When Jenny Chandler photographed these Brooklyn children playing games about 1900, she also unwittingly provided us with a “cameo” image of herself. The photograph includes her shadow, slightly bent over her camera as she takes the shot. THF 38025

In 1890, 25-year-old Jenny Young Chandler suddenly found herself a widow with a two-month-old baby to provide for. This heart-rending personal loss would take her on an unexpected path--one as a photojournalist and feature writer for the New York Herald, capturing life in Brooklyn, New York and vicinity. Over the next three decades, Chandler’s sensitive, insightful photography would depict people from all walks of life and the world in which they lived--a legacy preserved in over 800 glass plate negatives.

Jenny Chandler was born in 1865 in New Jersey to William Young and Mary Lewis Young. An only child, Jenny was raised by her father and stepmother, Sarah Bennett Young. The family moved to Brooklyn, New York, when Jenny was six, so her father could work as the city editor for the New York Sun newspaper. Jenny followed the normal “career path” for a young lady at that time, marrying William G. Chandler on April 25, 1888. The groom, a neighbor, worked as a sales representative for a picture frame manufacturer. Jenny and William welcomed a son, William Young Chandler, on October 12, 1890. Two months later, Jenny’s husband died of typhoid fever. Chandler unexpectedly needed to earn a living for herself and her child.

When Jenny Chandler embarked on her career, photographs were made by lugging a heavy camera, glass plate negatives and tripod. Understanding how the photo chemicals worked and how light and camera lenses interacted proved to be an exacting task. While photography was growing in popularity as a hobby for young women whose families could afford the equipment, as a profession, it was still considered a male domain. Yet Jenny Chandler mastered the technical details of camera and chemicals, then used her sensitivity and insight as a professional photojournalist to create evocative images of the world around her.

Jenny Chandler’s photographs have an immediacy—a “you are there” quality. She had a remarkable talent for portraying on film the lives of people of diverse economic and ethnic backgrounds. Chandler captured well-off Brooklyn girls and boys playing games, the exuberance of families enjoying the beach at Coney Island, the well-mannered curiosity of students on a museum visit, young girls bent over their sewing tasks, scruffy boys hanging out at the beach, children gathering tomatoes, a fisherman mending his net, shipwrights making wooden boats, and Norwegian immigrant women laboring at their farm work.

In 1922, at the age of 56, Jenny Young Chandler died of a heart ailment. For nearly 10 years, her photographic legacy quietly remained in her Brooklyn home. The subsequent owner of the house, Betty R.K. Pierce--recognizing its importance--contacted Henry Ford hoping “to have Mrs. Chandler’s work preserved in some way.” Mrs. Pierce had read about Henry Ford’s museum and historical village, and thought the photographs particularly related to Ford’s collections. In May 1932, five large boxes containing the carefully packed 800 glass negatives were on their way to Dearborn.

The result of this donation is an amazing document of early 20^th century life.

Cynthia Read Miller, former curator, photography & prints, and Jeanine Head Miller, curator of domestic life at The Henry Ford.

Brooklyn and its environs offered Jenny Chandler a varied palette of urban and rural scenes, wealthy and impoverished people, and daily work life and leisure experiences. Below are a few selections from her remarkable collection of photographs.

Coney Island’s beaches and amusement parks offered cooling breezes and leisure opportunities to New York City area residents. THF38292

Girls learn to cook at a trade school. THF38041



Girls visit a children’s museum in Brooklyn, 1900-1910. THF38128



A family enjoys an outing in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, about 1905. THF 38192



A photograph of residents in their backyard - a rare “behind the scenes” glimpse of everyday life. THF38085



Clearing streets of snow. THF38073

“Tomboy of Darby Patch, Nellie punching bag.” In “The Patch,” a down-at-the-heels part of Brooklyn, the majority of residents were working class Irish immigrants. THF38251



A gypsy family enjoys an outdoor meal. THF241184



Boat Builders, New York, 1890-1915. THF38018



Children in front of a Gowanus Canal house, Brooklyn, New York. Gowanus Canal was a busy - and polluted - domestic shipping canal.   THF38009



Gathering radishes in Ridgewood. Ridgewood - a neighborhood that straddled the Queens/Brooklyn boundary - remained largely rural until about 1900. Buildings in the background attest to the increasing urbanization of the area. THF38392



Norwegian immigrant women laboring at their farm work, about 1900. THF38397

It was so difficult to choose only a few of Jenny Chandler’s photographs! You can enjoy hundreds more of her images in our digital collections.

