Exposed Collections—2017-2020 IMLS Grant Project
Share
share
Beginning in 2017, The Henry Ford began a multi-year project to catalog, conserve, rehouse, and relocate a group of some 2,500 objects. Long-hidden stories have come to light during this process--opening up new interpretative opportunities. This project, funded through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), continues The Henry Ford's commitment to collection stewardship, preservation, and key institutional priorities.
THF171424
Challenge Mills Cinnamon Tin, 1895-1905
Before products like coffee, tea, and spices were individually packaged with company labels and logos grocers dispensed them from metal bins and canisters. These large tin containers were not only a convenient storage place that kept products dry, but their colorful painted, printed, and stenciled decorations provided an attractive display on the store's shelves and counters.
View ArtifactMiniature Lathe, Displayed at the New York World's Fair, 1939
Henry Ford firmly believed in the "practical educational value" of World's Fair exhibits. During the 1939-40 New York World's Fair, he highlighted the work of students attending his experimental schools. In a miniature machine shop in the Ford building, boys from Ford's Edison Institute Schools operated quarter-size replicas based on machines from Thomas Edison's Menlo Park.
View ArtifactHorse Hat, 1890-1915
Beginning in the late-19th century, American animal welfare proponents suggested that work horses wear hats to help keep the animals cool in summer. Soon, bonneted horses pulling omnibuses, hacks, delivery wagons, and other vehicles appeared on city streets. The use of horse hats waned when some questioned their effectiveness, and as electric and gas-powered vehicles replaced the hard-working horse.
View ArtifactBuckeye Horse Feeds Sign, 1910-1943
Farm livestock and pets need nutritious food to stay healthy. The Dalton, Ohio-based Buckeye company (known by various name iterations over its 100-year history) began as a flour milling company in the early 1900s and sold the milling by-products as livestock feed. Today, the company is known as Buckeye Nutrition and is a leader in high-quality horse feed.
View Artifact"King of the Road" No. 784 Headlamp, 1902-1914
Drivers in the early 1900s attached headlights to their automobiles to help light their way at night. To use this "King of the Road" model, automobilists filled the chambers with calcium carbide and then added water creating acetylene gas. Igniting the gas burner produced a strong white light. The lamp's lens and parabolic reflector cast a broad beam lighting the road ahead.
View ArtifactFord V-8 Automobile Engine, 1937
Ford's affordable V-8 engine, introduced in 1932, proved so popular that the company stopped selling four-cylinder cars beginning with the 1935 model year. For 1937, Ford attracted economy-minded customers with a smaller 60-horsepower version of its V-8. The "60" engine had a displacement of 136 cubic inches compared with the larger 85-horsepower V-8's 221 cubic inches.
View ArtifactModel of a 1914 Ford Model T, 1915
In 1915, Frank Brown built this model of the Ford Model T that his father had purchased a year earlier. The ingenious crafter, 23 at the time, used bits of pine, cloth, rolled rubber, sheet metal, some screen door mesh, and tools found around his family's rural Virginia home to construct the replica. Frank's model remained in the family until 1961.
View ArtifactThe Samson Battery No. 2, 1916-1935
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, people used batteries to power telegraph and telephone systems, ring bells and alarms, or spark gasoline engines. The Samson Electric Company had made wet cell battery like this one for years before moving production to Canton, Massachusetts. The glass jar held a conductive solution surrounding the carbon and zinc elements that produced an electrochemical reaction.
View ArtifactFly-Tox Hand Sprayer, 1940-1950
The Toledo Rex Spray Company trademarked "Fly-Tox" in 1923. The Rex Company (later Rex Research Corporation) marketed Fly-Tox to kill common household pests. As the organochlorine Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) gained creditability after World War II as a less-toxic compound, Fly-Tox incorporated DDT. Widespread use of DDT and its documented negative effects on ecosystems led U.S. legislators to ban the chemical in 1972.
