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.
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.
Creators
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.
Launching the Green Island Freighter at the Great Lakes Engineering Works, Ecorse, Michigan, May 1937
Details
Launching the Green Island Freighter at the Great Lakes Engineering Works, Ecorse, Michigan, May 1937
Artifact
Photographic print
Summary
Ford Motor Company launched the MS Green Island in 1937. The 300-foot vessel was part of a fleet that carried raw material, auto parts and other goods to and from Ford's mines, mills and factories. Green Island, with its low twelve-foot draft, was one of the longest ships to move through the New York State Barge Canal system.
Keywords
Object ID
P.833.68308.K
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:
Launching the Green Island Freighter at the Great Lakes Engineering Works, Ecorse, Michigan, May 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.
Page from December 1912 Ford Times, "A Remarkable Photograph Showing Ford Flexibility"
Artifact
Photographic print
Creators
Keywords
Object ID
84.1.1660.P.O.2591
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:
Page from December 1912 Ford Times, "A Remarkable Photograph Showing Ford Flexibility"
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, 1932
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.188.6905
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, 1932
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.
Spencer Tracy, Preparing for "Edison, the Man," with Henry Ford in Menlo Park Laboratory, Greenfield Village, October 27, 1939
Details
Spencer Tracy, Preparing for "Edison, the Man," with Henry Ford in Menlo Park Laboratory, Greenfield Village, October 27, 1939
Artifact
Photographic print
Summary
The 1940 MGM film Edison, the Man starred Spencer Tracy, but Edison's Menlo Park laboratory played a supporting role. The 1870s laboratory -- where Edison made many of his famous discoveries -- had been moved to Henry Ford's Greenfield Village in the late 1920s. With documentation provided by Greenfield Village staff, MGM built an impressive full-sized movie set of the laboratory in California.
Place of Creation
Keywords
United States, Michigan, Dearborn
Motion pictures (Visual works)
Edison, the man (Motion picture)
Object ID
P.188.26209
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Ford Motor Company.
Location
By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center
Related Objects
Get more details in Digital Collections at:
Spencer Tracy, Preparing for "Edison, the Man," with Henry Ford in Menlo Park Laboratory, Greenfield Village, October 27, 1939
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.
George Washington Carver and Henry Ford, Carver Nutrition Laboratory, Dearborn, Michigan, 1942
Details
George Washington Carver and Henry Ford, Carver Nutrition Laboratory, Dearborn, Michigan, 1942
Artifact
Photographic print
Summary
George Washington Carver and Henry Ford shared not only an interest in using agricultural products in industry ("chemurgy"), but also some quirky ideas about diet. Here, Carver and Ford share a sandwich of "weed spread," made with wild bergamot, narrow-leafed plantain, purslane, pigweed, milkweed, dandelion, lamb's quarters and wild radish. They shared this meal at Ford Motor Company's George Washington Carver Nutrition Laboratory during Carver's 1942 Dearborn visit.
Place of Creation
Object ID
84.1.1660.P.188.70497.A
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:
George Washington Carver and Henry Ford, Carver Nutrition Laboratory, Dearborn, Michigan, 1942
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.
Assembly Line at Ford Motor Company Highland Park Plant, circa 1925
Artifact
Photographic print
Creators
Object ID
84.1.1660.P.O.7823
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:
Assembly Line at Ford Motor Company Highland Park Plant, circa 1925
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.