20th century, 19th century, New York, communication, women's history, photography, photographs, by Jeanine Head Miller, by Cynthia Read Miller

We hope you enjoyed this week’s experiences focused on Stay Curious. Were you inspired to create or invent something? Please share your story or photos with us on social media using #WeAreInnovationNation!

If you missed anything from our series this past week, check out the recordings and resources below. We hope that you will join us this upcoming week to explore new themes drawn from our Model i Learning Framework, focusing on why innovators need to Take Risks.

What We Covered This Week
How does Staying Curious help us innovate?

STEAM Stories
Our STEAM story of the week was Green Machine: The Slightly Gross Truth about Turning Your Food Scraps into Green Energy by Rebecca Donnelly. Celebrate the innovation and science of composting in this wonderful book illustrating ways food scraps can be turned into biogas and electricity!

Then we learned about the many ways we use Wood with a lesson from  our early childhood curriculum, Innovate for Tots and a coloring page featuring the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Caboose.  Watch the video here.

Innovation Journeys Live!
On Wednesday we hope you were able to join us for an Innovation Journey Live and our new Learn by Doing component.  We learned how the McLoughlin Bros publishing firm used new color printing techniques to become a 19^th century customer favorite.  Then Alex demonstrated how you can make your own river system!  The materials and directions are included below.  Watch the video here.

Stay Curious
John McLoughlin JR.’s skillful use of new color printing techniques
Materials
- Hard flat surface that can be used with paint. For example: Upside down baking tray covered in aluminum foil
- Cardboard covered in aluminum foil
- Paper
- Paint – washable, acrylic, or watercolor
- Empty toilet paper roll
- Popsicle sticks

Make your own print studio at home!

To help you understand how John McLoughlin and other artists created print works, use household items to create your own print studio.

Directions

1. Ask your parents to help you find a paint friendly zone.
2. Put small drops of paint all over your hard, flat surface. This will be your “tile.”
3. Use the toilet paper roll to roll the paint evenly over the surface.
4. Time to get creative! Create a design using your popsicle stick. Scrape away the paint to create pictures or words.
5. Carefully set the paper on your design.
6. Smooth and press your paper gently onto the tile.
7. Slowly lift your paper up to see your design.
8. Repeat!

Resource Highlight: Model i Primer+
In our continued efforts to help parents, students and educators during these times of uncertainty, The Henry Ford is providing helpful tips that assist parents in adapting its educational tools for implementation at home. 

This week we are highlighting theModel i Primer+ .

The five lesson plans from our Model i Primer+, named after the Actions of Innovation, are designed as opportunities for students to practice the Actions and Habits introduced in the Primer. Each lesson includes age-appropriate versions for grades 2-5, 6-8, and 9-12. 

Check out the activities and share your experience and follow others as they engage in our digital learning opportunities using the hashtag #WeAreInnovationNation. 

Parents and educators can learn more about Model i at:   https://www.thehenryford.org/education/teaching-innovation/modeli/

Thank you for engaging with our Innovation Learning Series these past weeks. We hope you have enjoyed them. STEAM Stories will continue through July.

Join our You Are Innovation Nation Summer Challenge Event. Team up with the rest of your family to tackle a series of hands-on, brains-on weekly challenges from the inspired minds and experts at The Henry Ford. Submit your solution for a weekly chance to win prizes. Sign up here.  We hope you will enjoy these new activities!

Model i, innovation learning, educational resources

We hope you enjoyed this week’s experiences focused on Be Empathetic. Were you inspired to create or invent something? Please share your story or photos with us on social media using #WeAreInnovationNation!

If you missed anything from our series this past week, check out the recordings and resources below. We hope that you will join us this upcoming week to explore new themes drawn from our Model i Learning Framework, focusing on why innovators need to Stay Curious.

What We Covered This Week
Why is it important to consider other's feelings?

STEAM Stories
Our STEAM story of the week was Cara’s Kindness by Kristi Yamaguchi, Olympic Gold Medalist and World Champion in Figure Skating. Kristi founded the Always Dream Foundation and helps promote early childhood literacy.  In this, her newest picture book, Cara the cat is having a hard time choosing the perfect music for her new skating routine but drops everything to help a friend in need. All Cara asks is that he pay it forward.

Then we learned about the many ways we combine Paper and Natural Materials with a lesson from  our early childhood curriculum, Innovate for Tots and a coloring page featuring Edison’s Bamboo Filament Lamp.  Watch the video here.

Innovation Journeys Live!

On Wednesday we hope you were able to join us for an Innovation Journey Live and our new Learn by Doing component.  Curator of Agriculture and the Environment at The Henry Ford, Deb Reid, shared the story of reclaiming the Rouge River after decades of pollution and how the Ford Rouge Dearborn Plant is caring for the environment in new and innovative ways.   Then Alex demonstrated how you can make your own river system!  The materials and directions are included below.  Watch the video here.

