneous sources. In many ways this collection forms a synopsis of the larger Henry Ford / Ford Motor Company photographic accessions. This file contains vintage as well as copy photoprints.
Topics covered include an encyclopedic range of subjects concerning Henry Ford and his family from 1890 to 1955; a broad selection of Ford Motor Company products, buildings, activities, and subsidiaries from 1903 to 1955; and a sampling of automotive industry images other than Ford Motor Company (for views of automobiles other than Ford products see Accession 1671). This collection reflects Henry Ford's wide interests, and includes images of famous people such as actors, authors, kings, and scientists as well as his personal friends, John Burroughs, Harvey Firestone, and George Washington Carver (for Thomas Edison images see also Accession 1630). Henry Ford's interest in historic preservation at Botsford Inn and Wayside Inn also is covered (for images of Henry Ford Museum AND Greenfield Village see also Accession EI 1929).
Some cities and towns are documented in this collection, particularly where Henry Ford's Village Industries, farms and homes were located and the sites of Ford Motor Company plants and branches. Michigan is particularly well represented because of the company headquarters in Detroit and Dearborn. Reflecting the activity of the Ford Archives in the 1950s many views of automobiles on city streets, country roads, and camping from the early decades of this century are part of this collection, gathered for Ford Motor Company's 50th anniversary advertising campaign, "The American Road."
Additional topics include automobile exhibitions, Stout and Ford Tri-Motor airplanes, Ford Tractors and World War I and II defense production. Copy photoprints of graphics such as company advertisements and documents are also in the collection (for the original artifacts see Accession 19 for advertisements, and Accession 1, Accession 62, Accession 285, and other manuscript collections for the documents).
The original subject arrangement was based on an idiosyncratic set of subject headings developed for use with the Ford manuscript collections. Beginning in 1986, the subject terms were changed to reflect Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division standards for subject arrangement. In 1987, a large portion of the photoprints in this collection was cataloged in The Henry Ford's collection management system with a concomitant videodisc made of the images.
The accession was previously known as the Archives Print Collection, the Reference Photofile, the Aircraft Subject Boxes, the Automotive Addendum, and the A Series Prints by Subject.
LessCollection Details
Object ID: 84.1.1660.0
Creator: Ford Motor Company. Archives
Creator Notes: Created by Ford Motor Company Archives
Inclusive Dates: 1890-1980
Size: 53.33 linear ft.
Language: English
Collection Access & Use
Item Location: Benson Ford Research Center
Access Restrictions: The collection is open for research.
Credit: From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Ford Motor Company.
Keywords
United States, Georgia, Richmond Hill
United States, Michigan, Dearborn
United States, Michigan, Detroit
United States, Michigan, Charter Township of Ypsilanti
United States, Michigan, Charter Township of Van Buren
Hotels (Public accommodations)
Carver, George Washington, 1864?-1943
Edison, Thomas A. (Thomas Alva), 1847-1931
Digitized Artifacts From This Collection
In many cases, not all artifacts have been digitized.
Contact us for more information about this collection.
Inkster High School Senior Banquet, May 2, 1940
Artifact
Photographic print
Summary
During the Great Depression, Ford Motor Company made efforts to improve living conditions in Inkster, Michigan, a primarily Black community hit especially hard by the economic crisis. Ford built a high school, repaired homes, established a medical clinic, and opened a low-price commissary. Improvements were funded through involuntary paycheck deductions from Inkster residents employed at Ford's nearby Rouge plant.
Keywords
Object ID
84.1.1660.P.188.27534
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Ford Motor Company.
Location
By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center
Get more details in Digital Collections at:
Inkster High School Senior Banquet, May 2, 1940
What is The Henry Ford?
The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.
Book Display at the Inkster High School Senior Banquet, May 2, 1940
Artifact
Photographic print
Summary
During the Great Depression, Ford Motor Company made efforts to improve living conditions in Inkster, Michigan, a primarily Black community hit especially hard by the economic crisis. Ford built a high school, repaired homes, established a medical clinic, and opened a low-price commissary. Improvements were funded through involuntary paycheck deductions from Inkster residents employed at Ford's nearby Rouge plant.
Keywords
Object ID
84.1.1660.P.188.27537
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Ford Motor Company.
Location
By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center
Get more details in Digital Collections at:
Book Display at the Inkster High School Senior Banquet, May 2, 1940
What is The Henry Ford?
The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.
Henry Ford Trade School Students at Great Lakes Exposition, Cleveland, Ohio, 1936-1937
Artifact
Photographic print
Summary
Cleveland celebrated its centennial with the Great Lakes Exposition. For two summers during 1936 and 1937, over seven million visitors came through the gates. Fair officials consigned Ford and the other automobile companies to the Automotive Building -- no separate corporate buildings were constructed. Ford supplemented its vehicle displays with other exhibitions, including demonstrations by students from the Henry Ford Trade School.
