We are truly living in unprecedented times. On Friday, March 13, 2020, The Henry Ford closed its doors due to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. We did not open them again until Thursday, July 2—and even then, only on certain days, with many new guidelines in place about masks, social distancing, and capacity, to protect our visitors and staff. None of us predicted that we would remain closed for 16 weeks—but then, there is much happening now in the world that would have been difficult to predict.

One of the many unusual things that happened over that four-month period is that the most-viewed section of our website was our Digital Collections. While our online collections typically get tens of thousands of views each month, they’ve always fallen well short of our “Visit” section—until COVID-19 shut our doors. Between mid-March and late June, visitors viewed artifacts in our Digital Collections about 285,000 times. This whetted our curiosity about what artifacts people were looking at during our closure, and why—so we decided to put a list together and take a closer look.


The Quadricycle was the third-most viewed artifact in our Digital Collections during our pandemic closure in 2020. / THF90760

Over half (58%) of the artifacts that were the most popular during our closure are also on the list of the most popular artifacts of 2019. Not surprisingly, this covers many of our national treasures and our visitors’ favorite artifacts, like the Quadricycle, the Rosa Parks Bus, the Lincoln Chair, and the Allegheny steam locomotive.

One group of artifacts that was not on last year’s list, but that was highly viewed during our closure (and since), is items related to the challenging history of race in America. Given the nationwide protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, many Americans are seeking to broaden their understanding in this area, which might explain this uptick in interest. A slave collar, a “Whites Only” drinking fountain, a Ku Klux Klan robe and hood, and an Emancipation Day photograph are all artifacts on exhibit in “With Liberty and Justice for All” in Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation illustrating this disturbing history—and all were sought out by hundreds to thousands of online visitors between mid-March and late June.


This slave collar was featured in an online article called “Why We Can’t Stop Thinking About George Floyd’s Neck.” / THF13425

Another group of items that seems pandemic-specific are documents and photographs from the World War II era. In George Washington Carver’s last agricultural bulletin, published in February 1942, he encourages Americans to consider wild plants (what many might call weeds) as an alternative to green vegetables, should the war cause shortages. In March, journalist Nicholas Kristof referenced our Willow Run expert set as an example of ramping up production in a short timeframe in a New York Times editorial about the coronavirus. Likely as a result, a B-24 Liberator bomber production flowchart and a photograph of a B-24 in flight made it into our top artifacts over this period. A “United We Win” poster speaks to both World War II and issues of race relations.


Ford Motor Company’s fast ramp-up of B-24 Liberator bomber production during World War II provides insight on the ramp-up of coronavirus testing and treatment supplies in 2020. / THF251440

The last pattern we noticed was the popularity of artifacts related to recent films, at a time when many Americans stayed at home and increased their movie watching. Three auto racing photos—including the single-most viewed item during our closure, this photograph of race car driver Ken Miles at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans—demonstrate the continuing popularity of Ford v Ferarri, the 2019 movie about that very race. This letter, allegedly from Clyde Barrow to Henry Ford, has been popular ever since last year, when Netflix released The Highwaymen, a movie about the race to apprehend Bonnie and Clyde. During our closure, it was the fifth-most viewed artifact in our online collections.


This portrait of Ken Miles at the 24 Hours of Le Mans Race in 1966 was the most-viewed artifact from our Digital Collections during our closure. / LeMans06-66_441

It’s interesting to see patterns in views of our digital artifacts that map so closely to what has been going on in the world. To see if you can find any additional patterns we missed, check out the entire list of the most-viewed digitized artifacts during our COVID-19 closure here. And check out our Digital Collections for yourself—you might just find something there of value to you during these strange times.


Ellice Engdahl is Digital Collections & Content Manager at The Henry Ford.

2020s, 21st century, movies, digital collections, COVID 19 impact, by Ellice Engdahl, African American history

This year would have marked the 70^th anniversary of Old Car Festival, the longest running antique car show in America. While due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we currently can’t be immersed in the moving stories of the early automotive era, we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to celebrate our longest running and one of our most loved events in Greenfield Village.



Old Car Festival is more than just a car show. It’s an experience. It’s the detail that goes into the costumes and settings of the vignettes created by our staff that depict the turn of the century to the Great Depression. It’s the blues, jazz and Ragtime that you can hear throughout the streets and the dancing to go with it. It’s the delicious food offerings from our culinary team. It’s the sight and smell of more than 800 vehicles taking to the streets and taking over nearly every corner of the village.  All of it together transports our participants, members, guests and staff back to a time when these vehicles created their own roads.