Be Empathetic: Caring for the Environment at The Ford Rouge
Materials

• Rectangular baking pan
• Wedge-type object to prop up one side of the pan
• Dirt or sand
• Plastic toys, sticks, grass, leaves that you have at home
• Water
• Cup

Build your own river system!
To help you understand how humans changed the shape of the Rouge River and how these shifts impacted the environment around the Rouge, use household materials to create your own mini-river system. Take it a step further by drawing a map of your river.

Directions

1. Fill a baking pan with dirt or sand.
2. Use your hands to cut (or dredge) a path through the dirt. Make sure to start at one end of the pan and end at the other.
3. Use your wedge object to prop up one side of your pan. Only about an inch.
4. Place toys (leaves, pieces of grass, etc.) along the sides of your path – these are your houses, buildings or crops.
5. Fill a cup with water. Slowly pour the water onto the start of your river. Watch as the water flows.
   1. Where does the water go?
   2. Why do you think the water went that direction?
   3. Did some of your houses flood?
   4. Were your crops washed away?
   5. What can you do the prevent the flooding?
6. After making some observations, “dredge” a new path for your river. Try again!
7. Once you have made your river, draw a map!

For next week’s challenge, here are the materials you will need and the directions (watch Alex on Wednesday to help you complete the challenge!!)

Stay Curious
John McLoughlin JR.’s skillful use of new color printing techniques

Materials

• Hard flat surface that can be used with paint. For example:
  • Upside down baking tray covered in aluminum foil
  • Cardboard covered in aluminum foil
• Paper
• Paint – washable, acrylic, or watercolor
• Empty toilet paper roll
• Popsicle sticks

Make your own print studio at home!
To help you understand how John McLoughlin and other artists created print works, use household items to create your own print studio.

Directions

1. Ask your parents to help you find a paint friendly zone.
2. Put small drops of paint all over your hard, flat surface. This will be your “tile.”
3. Use the toilet paper roll to roll the paint evenly over the surface.
4. Time to get creative! Create a design using your popsicle stick. Scrape away the paint to create pictures or words.
5. Carefully set the paper on your design.
6. Smooth and press your paper gently onto the tile.
7. Slowly lift your paper up to see your design.
8. Repeat!

Resource Highlight: Model i Primer+
In our continued efforts to help parents, students and educators during these times of uncertainty, The Henry Ford is providing helpful tips that assist parents in adapting its educational tools for implementation at home.

This week we are highlighting a lesson from theModel i Primer+ .

The five lesson plans from our Model i Primer+, named after the Actions of Innovation, are designed as opportunities for students to practice the Actions and Habits introduced in the Primer. Each lesson includes age-appropriate versions for grades 2-5, 6-8, and 9-12.  In keeping with this week’s theme of Be Empathetic, focus on the Define: Achieving Clarity activity, found here.

Check out the activities for Define: Achieving Clarity and share your experience and follow others as they engage in our digital learning opportunities using the hashtag #WeAreInnovationNation.

Parents and educators can learn more about Model i at:   https://www.thehenryford.org/education/teaching-innovation/modeli/

 

 

 

Model i, innovation learning, educational resources

Introducing a New Learn by Doing Component

In our continued efforts to help parents, students and educators, The Henry Ford is providing helpful tips that assist parents in adapting its educational tools for implementation at home and this week we are introducing a Learn by Doing component for our Wednesday Innovation Journey Live! 

We’ve been sharing the habits of an innovator from our Model i learning framework for the last few weeks and this week our focus is on how innovators must be empathetic.  This Wednesday we will be learning about Caring for the Environment at the Ford Rouge Plant with The Henry Ford’s Curator of Agriculture and the Environment, Deb Reid. 

Jessica Stock and Deb Reid will share the Innovation Journey of the Rouge with you and Alex Cavinee will share this Learn by Doing activity. The necessary materials and directions are included here so you can be prepared to join Alex and build your own river system!

Be Empathetic: Caring for the Environment at The Ford Rouge

Materials

• Rectangular baking pan
• Wedge-type object to prop up one side of the pan
• Dirt or sand
• Plastic toys, sticks, grass, leaves that you have at home
• Water
• Cup

Build your own river system!
To help you understand how humans changed the shape of the Rouge River and how these shifts impacted the environment around the Rouge, use household materials to create your own mini-river system. Take it a step further by drawing a map of your river.

