Menlo Park Carbon Shed in Greenfield Village, circa 1934

THF716544 / Menlo Park Carbon Shed in Greenfield Village, circa 1934

Artifact Overview

Irving Bacon, a Ford Motor Company employee and Henry Ford's personal artist, created pen-and-ink drawings to illustrate guidebooks for the Edison Institute Museum and Greenfield Village (now The Henry Ford) when they officially opened to the public in 1933. An illustrated souvenir guidebook helped visitors navigate the exhibits and grounds. Ford also used these drawings in other company publications.

Artifact Details

Artifact

Drawing (Visual work)

Subject Date

circa 1934

Creators

Bacon, Irving R. (Irving Reuben), 1875-1962

Collection Title

Edison Institute Advertising Drawings

Location

By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center

Object ID

EI.174.40

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford.

Material

Cardboard
illustration board

Technique

Drawing (Image-making)

Color

Black-and-white (Colors)

Dimensions

Height: 12.5 in
Width: 18 in

Keywords	United States, Michigan, Dearborn Drawings (Visual works) Exterior views Open-air museums Replicas Sheds (Storage structures) Henry Ford (Organization). Greenfield Village Menlo Park Carbon Shed

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Menlo Park Carbon Shed
Edison's invention of the carbon telephone transmitter in 1877 is what made the telephone commercially practical. This small wooden shed housed a battery of kerosene lamps, kept lit and set to produce carbon soot. The soot was collected and compressed into carbon tablets for telephone transmitters. Edison also used the carbon produced in this shed for various other experiments.
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Edison Institute Museum and Village Guidebook, circa 1934

Menlo Park Carbon Shed

Edison Institute Museum and Village Guidebook, circa 1934