All of it wouldn’t be possible of course, without our wonderful participants who come year after year to take their cherished treasures out for a spin (or just for show in some cases), participate in games of skill out on Walnut Grove and share their favorite stories with those who pass by.



In addition to the 70^th anniversary of Old Car Festival, this year’s event would have also celebrated the centennial of the 19^th Amendment. Automobiles arrived just as women were making new inroads in the workplace and in civic engagement. It’s not too much to say that the car’s freedom of mobility made an important contribution to this social change. On September 10, our curator of transportation Matt Anderson participated in a special THF Conversations for our members on “Women behind the Wheel,” taking a look at how early American carmakers marketed to women and the role the car played on the road to suffrage. (The link to this video will be available here soon, or read about the same topic here.)



We look forward to making more Old Car Festival memories soon. Until then, stay safe and have a great weekend--and if you want, explore round-ups from previous Old Car Festivals on our blog here.



Melissa Foster is Senior Manager of Public Relations at The Henry Ford.

Michigan, Dearborn, 21st century, 2020s, Old Car Festival, Greenfield Village, events, COVID 19 impact, cars, car shows, by Melissa Foster

Sometimes, the objects we find in storage surprise us.

Imagine this: the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) project team is working in the Collections Storage Building, selecting objects to be conserved as part of our grant-funded work. From the top level of pallet racking, about 15 feet above the ground, we remove some pallets of boxes and bring them down to ground level to unpack. We then climb the moveable stairs to take a peek at the area that we have exposed. The sight that greets us is confusing, but intriguing: a giant, golden-toned teapot, sitting in the center of the racking, far enough back that it was not visible from the ground. It was almost like revealing a magic lamp! We test-lifted it and realized that it was very light for its size, and must be hollow, so we carefully moved it off of the racking and to ground level


The giant teapot trade sign as we found it in the Collections Storage Building (after we had moved it down from the top shelf).

From the bracket that we found on the handle, it quickly became apparent that this was some sort of a trade sign, likely for a tea shop or coffee house. The body of the teapot occupies a space about three feet on every side – it would have been a very eye-catching sign! A little bit of research led us to some other interesting examples, including one that currently hangs above a Starbucks in Boston and is set up to blow steam out of its spout!

Our teapot has some mysteries, though – the golden paint has some texture to it, as if there were at one point a stripe along the widest part of the teapot’s body, with vertical stripes reaching from that stripe to the lid. Was the teapot originally painted a different color, or with a pattern? We did some minor tests to see if we could isolate different layers of paint, but we were not successful. We might decide in the future to do a more thorough analysis, but that would be after discussion with the curators. We also noted that our giant teapot does not have a hollow spout, and therefore, despite being hollow, probably never had the mechanism to blow steam in the same way as some others.


The giant teapot on the table in the lab - you can really get a sense of how large it is!

Ultimately, we don’t know a lot about where the giant teapot was originally used, or where it may be displayed in the future. We treated this object with nothing more than a simple cleaning – it was overall very stable to begin with, just dusty and dirty from being in storage. By minimizing treatment to the point of only stabilizing the object, we are leaving the option open for a future conservator to do more work while still ensuring that it’s going to be safe and sound in storage. It also allows us to treat more objects from storage as we progress through the grant. Maybe someday in the future we’ll see the giant teapot again, but for now it’s safe and sound in the Main Storage Building! You can check it out in our Digital Collections.

The giant teapot after treatment, ready to go back to storage.

Louise Stewart Beck is Senior Conservator at The Henry Ford.

IMLS grant, conservation, collections care, by Louise Stewart Beck, #Behind The Scenes @ The Henry Ford

Luther Burbank at His Desk, 1915 THF126963

Luther Burbank overcame nature’s limitations to create more than 800 plants the world had never seen. 

Burbank experimented with plant reproduction to change the traits of plants. He considered himself a student in “Nature's school” and a lifelong learner. Through the power of observation, Burbank overcame the limits of nature to create new varieties of plants.


Luther Burbank’s plant hybridization experiments led him to develop a plumcot: a cross between the plum and the apricot. THF275310

Luther Burbank used methods like selective breeding, cross-pollination, and hybridization in his experiments. In one famous example, he crossed a plum and an apricot to create a brand-new fruit: the plumcot. In another, he created a cactus with no spikes!

Burbank’s plant creations brought him fame. He amazed more formally trained scientists, and crowds of people showed up at his experimental gardens. The media described Burbank as a “plant wizard,” but he rejected that label. He argued that anyone could do what he did.


An interactive digital experience in Henry Ford Museum features the stories of Luther Burbank, Rachel Carson, and George Washington Carver.