Directions

1. Fill a baking pan with dirt or sand.
2. Use your hands to cut (or dredge) a path through the dirt. Make sure to start at one end of the pan and end at the other.
3. Use your wedge object to prop up one side of your pan. Only about an inch.
4. Place toys (leaves, pieces of grass, etc.) along the sides of your path – these are your houses, buildings or crops.
5. Fill a cup with water. Slowly pour the water onto the start of your river. Watch as the water flows.
   1. Where does the water go?
   2. Why do you think the water went that direction?
   3. Did some of your houses flood?
   4. Were your crops washed away?
   5. What can you do the prevent the flooding?
6. After making some observations, “dredge” a new path for your river. Try again!
7. Once you have made your river, draw a map!

We hope you join us this Wednesday.

Model i, educational resources, innovation learning

June 1955 magazine advertisement for the release of Lady and the Tramp. THF145583

Although this animated feature film received mixed reviews when it was first released on June 22, 1955, Walt Disney’s Lady and the Tramp has since become a classic.  It is beloved for its songs, its story, its gorgeously rendered and meticulously detailed settings, and its universal themes of love and acceptance—not to mention that scene with the spaghetti!  Numerous story artists and animators contributed their talents to creating this film, but it would take years before Walt Disney would finally give it his nod of approval. 

Unlike other Disney animated films of the time, Lady and the Tramp is not based upon a venerable old fairy tale or a previously published book.  Its origins can be traced back to 1937, when Disney story artist Joe Grant showed Walt Disney some sketches and told him of his idea for a story based upon the antics of his own English Springer Spaniel named Lady, who was “shoved aside” when the family’s new baby arrived.  Walt encouraged Grant to develop the story but was unhappy with the outcome—feeling that Lady seemed too sweet and that the story didn’t have enough action.  For the next several years, Grant and other artists worked on a variety of conceptual sketches and many different approaches. 

In 1945, the storyline took a drastic turn, which ultimately led to its final film version.  That year, Walt Disney read a magazine short story called, “Happy Dan, the Cynical Dog.”  Here, in the story of a cynical, devil-may-care dog, Walt found the perfect foil for the prim and proper Lady.  By 1953, the film had evolved to the point that Walt asked Ward Greene, the short story’s author, to write a novelization of it.  It is Greene—not Joe Grant—who received credit in the final film.  Walt couldn’t resist adding a personal tidbit to the story.  According to his telling of the story, the opening scene came from his own experience of giving his wife a puppy as a gift in a hat box to make up for having forgotten a dinner date with her. 

Interestingly, the spaghetti-eating scene was almost cut, as Walt Disney initially thought it was silly and unromantic.  But animator Frank Thomas had such a strong vision for the scene that he completed all the animation for it before showing it to Walt, who was so impressed he agreed to keep in the now-iconic scene.

1955 charm bracelet of the dogs in Lady and the Tramp, likely a souvenir obtained at Disneyland. THF8604

Since the dogs were the main characters of the film, it seemed only natural to both show and tell the story from the dogs’ point of view.  The animators studied many real dogs to capture their movements, behaviors, and personalities, while the scenes themselves were shot from a low “dog’s-eye-view” perspective.

A depiction of Main Street, U.S.A. at Disneyland from the 1955 Picture Souvenir Book to the park. THF205154

The film’s setting—early 20^th century small-town America—referenced Walt Disney’s own return to his roots, particularly his growing up in the small town of Marceline, Missouri.  As the setting was coming to life on film, a real live 3D version of it was being constructed at Disneyland, Walt Disney’s new park in Anaheim, California.  Disneyland opened a mere three weeks after the film was released.

Although the setting hearkened back to the past, the filmmaking technique that Walt chose was typically state-of-the-art.  As Walt marked the growing interest in widescreen film technology, he decided this would be the first of his animated films to use CinemaScope.  To fill in the extra-wide space of this format, the animators extended the backgrounds—resulting in settings that are unusually breathtaking, detailed, mood-setting and, when the story called for it, filled with dramatic tension.  Unfortunately, many theatres were not equipped with CinemaScope, so Walt decided that two versions of the film had to be created, forcing layout artists to scramble to restructure key scenes for a standard format as well.  CinemaScope ultimately proved too expensive and did not last past the early 1960s.  But its influence on Lady and the Tramp lives on—a testament to Walt’s commitment to filmmaking innovation.


Although souvenirs related to Lady and the Tramp are hard to come by these days, I was thrilled to find these salt-and-pepper shakers and collectible pins over several visits to Walt Disney World.

I saw Lady and the Tramp when it was re-released in theatres in 1962.  I was nine years old at the time and I was completely enraptured.  The details and setting—from the frilly ladies’ dresses, dapper men’s suits, and overstuffed furniture inside Lady’s house to the horses’ clip-clopping down the cobblestone streets—seemed like old photographs come to life.  Taking in these details on the big screen as a girl, I was transfixed.  Is this where my interest in history began?