Place of Creation
Keywords
Object ID
84.1.1660.P.833.66356
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Ford Motor Company.
Location
By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center
Get more details in Digital Collections at:
Henry Ford Trade School Students at Great Lakes Exposition, Cleveland, Ohio, 1936-1937
What is The Henry Ford?
The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.
Garden at Fair Lane Estate, Dearborn, Michigan, June 1933
Artifact
Photographic transparency
Date Made
14 June 1933
Summary
In the early 1910s, Henry and Clara Ford selected 1300 acres of farmland in Dearborn, Michigan, as the site for a new home. They called the estate Fair Lane. Surrounded by woods, meadows, gardens, and the nature they loved, Henry and Clara found this home a peaceful respite. This image shows one of the gardens created near the house for the couple to enjoy.
Keywords
Object ID
84.1.1660.535
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Ford Motor Company.
Location
By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center
Get more details in Digital Collections at:
Garden at Fair Lane Estate, Dearborn, Michigan, June 1933
What is The Henry Ford?
The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.
Henry Ford with Ford Model K Race Car on Beach in New Jersey, 1905
Artifact
Photographic print
Summary
Henry Ford's most unsuccessful racing car used a six-cylinder engine from the Ford Model K passenger car. In 1905 Ford attempted to set new world speed records in the car on the beaches at both Atlantic City and Cape May, New Jersey, but failed each time. Here Henry faces the camera while mechanics work on the car behind him.
Object ID
00.1334.195
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Ford Motor Company.
Location
By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center
Get more details in Digital Collections at:
Henry Ford with Ford Model K Race Car on Beach in New Jersey, 1905
What is The Henry Ford?
The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.
Newspaper Article, "Henry Ford Gives $10,000,000 in 1914 Profits to His Employes"
Artifact
Photographic print
Summary
When Henry Ford introduced the moving assembly line in 1913 he loved it but his employees didn't. The work was boring and relentless, and worker turnover was high. To get workers to stay, Henry more than doubled their pay, from $2.34 per day to $5 per day. It was headline news in Detroit and around the country.
Creators
Keywords
Object ID
84.1.1660.P.D.652
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Ford Motor Company.
Location
Not on exhibit to the public.
Get more details in Digital Collections at:
Newspaper Article, "Henry Ford Gives $10,000,000 in 1914 Profits to His Employes"
What is The Henry Ford?
The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.
Henry Ford with 1935 Ford V-8 Engine, December 1934
Artifact
Photographic print
Date Made
20 December 1934
Summary
In late 1934 Henry Ford admires his last great personal innovation, the Ford V-8 engine. Ford did not invent the V-8 configuration. His contribution was figuring out how to make a V-8 cheap enough and light enough to use in an inexpensive car like a Ford.
Place of Creation
Keywords
Object ID
84.1.1660.P.189.11375
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Ford Motor Company.
Location
By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center
Get more details in Digital Collections at:
Henry Ford with 1935 Ford V-8 Engine, December 1934
What is The Henry Ford?
The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.
Henry Ford with Ford Model A Fordor Town Sedan, the Twenty Millionth Ford, Coming Off Assembly Line, April 14, 1931
Details
Henry Ford with Ford Model A Fordor Town Sedan, the Twenty Millionth Ford, Coming Off Assembly Line, April 14, 1931
Artifact
Photographic print
Summary
The Ford Motor Company produced its 20 millionth automobile -- a black Town Sedan -- in 1931. The car rolled off Ford's Rouge plant assembly line on April 14th, and it then embarked on a nationwide publicity tour. This photograph shows Henry Ford standing next to the car as it nears the end of the assembly line.
Place of Creation
Keywords
Object ID
84.1.1660.P.833.56063.9
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Ford Motor Company.
Location
By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center
Get more details in Digital Collections at:
Henry Ford with Ford Model A Fordor Town Sedan, the Twenty Millionth Ford, Coming Off Assembly Line, April 14, 1931
What is The Henry Ford?
The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.
Rouge River Dam at Fair Lane Estate, August 8, 1940
Artifact
Photographic print
Summary
Henry and Clara Ford's estate along the Rouge River reflected the couple's dual interest in nature and industry. They hired celebrated landscape architect Jens Jensen to camouflage the hydroelectric dam that powered Fair Lane. His completed design appeared as natural rapids. Jensen's stepping stone bridge and cascades are the most extensive of his renowned river-edge rock creations.
Place of Creation
Keywords
Object ID
P.188.27966
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Ford Motor Company.
Location
By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center
Get more details in Digital Collections at:
Rouge River Dam at Fair Lane Estate, August 8, 1940
What is The Henry Ford?
The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.