Learn more about Burbank’s life and work in Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, where a new digital experience in the Agriculture & the Environment exhibit explores

• Grafting – a technique Burbank used to clone fruit varieties
• The process of creating the famous Russet Burbank potato
• Tools used by Luther Burbank in his work
• Burbank’s work tracing the origins of corn to an ancient wild grass
• Popular Burbank plant creations still sold today

Luther Burbank, technology, Henry Ford Museum, agriculture

THF127375

Rachel Carson devoted her early career to studying and writing about the ocean. During the 1950s, her poetic books about the sea brought her recognition and fame as an author.

Carson’s books helped build a new awareness about the environment. Her most important book, Silent Spring, released in 1962, asked Americans to examine the negative effects of widespread chemical pesticide use.


Rachel Carson’s 1962 book, Silent Spring, linked human action to environmental destruction and ignited a national conversation. THF110029

During World War II, a chemical called DDT protected troops by killing disease-spreading insects. After the war, numerous products containing DDT became commercially available to American consumers for pest control.

In Silent Spring, Carson urged the public to live in harmony with nature and cautioned against the overuse of DDT, which destroyed insect populations and threatened other wildlife species. America reacted. The government banned DDT in 1972. The environmental movement—sparked in part by Carson’s book—continues today.


An interactive digital experience in Henry Ford Museum features the stories of Rachel Carson, Luther Burbank, and George Washington Carver.

Learn more about Carson’s life and work in Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, where a new digital experience in the Agriculture & the Environment exhibit explores

• The post-WWII “chemical craze” that prompted Carson to act
• The long-term environmental effects of pesticide misuse
• Books and magazines from the beginning of the environmental movement
• Carson’s influence on the evolution of environmental activism
• Pesticide use today

20th century, 1970s, 1960s, 1950s, women's history, technology, Rachel Carson, nature, Henry Ford Museum, environmentalism, books

This Memorial Day weekend, bring a favorite recipe from Civil War Remembrance in Greenfield Village into your own home. Though the name of the dish is simple, the results are plentiful and could well feed an army. It’s also simple to make; the true key to this dish is cooking it over an open fire, but it can also be prepared on a kitchen stove over medium-to-high heat. Whichever method you choose, a large cast-iron skillet is essential to re-creating this dish. 

A few tips from our chefs:

• There's no wrong way to prepare this dish; add whatever herbs and spices you like.
• Always serve it family style.
• For a breakfast twist, add a fried egg.

Sausage, Apples & Potatoes
4 pounds potatoes
2 pounds smoked pork sausage (we recommend Dearborn Brand)
2 pounds apples
1 pound sweet onion
1 pound butter
2 ounces fresh garlic, grated
Salt and pepper to taste                                                                              

Boil potatoes until tender; let cool, then peel and cut into 1-inch chunks. Slice sausage into 2-inch pieces. Slice apples into ½-inch pieces. Julienne onions into ½-inch slices. Preheat a large cast-iron skillet over the campfire (or on stove). Add the butter and sausage; cook until lightly browned. Add the apple slices, onion and garlic; cook for about 5 minutes. Top with the potatoes and let cook for a few minutes before stirring. The potatoes must be cool when added. Add salt and pepper to taste and stir in. Let all cook together until everything is tender and the flavors are melded, about 10-20 minutes. Stir occasionally, but if you stir too much, it will be mushy.

events, Greenfield Village, Civil War Remembrance, recipes

21st century, 2020s, Michigan, inventors, Invention Convention Worldwide, innovation learning, events, education, childhood

Do you have a favorite dish — or dishes — from Michigan Café? With a diverse menu ranging from Falafel Dogs to Corktown Burgers, it may be hard to choose just one! If you’re in the mood for some Detroit-inspired recipes, try two of our most popular Café selections featuring unique tastes of Detroit: Vernors Ginger Soda and Better Made Potato Chips.



Vernors Cake
1 12-ounce can Vernors Ginger Ale
6 ounces unsalted butter, softened (let sit at room temperature)
1½ cups sugar
2 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1½ cups flour

Heat oven to 350 F. Empty Vernors into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce by at least half, so ginger ale is syruplike. This should yield ¼ cup of syrup for the cake batter, plus extra for brushing on top. Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Combine eggs and vanilla in a separate bowl and add slowly to the butter mixture. Combine ground ginger and flour in another bowl and add alternately to the batter with ¼ cup of Vernors syrup.

Bake in a paper loaf pan or cupcake pan with liners for 30 minutes. Yields 8 loaves.