After seeing Lady and the Tramp at the movies, I also became obsessed with wanting a dog.  Not just any dog.  I wanted Lady, or a cocker spaniel as close to Lady as I could get.  I dreamed of her, drew pictures of her, transferred her personality onto the stuffed dogs I inevitably got as presents.  When I was in eighth grade, my parents finally relented.  One day my Mom surprised us and took us kids down to the animal shelter to get a dog.  It wasn’t a cocker spaniel.  But we did find a little golden-haired puppy that was a fine substitute. 

I don’t know that I thought much of Tramp when I was a girl.  He was wayward, a nuisance, too different.  But from my older perspective, I see that Lady meeting, and ultimately falling for, Tramp was really a symbol of what happens in your life.  Forced out of your comfort zone, broadening your horizons, seeing things from new perspectives, taking life’s curves with grace until, rather than resisting it, you accept it—even embrace it. 

Who knew, when I was a girl, that this movie was not just about dogs but about life? 

Note: The complete story of the making of Lady and the Tramp, including Joe Grant’s contributions, can be found in the bonus feature, “Lady’s Pedigree: The Making of Lady and the Tramp,” in the 50^th Anniversary DVD of Lady and the Tramp.

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

by Donna R. Braden, popular culture, movies, Disney

The Henry Ford’s Model i learning framework identifies collaboration as a key habit of an innovator. When considering inspirational collaborators from our collection, Charles and Ray Eames immediately came to mind. So, as part of The Henry Ford’s Twitter Curator Chat series, I spent the afternoon of June 18th sharing how collaboration played an important role in Charles and Ray Eames’ design practice.  Below are some of the highlights I shared.

First things first, Charles and Ray Eames were a husband-and-wife design duo—not brothers or cousins, as some think! Although Charles often received the lion’s share of credit, Charles and Ray were truly equal partners and co-designers. Charles explains, "whatever I can do, she can do better... She is equally responsible with me for everything that goes on here."


THF252258 / Advertising Poster for the Exhibit, "Connections: The Work of Charles and Ray Eames," 1976

So when you see early advertisements that don’t mention Ray Eames as designer alongside Charles, know that she was equally responsible for the work. Here’s one such advertisement from 1947.


THF266928 / Herman Miller Advertisement, June 30, 1947, "Now Available! The Charles Eames Collection...."

And here’s another from 1952. I could go on, but I think you get the point!


THF66372 / Wood, Plastic, Wire Chairs & Tables Designed by Charles Eames, circa 1952

For more on Ray’s background and vital role in the Eames Office, check out this article from the New York Times, as part of their recently-debuted “Mrs. Files” series.

Charles and Ray Eames were experimenting with plywood when America entered World War II. A friend from the Army Medical Corps thought their molded plywood concept could be useful for the war effort—specifically for a new splint for broken limbs. Metal splints then in use were heavy and inflexible. Charles and Ray created a molded plywood version and sent a prototype to the U.S. Navy. They worked together and created a workable—and beautiful—solution for the military.


THF65726 / Eames Molded Plywood Leg Splint, circa 1943

Out of these molded plywood experiments and products came the iconic chairs we know and love, like this lounge chair.


THF16299 / Molded Plywood Lounge Chair, 1942-1962

But Charles and Ray Eames wanted to make an affordable, complex-curved chair out of a single shell. The molded plywood checked some of their boxes, but the seat was not a single piece—not a single shell. They turned to other materials.

Around 1949, Charles brought a mock-up of a chair to John Wills, a boat builder and fiberglass fabricator, who created two identical prototypes. This is one of those prototypes—it lingered in Will's workshop, used for over four decades as a utility stool. The other became the basis for the Eames’ single-shell fiberglass chair.


THF134574 / Prototype Eames Fiberglass Chair, circa 1949

Charles and Ray recognized when their expertise fell short and found people in other fields to help them solve design problems. Their single-shell fiberglass chairs became a rounding success. Have you ever sat in one of them?


THF126897 / Advertising Postcard, "Herman Miller Furniture is Often Shortstopped on Its Way to the Destination...," 1955-1960

If you’ve been to the museum in the past few years, you’ve surely spent some time in another Eames project, the Mathematica: A World of Numbers…and Beyond exhibit. This too was a project full of collaborative spirit!

While those of us not mathematically inclined might have a hard time finding math fun, mathematicians truly think their craft is fun. Charles and Ray worked with these mathematicians to develop an interactive math exhibit that is playful.


