Sewing machines made sewing much faster---creating consistent, even stiches better than could be done by hand. Most clothing was still made at home during the late 19th century--sewing machines made this task easier. In the 1880s, the White Sewing Machine Company manufactured about 60,000 sewing machines annually--and its machines won awards both in America and abroad.

Billy Durant, ousted from General Motors for a second time, established Durant Motors in 1921. Durant's Star challenged Ford's Model T in the low-price field. In 1923 Star became the first significant American automobile offered in a factory-built station wagon version. While the Star was a hit, Durant stretched his finances too thin and Durant Motors ended operations in 1932.

Small sawmills played a fundamental role in rural communities in nineteenth century America, processing locally-logged wood to provide sawn lumber for construction in the immediate area. While many such mills were water powered, this was steam-powered from the outset. It was simple but refined -- a modest, self-sufficient industrial operation (water and fuel was available onsite), comfortably wedded to its rural location.

This text-to-speech synthesizer recreates the sounds of the human voice. Inventor Richard T. Gagnon created the Votrax to support his own failing vision. It could be used by the blind as a computer screen reader, or a speaking device for people with vocal cord paralysis. The Votrax shaped individual units of speech, allowing unlimited range and smoothness capable of conveying emotion.

Art Glass is ornamental and decorative glass dating from the mid-to-late 19th century through the early 20th century. Makers of Art Glass employed newly developed technologies for producing vibrant colors and surface textures. This is most famously seen in the iridescent surfaces of Louis Comfort Tiffany and his contemporaries, although Art Glass took many shapes and forms.

In 1916, gasoline was cheap, and no one cared about tailpipe emissions. But this hybrid wasn't about fuel prices or pollution. Woods Motor Vehicle Company built it to capture new customers. Sales of the company's electric cars were falling as more people chose gasoline-burning cars. The Dual-Power supposedly combined the best of both, but customers disagreed. The car and the company disappeared in 1918.

Indiana farmwife Susan McCord made this stunningly beautiful quilt -- indisputably her masterpiece. This trailing vine design is a McCord original. McCord pieced together printed and solid cotton fabric scraps to create the over 300 leaves on each of the thirteen vine panels. McCord used variations of this vine in the borders of several quilts. But McCord's vine design is rendered to perfection in this work of genius.

Art Glass is ornamental and decorative glass dating from the mid-to-late 19th century through the early 20th century. Makers of Art Glass employed newly developed technologies for producing vibrant colors and surface textures. This is most famously seen in the iridescent surfaces of Louis Comfort Tiffany and his contemporaries, although Art Glass took many shapes and forms.

This vehicle is the oldest surviving American automobile. In the 1860s, a small steam carriage running under its own power -- without horses! -- was so startling that people paid to see it driven. It was a curiosity, not transportation. By the time its inventor, Sylvester Roper, died in 1896, new innovators were transforming horseless carriages from curiosities into practical vehicles.

James R. Jones was one of nine different proprietors who operated a general merchandise store in this building between 1857 and 1927. From 1882 to 1888, Jones sold products like coffee, sugar, fabric, and shoes. He also boasted the first telephone in town. General stores were organized shopping spaces. Long shelves with groupings of similar products lined each side.

The Hoover Model O, introduced in 1908, was the first commercially successful portable vacuum. At 40 pounds, it was less than half the weight of other "portable" cleaners. With its motor and fan, rotary brush, and bag that captured dust, the electrically-powered--and expensive--Hoover vacuum removed dirt and dust much better than the carpet beaters or mechanical carpet sweepers used by many people at the time.

Hybrid automobiles improve fuel efficiency and reduce tailpipe emissions compared with standard internal combustion-powered cars. Hybrids use small internal combustion engines and battery-powered electric motors. Powerful computers and sophisticated software coordinate the smooth, seamless transfer of power between the two units. This Prius is one of Toyota's first-generation hybrids, introduced in the United States in 2000.

Since the early 1960s, Marvel comic book superheroes have appealed to readers because of their relatable personalities, human flaws, and real-life problems. This Astonishing Tales comic book, featuring Guardians of the Galaxy, is a reprint of the supergroup's original appearance in 1969. This evil-fighting team of aliens and renegades was reincarnated later in a series of highly popular movies.

Henry Ford built this cabin in 1942 to honor his friend, agricultural scientist George Washington Carver. The cabin was based on Carver's recollections of the slave cabin in Missouri in which he was born in 1864. Carver spent his career at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, advocating for new crops, such as peanuts, that would enrich both Southern farmers and Southern soils.

The Dustbuster handheld vacuum, introduced in 1979, found immediate success--selling over a million the first year. Inexpensive, lightweight, and convenient, it was designed for quick cleanups of surface dirt and spills. Cordless, with a wall-mounted charger base, the Dustbuster could be used anywhere! Though it wasn't very powerful, convenience triumphed. For small jobs, it was much easier to grab the Dustbuster!

Automakers increasingly considered themselves "mobility providers" in the 2010s. Ford Motor Company's MoDe:Flex bicycle prototype was born of that thinking. The power-assisted bike operated via an Apple iPhone app that controlled the electric motor, monitored the rider's speed and heart rate, and provided navigation assistance and traffic updates. When disassembled, the bike fit neatly into the trunk of a compact car.

Ford's Model T mass production system would not have been practical without electricity; by 1919 nine of these Ford-designed hybrid internal combustion/steam engines generated the power needed by the Highland Park plant's assembly lines and associated machinery. By 1926 the engines were rendered obsolete when electricity was fed from the power plant at Ford's River Rouge plant ten miles away.

Amos and Grace Mattox -- descended from enslaved African Americans -- raised their two children in this rural Georgia farmhouse during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Amos farmed, cut hair, made shoes, and preached at the local church, while Grace sewed, canned, cooked, and helped needy neighbors. Although life was hard, the family proudly affirmed that there was "always enough."

The size of radios shrank following the advent of transistor technology. Even the smallest vacuum tubes were bulky, and their power consumption ensured the need for large batteries. Transistor radios made of lightweight plastics were cheap and truly portable. With the addition of an earphone a radio such as this allowed the listener to enjoy a completely personal listening experience.

This is a replica of the Firestones' chicken house in Ohio. Chickens spend their days in the farmyard, foraging for seeds and bugs for food. They spend their nights on their roosts in the chicken house, which provides warmth, protection from predators, and keeps the eggs in one place, making them easier to gather.

The Firestone barn is a Pennsylvania-German bank barn, an American barn type with Swiss origins. They are called bank barns because the barn is built into a bank, allowing wagons to be driven into the upper floor. Bank barns combined multiple farm functions under a single roof. Livestock were kept in the lower floor, crops on the upper floor.

The Model T's distinction as a landmark car design can be traced in large part to machines like this -- a high capacity precision machine tool that performed just two production steps on the car engine's cylinder block. The Model T as a design achievement is inseparable from many hundreds of engineering, materials, and production innovations.

The Pottery Shop was designed in 1939 by Edward L. Cutler, an architect who helped Henry Ford create his historic village. Designed as a reproduction rice mill to house 19th-century threshing machinery from a South Carolina plantation, the building was repurposed as the Pottery Shop in 1984. Today, visitors view demonstrations of hand-made pottery including salt-glaze and slip wares.

This assistive technology device was created for people who are blind or with visual impairments. Using text-to-speech synthesizer technology and optical character recognition, it can scan text from any kind of printed material and then read it out loud. This includes books, magazines, mail--even food packaging. Reading speed is adjustable and its memory can store 100 pages of text.