Brush with reserved Vernors syrup while warm. Cool completely before serving. Top with vanilla icing.

Looking for more Vernors recipes? Try this 1950 recipe book from our digital collections.


Better Made Chicken Tenders (gluten free)
1 pound (about 12 pieces) chicken breast tenderloins
Salt and pepper
1½ cups gluten-free all-purpose flour
2 eggs, beaten with ¼ cup water
2 cups crushed Better Made Potato Chips

Arrange chicken tenders on a sheet pan and pat dry with paper towel. Season with salt and pepper. Place the flour, beaten eggs and chips in separate bowls. Dredge tenders individually in the flour, shaking off excess. Then dip floured tenders in egg wash and finally coat with crushed chips. (Can be made a day ahead to this point and refrigerated.)

When ready to eat, heat frying oil to 350 F. Gently place breaded tenders into oil and fry until they are golden brown and reach an internal temperature of 165 F (about 4-5 minutes).

Michigan, Detroit, Henry Ford Museum, restaurants, food, recipes

Matzoh ball soup, slices of challah, and Dr. Brown’s black cherry soda: our recreation of a post-Broadway-show meal at Junior’s in Times Square

My family and I had just returned from a week at Walt Disney World in early March, where the crowds were thick and frequent handwashing was all that was yet advised.  But two days after our return, the first two cases of COVID-19 were reported in Michigan, and things spiraled quickly after that.  On Thursday of that week, March 12, we were sent home from The Henry Ford, as the museum closed its doors to safeguard against further spread of the virus. 

Over the next few weeks, everything turned upside down, as those of us who could worked from home—connecting virtually with colleagues, carving out workspaces, and getting used to our families being around.  Beyond this, the distractions were constant.  We were shocked—sometimes even paralyzed—by the daily news of shutdowns, cancellations, and the rapid spread of the virus.  Southeast Michigan appeared to be especially hard-hit.

As was New York City—the place to which my daughter, Caroline, and I were supposed to be heading in mid-April. 

This would have been our sixth annual trip to New York City.  It started when Caroline (as the Accessibility Specialist at The Henry Ford) wanted to observe the many programs offered at museums there for the different audiences with which she works.  Having been to New York City several times myself, I offered to help her navigate the city—with the added bonuses of checking out some museums we had never been to, visiting my high-school friend in Brooklyn, and sampling the amazing food that the city has to offer—especially, for me personally, returning to my roots and getting some of the best Jewish food around.  Sure, and along the way, visiting such icons as Times Square (maybe taking in a show), Grand Central Station, and Central Park.  This time of year, the city is awash in color—blooming trees and flowers where you least expect them in a city that boasts skyscrapers so high they can completely block the sun onto entire streets.


Watching the crowds ebb and flow in a virtual scene of Grand Central Station

We planned our trip months ago and eagerly looked forward to it.  Until the COVID-19 pandemic hit.  By late March, it became apparent that our anticipated trip was not going to happen.  First, our hotel informed us that it was closing.  Then Broadway shows shut down.  We finally forced ourselves, sadly and reluctantly, to cancel our plane flight.  That was it.  Trip over.

But, then, something interesting happened.  In early April, inspired by watching a virtual reimagining of Ann Arbor’s FoolMoon event, Caroline posed the question:  Could we turn our New York City trip into a virtual experience?

Our creative juices started flowing.  We took our original itinerary and planned five days of food, video clips, and virtual museum tours to recreate a New York City trip at home.  Here are some of the highlights:

• Watching several high-energy video clips from the Broadway show "Ain't Too Proud," about the Motown group, The Temptations.

YouTube video footage of “Ain’t Too Proud”

• Taking virtual tours of museums we had planned to visit, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cloisters, and the Tenement Museum.

A virtual walkthrough of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

• "Visiting" our favorite Lower East Side shops through videos and virtual tours, including: Economy Candy (accompanied by our own homemade chocolate-covered pretzels), The Pickle Guys (while eating some great Kosher dill pickles), and Russ & Daughters (after cooking up some scrambled eggs with lox, or smoked salmon).

Our homemade chocolate-covered pretzels

• Recreating the meals we would have enjoyed at different restaurants, including baking three different kinds of bread from scratch: Jewish challah (egg bread), bialys (kind of like bagels), and Italian focaccia bread.

Our bialys just out of the oven

• Taking a virtual tour of Central Park, through videos, books, snapshots, and a walk outside.
• Having a virtual dinner and visit, via FaceTime, with my friend from Brooklyn.
• Pulling out souvenirs and postcards from previous trips to New York City and displaying them on our dining room table, which helped spur happy memories during our five-day home “adventure.” 