THF169792 / Quotation Sign from Mathematica: A World of Numbers and Beyond Exhibition, 1960-1961

Charles Eames said of science and play, “When we go from one extreme to another, play or playthings can form a transition or sort of decompression chamber – you need it to change intellectual levels without getting a stomachache."


THF169740 / "Multiplication Cube" from Mathematica: A World of Numbers and Beyond Exhibition, 1960-1961

Charles and Ray Eames sought out expertise in others and worked together, understanding that everyone can bring something valuable to the table. This collaborative spirit allowed them to design deep and wide—solving in-depth problems across a multitude of fields.

Katherine White is Associate Curator, Digital Content, at The Henry Ford. For a deeper dive into this story, please check out her long-form article, “What If Collaboration is Design?”

 

Eames, women's history, Model i, Herman Miller, furnishings, design, by Katherine White, #THFCuratorChat

Model i, educational resources, innovation learning

The 1953 Ford Sunliner, Official Pace Car of the 1953 Indianapolis 500. (THF87498)

As America’s longest-running automobile race, it’s not surprising that the Indianapolis 500 is steeped in special traditions. Whether it’s the wistful singing of “Back Home Again in Indiana” before the green flag, or the celebratory Victory Lane milk toast – which is anything but milquetoast – Indy is full of distinctive rituals that make the race unique. One of those long-standing traditions is the pace car, a fixture since the very first Indy 500 in 1911.

This is no mere ceremonial role. The pace car is a working vehicle that leads the grid into the start of the race, and then comes back out during caution laps to keep the field moving in an orderly fashion. Traditionally, the pace car’s make has varied from year to year, though it is invariably an American brand. Indiana manufacturers like Stutz, Marmon, and Studebaker showed up frequently, but badges from the Detroit Three – Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors – have dominated. In more recent years, Chevrolet has been the provider of choice, with every pace car since 2002 being either a Corvette or a Camaro. Since 1936, the race’s winning driver has received a copy of pace car as a part of the prize package.


Amelia Earhart rides in the pace car, a 1935 Ford V-8, at the 1935 Indianapolis 500. (THF256052)

Likewise, honorary pace car drivers have changed over time. The first decades often featured industry leaders like Carl Fisher (founder of Indianapolis Motor Speedway), Harry Stutz, and Edsel Ford. Starting in the 1970s, celebrities like James Garner, Jay Leno, and Morgan Freeman appeared. Racing drivers have always been in the mix, with everyone from Barney Oldfield to Jackie Stewart to Jeff Gordon having served in the role. (The “fastest” pace car driver was probably Charles Yeager, who drove in 1986 – 39 years after he broke the sound barrier in the rocket-powered airplane Glamorous Glennis.)

Ford was given pace car honors for 1953. It was a big year for the company – half a century had passed since Henry Ford and his primary shareholders signed the articles of association establishing Ford Motor Company in 1903. The firm celebrated its golden anniversary in several ways. It commissioned Norman Rockwell to create artwork for a special calendar. It built a high-tech concept car said to contain more than 50 automotive innovations. And it gave every vehicle it built that year a commemorative steering wheel badge that read “50^th Anniversary 1903-1953.”


Henry Ford’s 1902 “999” race car poses with the 1953 Ford Sunliner pace car on Ford’s Dearborn test track. (Note the familiar clocktower at upper right!) (THF130893)

For its star turn at Indianapolis, Ford provided a Sunliner model to fulfill the pace car’s duties. The two-door Sunliner convertible was a part of Ford’s Crestline series – its top trim level for the 1953 model year. Crestline cars featured chrome window moldings, sun visors, and armrests. Unlike the entry-level Mainline or mid-priced Customline series, which were available with either Ford’s inline 6 or V-8 engines, Crestline cars came only with the 239 cubic inch, 110 horsepower V-8. Additionally, Crestline was the only one of the three series to include a convertible body style.


William Clay Ford at the tiller of “999” at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (THF130906)

Ford actually sent two cars to Indianapolis for the big race. In addition to the pace car, Henry Ford’s 1902 race car “999” was pulled from exhibit at Henry Ford Museum to participate in the festivities. True, “999” never competed at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But its best-known driver, Barney Oldfield, drove twice in the Indy 500, finishing in fifth place both in 1914 and 1916. Fittingly, Indy officials gave William Clay Ford the honor of driving the pace car. Mr. Ford, the youngest of Henry Ford’s grandchildren, didn’t stop there. He also personally piloted “999” in demonstrations prior to the race.

