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Activating The Henry Ford Archive of Innovation

Just Added to Our Digital Collections: Henry Carter Johnson Glass Figures

February 24, 2015 Archive Insight

2001.130.87 (1)

Henry Carter Johnson (1908–96) created tiny glass animals and other figures in western Michigan, on and off from the 1950s through the 1990s. His business was officially called “Fine Miniatures in Glass,” but many of his young fans, who could watch him shape the glass into his creations, knew it better as “The Glass Menagerie.” If you’ve looked in the cases that line the Promenade of the Henry Ford Museum, you’ve seen some of this collection, but we’ve just digitized close to 140 of these unique and charming figurines, such as the crane shown here. If you’d like to browse the whole menagerie, including (among many others!) fish, walruses, bears, mice, and rabbits, visit our digital collections.

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

Michigan, making, glass, digital collections, by Ellice Engdahl

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