Our display of souvenirs and postcards

This idea kept us busy for weeks—from planning each day out to obtaining cooking ingredients, researching online offerings, preparing meals, baking, eating, visiting, and just plain enjoying family togetherness.  We’re already working on our next virtual trip—to San Francisco, another highly anticipated but cancelled trip we had planned for May. 

A recreation of our classic final meal, from Katz’s Delicatessen: a corned beef sandwich on rye with yellow mustard and a pile of Kosher dill pickles

We highly recommend this idea if you were hoping to go on a trip that got cancelled or just want to do some armchair travelling.  Just imagine what you could do if you planned a virtual visit to The Henry Ford:

• Recreate recipes for an Eagle Tavern dinner.Try these for starters: https://www.thehenryford.org/documents/default-source/default-document-library/cp_18_49200-holiday-nights-recipes-for-eagle-tavern.pdf?sfvrsn=ab223f01_0
• Watch Mo Rocca interview curators at places around Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village on episodes of The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation.You can start here, with episodes and related content:

  https://www.thehenryford.org/explore/innovation-nation/

• Take virtual tours of the museum from our web site: https://www.thehenryford.org/virtual-visit-to-henry-ford-museum/
• Look up your favorite artifacts and Village buildings on our Digital Collections:https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/
• Look at your own photos of past trips.
• Invite friends or family to a virtual meal to recall visits that you have made here together or plan to make in the future.
• Pull together a group of souvenirs from your past trips and set them up in a display.

The possibilities are endless!

Admittedly, these times are surreal.  And discouraging.  And scary.  But it helps to think creatively.  Planning this virtual trip gave us purpose, a modicum of control, and a chance to put on our creative thinking caps.  It also gave us something to look forward to and I’m sure will be something we look back on when this crisis is over. 

Donna R. Braden is Curator of Public Life at The Henry Ford.  Photographs by Caroline Braden.

Michigan, 21st century, 2020s, New York, travel, home life, COVID 19 impact, by Donna R. Braden

An early McDonald’s after the menu change and before the iconic Golden Arch redesign. THF125822

If you do an Internet search on the date and place of the first McDonald’s, chances are you’ll get 1955, Des Plaines, Illinois. But that was actually the first McDonald’s franchised by milkshake machine salesman Ray Kroc.

The first real McDonald’s was created by Richard (“Dick”) and Maurice (“Mac”) McDonald in San Bernardino, California, on May 15, 1940. Located on Route 66 and based upon a food stand opened by their father a few years earlier, Dick and Mac’s “McDonald’s Bar-B-Que” was typical of car-hop type drive-in restaurants of its day.

The big shift from a joint selling barbecue ribs, beef, and pork sandwiches on china plates to the McDonald’s we know today occurred in 1948. Dick and Mac were tired of trying to keep capable cooks and reliable carhops on staff. And the teenagers were driving them crazy—hanging out, breaking the china, and keeping other customers away. So they closed their restaurant, fired the carhops, and a few months later, introduced a whole new “Speedee Service System.” This radical new concept featured a limited menu, walk-up service, an assembly-line system of food production, and drastically reduced prices. Five years later, milkshake machine salesman Ray Kroc recognized a “golden” concept when he saw one. He franchised the concept with their name across the country, especially in the new suburban neighborhoods across the Midwest.


McDonald’s sign, 1960, in the Driving America exhibition, Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation. THF151145

Neon signs like this one, with a single “golden” arch and the logo of Speedee, the hamburger-headed chef, flashed in front of early McDonald’s franchises. The instantly recognizable design was drawn by Richard McDonald in 1952, first applied to a McDonald's restaurant in 1953, and then co-opted by Ray Kroc when he began franchising the restaurants in 1954. It became the corporate logo in 1963, after Kroc bought out the McDonald brothers in 1961. This particular sign lit up Michigan’s second McDonald’s, located in Madison Heights.

The McDonald’s innovative Speedee Service System, reduced-price menu, and recognizable Golden Arches set the standard for numerous other fast food establishments to come. During the 1970s, Happy Meals raised the bar again. McDonald’s continues to be at the forefront of new trends in the fast food industry.

Donna R. Braden is Curator of Public Life at The Henry Ford.

Additional Readings:

• 1896 Ford Quadricycle Runabout, First Car Built by Henry Ford
  
• 1937 Cord 812 Convertible
  
• Douglas Auto Theatre Sign, circa 1955
  
• Driving America

Henry Ford Museum, Driving America, Michigan, popular culture, by Donna R. Braden, food, restaurants