As for the race itself? The 1953 Indianapolis 500 was a hot one – literally. Temperatures were well over 90° F on race day, and hotter still on the mostly asphalt track. Many drivers actually called in relief drivers for a portion of the race. After 3 hours and 53 minutes of sweltering competition, the victory went to Bill Vukovich – who drove all 200 laps himself – with an average race speed of 127.740 mph. It was the first of two consecutive Indy 500 wins for Vukovich. Sadly, Vukovich was killed in a crash during the 1955 race.


Another view of the 1953 Ford Sunliner pace car. (THF87499)

Following the 1953 race and its associated ceremonies, Ford Motor Company gifted the original race-used pace car to The Henry Ford, where it remains today. Ford Motor also produced some 2,000 replicas for sale to the public. Each replica included the same features (Ford-O-Matic transmission, power steering, Continental spare tire kit), paint (Sungate Ivory), and lettering as the original. Reportedly, it was the first time a manufacturer offered pace car copies for purchase by the general public – something that is now a well-established tradition in its own right.

Sure, the Sunliner pace car is easy to overlook next to legendary race cars like “Old 16,” the Lotus-Ford, or – indeed – the “999,” but it’s a special link to America’s most important auto race, and it’s a noteworthy part of the auto racing collection at The Henry Ford.

Matt Anderson is Curator of Transportation at The Henry Ford.

Indiana, 20th century, 1950s, racing, race cars, Indy 500, Ford Motor Company, convertibles, cars, by Matt Anderson

We hope you enjoyed this week’s experiences focused on Challenge the Rules. Were you inspired to create or invent something? Please share your story or photos with us on social media using #WeAreInnovationNation!  

If you missed anything from our series this past week, check out the recordings and resources below. We hope that you will join us this upcoming week to explore new themes drawn from our Model i Learning Framework, focusing on how innovators Collaborate . 

What We Covered This Week 
How can we challenge the way things are done to innovate? 

STEAM Stories 
Our STEAM story of the week was The Girl Who Ran: Bobbi Gibb, the First Woman to Run the Boston Marathon by Kristina Yee and Frances Poletti.  Bobbi wanted to run in the Boston Marathon but was told she couldn’t. She was told girls can’t run, especially in marathons, but Bobbi didn’t think that was fair. How did she Challenge the Rules to achiever her dream?   

Then we learned about the many ways we use fabric with a lesson from our early childhood curriculum, Innovate for Tots and a coloring page featuring the Hanks Silk Mill.  Watch the video here. 

Innovation Journeys Live!
On Wednesday we hope you were able to join us for an Innovation Journey Live and learn the connection between Women, Weaving and Technology with The Henry Ford’s Curator of Communications and Information Technology, Kristen Gallerneaux. Learn more about the role of women and punch card looms in the development of computer technology. Watch the video here. 

Kid Inventor
In our Friday segment we learned how 10th graders Bridgette Castronovo and Taylor McNeal from Kennesaw, Georgia, collaborated to create a Biodegradable Straw. As an alternative to polymer and paper straws, the team created a biodegradable straw by extracting cellulose pulp from corn husks to form a base and coating the base in a chitosan solution. Three different solutions and variations of blending times were tested to determine the best case for straw durability. Bridgette and Taylor were First-Place High School Division Winners at the K12 InVenture Prize Invention Convention.  Watch video here. 

Learn more below about how our Innovate Curricular activities can keep your child innovating here.

Resource Highlight: Model i Primer+, Invention Convention Curriculum
In our continued efforts to help parents, students and educators during these times of uncertainty, The Henry Ford is providing helpful tips that assist parents in adapting its educational tools for implementation at home.  

This week we are highlighting lessons from both the Model i Primer+ and Invention Convention Curriculum:

The five lesson plans from our  Model i Primer+, named after the Actions of Innovation, are designed as opportunities for students to practice the Actions and Habits introduced in the Primer. Each lesson includes age-appropriate versions for grades 2-5, 6-8, and 9-12. In keeping with this week’s theme of Collaborate, focus on the Uncover lesson. All you need for the lesson is a computer to access any historical photograph, such as those available on The Henry Ford website under Digital Collections.  

Check out the activities for Uncover and share your experience and follow others as they engage in our digital learning opportunities using the hashtag #WeAreInnovationNation.  

You can learn more about our Invention Convention Curriculum, just click on the link.  Invention Convention is a program open to students in grades K-12. The lessons teach students skills that will give young innovators the chance to design, build, and pitch an original invention to their peers and judges. Competitions are held at local or regional levels and those qualifying move on to state competition. State qualifiers can then compete at the Invention Convention U.S. Nationals held here at The Henry Ford. This week we focused on the Scamper activity.

