Articles

The Bicycles: Powering Possibilities exhibit at The Henry Ford features seventeen two-wheelers covering two centuries of bicycle history and technology, and it remains on view through February 15, 2026

When the Edison Institute Museum and Greenfield Village (now The Henry Ford) opened to the general public on June 12, 1933, a series of detailed illustrations were used to highlight the many exhibits and attractions.

Volunteer gardeners have shared their green thumbs with The Henry Ford for decades. It began when Mary Thompson Gerathy, a teacher, herbalist, and traveler, asked if she could use a garden plot in Greenfield Village to grow plants for the herb classes she taught. It developed into the Village Herb Associates, an organization that illustrates how passionate gardeners laid the foundation for a mutually beneficial community-museum partnership.

In 1948, the Kelleys had settled on eleven acres in Rockville, Connecticut. The house, barn, hayfields and berry patches all needed attention. The work and the record-breaking cold and snow of their first winter hadn’t chilled their enthusiasm for the future.

The modern-day commercial Christmas card traces its origins back to England in the early 1840s when Henry Cole distributed holiday greetings on a card designed by John Callcott Horsley.

This year, The Henry Ford took steps toward building community with Indigenous nations by expanding the institution’s Artists in Residence program, offered annually in Greenfield Village. To kick off Celebrate Indigenous History programming, we welcomed Maggie Thompson (Fond du Lac Ojibwe) as the inaugural Indigenous Artist in Residence.

Lois and Robert Kelley craved outdoor space and projects to absorb their enthusiasm for life. After World War II they married and invested wholeheartedly in farming believing it could provide peace of mind and sustenance for the family, with income supplemented by outside work.

In early 19th-century America, life was changing fast. More Americans were venturing further from home as the country expanded westward and new innovations in steam and rail transport made travel more accessible. This also meant that more Americans were dying far from home. Society, though, still viewed it as important that a person be laid to rest amongst their family; to not have this final closure would have been deeply upsetting.

In this interview, Jeanine Head Miller (Curator of Domestic Life), and Charles Sable (Curator of Decorative Arts) sat down with Kristen Gallerneaux (Curator and Editor-in-Chief of Digital Curation) to share their efforts to restore the interiors and furnishings of The Jackson Home. This article is part of an ongoing series focusing on the history, preservation, and restoration of the landmark Jackson Home experience, slated to open in Greenfield Village in Summer 2026.

At The Henry Ford, we often think of the countless stories of innovation that our institution can tell through archival materials—from the automotive parts drawings to the Bill Stumpf and Robert Propst design collections.