View ArtifactDrink Burger Beer Sign, 1940-1960
Cincinnati's large German-American population supported a number of local breweries and beer companies well into the 20th century. Burger Brewing Company, which started as a malt house in 1880, became a Cincinnati favorite after the repeal of Prohibition. Expansion continued after the Second World War, but sales faltered in the 1960s as the company tried to compete against larger national breweries. Burger closed in 1973.
View ArtifactKmart's "Bluelight Specials" Strobe Light, circa 1972
A voice over the storewide intercom announces: "Attention Kmart shoppers, …" Customers pause and scan for a flashing blue light--somewhere in the store there is a sale! In the late 20th century, Kmart's iconic Bluelight Specials provided instant bargains for lucky in-store shoppers. Workers at one Kmart store created this Bluelight memento as a retirement gift for a longtime employee.
View ArtifactC. G. Bush Kaleidoscope, 1874-1900
Kaleidoscopes provide a visual feast for the eye. Angled mirrors enclosed in a tube create beautiful, ever-changing symmetrical patterns from bits of colorful glass and other translucent material. In the late 1800s, Charles Bush placed small liquid-filled vials in his kaleidoscopes. The moving liquid and bubbles in the vials provided a unique component to this optical experience.
View ArtifactStereoscope
From the late 1800s to the early 1900s, a stereoscope and a handful of stereographs provided Americans with hours of amusement and discovery. Stereoscopes combine the two-dimensional images printed on a stereograph into a single image -- one that gives an illusion of depth. These simple, handheld devices transformed millions of images into visual history lessons, entertaining illustrations of life, and encounters with far-away places.
View ArtifactSelden Patent Sign, 1895-1912
George Selden received a patent for an internal combustion automobile in 1895. Those patent rights were enforced by the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers. Automakers certified by ALAM paid royalties to the group, and retailers of ALAM-authorized cars displayed signs like this. ALAM was dissolved after losing a lengthy legal battle against Henry Ford in 1911.
View ArtifactBirdhouse, circa 1930
Americans began to offer Henry Ford a variety of everyday objects after they learned he was starting a museum in Dearborn, Michigan. This rustic-looking birdhouse -- one of a pair -- came from George Friess of Pennsylvania. Friess probably knew of Ford's love of birds when he offered them in 1930. Not much else is known about them, their maker, or the donor.
View ArtifactRevolving Beehive, 1869-1877
Charles Eldad Spaulding's work as a cheese-box maker in Theresa, New York, influenced his design for a circular revolving beehive. His invention, patented in 1869, was not successful -- though this one is visually appealing with its hand-painted scrollwork and colorful scenes. Instead, rectangular beehives with removable frames in a bee-friendly space were becoming the standard for the growing commercial beekeeping industry.
View ArtifactBates Numbering Machine, 1919-1925
The Bates numbering machine helped organize and manage business paperwork. Office workers used it to stamp consecutive numbers or numbers in a repeated pattern onto pages of documents. The mechanism -- an improvement patented by Edwin G. Bates in 1891 -- automatically changed the number, making quick work for staff.
View ArtifactMullen Paper Tester, circa 1901
In the late 1880s, John Mullen developed a test -- and a testing device -- to assess the strength and quality of paper goods. The Mullen test involves placing a paper sample over a rubber diaphragm, then inflating the diaphragm until the sample bursts. The device's pressure gauge records the measurement. Though testers have evolved, Mullen's eponymous test remains an industry standard.
View ArtifactCross Section of the Washington Elm, 1924
On July 3, 1775, George Washington took command of the Continental Army in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This act, according to legend, occurred under a stately elm. The story, whether true or fictitious, and the tree itself connected Americans with the Revolutionary-era principles that helped form our unique national identity. The 200-year-old tree fell in 1923 and its wood was cut into commemorative sections and carved into mementos.
View ArtifactTexaco Fire Chief Gasoline Sign, 1948
While most of its competitors focused on regional markets prior to World War II, Texaco built itself into a national brand. By 1942, the company had 40,000 outlets across the United States. Texaco's marketing included memorable names for its gasolines. "Fire-Chief" was the company's high-octane blend, formulated to meet the demanding needs of emergency vehicles.
View Artifact