Parents and educators can learn more about Model i at:   https://www.thehenryford.org/education/teaching-innovation/modeli/ 

educational resources, innovation learning, Model i

In an ironic twist, one of the artifacts we were able to digitize remotely during the pandemic is this roll of toilet paper, on exhibit in Your Place in Time in Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation.

If you’ve visited our Digital Collections lately, you may have noticed they now feature more than 95,000 digitized artifacts. We’ve previously written about the process we use to digitize artifacts—as you might suspect, it involves lots of close physical contact with other human beings and with the artifacts themselves. Right now, during the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, this is not possible: some of our digitization colleagues whose work requires campus access are on temporary unpaid leave, and others whose work is more computer-based continue working from our basements, dining rooms, and dens.

Still, between March 14 and May 22, we added almost 3,300 new artifacts to our Digital Collections—all in the 10 weeks since decamping from our offices. But how can we continue to add new items to our Digital Collections without access to the actual collections themselves?


Hallmark ""Owliday" Wish" Christmas Ornament, one of more than 700 Hallmark ornaments added to our Digital Collections during our remote work.

A lot of the answer is infrastructure. We’ve been digitizing our collections in a consistent way for almost a decade now, and over those years have built out a robust system to support adding hundreds of new items to our Digital Collections every day. Our collections database is available to us from home, and we have automated processes in place to pick up new items daily. We can do research on items, and add this information to our database, from home. But what about the images?


A very modern-looking textile from a 1900-1901 sample book, digitized during the COVID-19 pandemic.

When we left campus, there were many objects we’d imaged in the last few months for ongoing projects that hadn’t yet been put online. We are continuing to work through this backlog, adding the images to our collections database and updating our cataloging so they can be reviewed and flagged for online use. Some notable additions in this category since mid-March are more than 700 Hallmark ornaments from the sizeable collection we acquired last year, nearly 200 items digitized through the William Davidson Foundation Initiative for Entrepreneurship (including trade cards and textile sample books), and more than 150 artifacts digitized through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

In addition, we have a number of collections that were already in digital format, whether natively or digitized by the collector, when they came to us. A sizeable example is the Dave Friedman Collection, which was partially scanned by Dave Friedman before being donated to us. There are now more than more than 32,000 auto racing photographs and documents from the Friedman collection in our Digital Collections—including the more than 1,000 we’ve added remotely.


One of the many Dave Friedman Collection auto racing images we've added to our Digital Collections during the pandemic. This one shows the Chevrolet Corvette C1 driven by Dave MacDonald in the Production Sports Car Race before the 4th Annual Grand Prix for Sports Cars in Riverside, California, in 1961.

We also are lucky, as an institution in its 91^st year of existence, to have a sizeable backlog of older images that are often quite acceptable (or can be made acceptable, by some strategic Photoshop work) for online access. We always prefer to get a new image of an artifact when possible—but during the pandemic, that has not been possible. So we’re combing through the existing images we have, whether those are scans of old black-and-white images from our first few decades, 20^th century slides that were scanned later on, or images taken on 35mm film that have been transferred to digital format.

In this last category, artifacts with legacy images, to date we’ve had a couple of top priorities: 1) artifacts being utilized for our extensive series of online content and programming, and 2) artifacts that are on display in Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation—since you can’t see these in person right now, you’ll at least be able to see them digitally! Since we left campus, we’ve added nearly 200 objects on exhibit in Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation to our Digital Collections, bringing the total number of artifacts on exhibit in the museum that you can also see in our Digital Collections to more than 2,300—check them all out here. The recently added artifacts are mostly in Your Place in Time and Made in America, ranging from a Coty face powder box to an eight-track tape of Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life. Next, we plan to tackle some of the many artifacts on exhibit in Greenfield Village, as well as items brought into our collection in the last couple of decades.


Weaving You Can Wear, one of many books in Your Place in Time digitized recently from existing images.

Across all these categories, there are thousands of artifacts we can add to our Digital Collections without access to our collections—and we will continue working through them until we can safely return to The Henry Ford’s campus and are back up to full capacity. In the meantime, we invite you to dig into our Digital Collections to revisit your old favorites and maybe turn up some new surprises.

If you aren’t sure where to start, you might check out some Expert Sets we recently completed. Our curators selected artifact highlights from our collection in a number of focus areas, namely:

• Agriculture and the Environment
• Communications and Information Technology
• Design and Making
• Mobility
• Social Transformation
• America's Industrial Revolution
• Henry Ford

You can also find all of these sets, plus a search box and other ways to jump into the collection, on our Digital Collections homepage. Happy browsing!

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

21st century, digitization, digital collections, COVID 19 impact, by Ellice Engdahl, #Behind The Scenes @ The Henry Ford