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.
Henry Ford, Clara Ford and Henry Ford II in Greenfield Village, May 1946
Artifact
Photographic print
Date Made
May 1946
Summary
Henry Ford II poses with his grandparents, Henry and Clara Ford, in Greenfield Village in May 1946. They gathered for the "Automobile Golden Jubilee" -- Detroit's celebration of the auto's 50th anniversary in the city. Photographs were also taken of Henry Ford with his Quadricycle, which he first operated in June 1896. The Quadricycle was only the second automobile driven in the Motor City.
Object ID
84.1.1660.P.O.6736
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, Clara Ford and Henry Ford II in Greenfield Village, May 1946
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.
1,000 Ford Model T Chassis, One Shift's Output, outside the Highland Park Plant, 1913
Artifact
Photographic print
Summary
As the moving assembly line evolved, Ford Motor Company promoted its growing manufacturing prowess with clever promotional photographs. This image shows 1,000 Model T chassis lined up outside Ford's Highland Park Plant. The chassis represent a single nine-hour shift's production in August 1913 -- an impressive total reached even before the assembly line was fully implemented.
Creators
Object ID
84.1.1660.P.O.716
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:
1,000 Ford Model T Chassis, One Shift's Output, outside the Highland Park Plant, 1913
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.
1,000 Ford Model T Chassis outside the Highland Park Plant, 1913
Artifact
Photographic print
Summary
As the moving assembly line evolved, Ford Motor Company promoted its growing manufacturing prowess with clever promotional photographs. This image shows 1,000 Model T chassis lined up outside Ford's Highland Park Plant. The chassis represent a single nine-hour shift's production in August 1913 -- an impressive total reached even before the assembly line was fully implemented.
Creators
Object ID
64.167.833.P.15
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:
1,000 Ford Model T Chassis outside the Highland Park Plant, 1913
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.
1000 Ton Press for Making Composition Door Panels, Ford Rouge Plant Tool and Die Building, 1939
Details
1000 Ton Press for Making Composition Door Panels, Ford Rouge Plant Tool and Die Building, 1939
Artifact
Photographic print
Date Made
10 April 1939
Place of Creation
Keywords
Object ID
P.833.71694.C
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:
1000 Ton Press for Making Composition Door Panels, Ford Rouge Plant Tool and Die Building, 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.
12,000 Employees outside Ford Motor Company Highland Park Plant, 1913
Artifact
Photographic print
Summary
Ford Motor Company's Highland Park Plant was nothing less than the most influential factory of the 20th century. Within its walls Henry Ford and his associates developed the moving assembly line, introduced the Five Dollar Day for workers, and produced millions of reliable and affordable Model T automobiles that put the world on wheels.
Creators
Object ID
84.1.1660.P.833.700
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:
12,000 Employees outside Ford Motor Company Highland Park Plant, 1913
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.
12,000 Ford Motor Company Employees outside the Highland Park Plant, 1913
Artifact
Photographic print
Summary
Ford Motor Company's Highland Park Plant was nothing less than the most influential factory of the 20th century. Within its walls Henry Ford and his associates developed the moving assembly line, introduced the Five Dollar Day for workers, and produced millions of reliable and affordable Model T automobiles that put the world on wheels.
Creators
Object ID
P.833.24
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:
12,000 Ford Motor Company Employees outside the Highland Park Plant, 1913
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.
15th Air Force B-24 Bombers on Mission over Italy, 1943-1945
Artifact
Photographic print
Creators
Keywords
Object ID
00.1772.1
Location
By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center
Get more details in Digital Collections at:
15th Air Force B-24 Bombers on Mission over Italy, 1943-1945
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.
1819 Land Lease to Rebecca Jennings Ford and Her Son, John Ford, Ancestors of Henry Ford, County Cork, Ireland
Details
1819 Land Lease to Rebecca Jennings Ford and Her Son, John Ford, Ancestors of Henry Ford, County Cork, Ireland
Artifact
Photographic print
Summary
Automobile magnate, Henry Ford, could trace his paternal ancestors back to Ireland. In 1819, Henry's grandfather, John, and his great-grandmother, Rebecca, signed a lease for a section of land in County Cork. The Fords tended this land for over the next twenty-five years. John, Rebecca and their families immigrated to the Americas in 1847 during the Great Famine.
Creators
Keywords
Object ID
P.D.1200
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:
1819 Land Lease to Rebecca Jennings Ford and Her Son, John Ford, Ancestors of Henry Ford, County Cork, Ireland
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.
1901 Experimental Ford Runabout in Henry Ford Museum, circa 1935
Artifact
Photographic print
Place of Creation
Object ID
P.188.11957
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:
1901 Experimental Ford Runabout in Henry Ford Museum, circa 1935
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.
