Find out how America's greatest inventor turned challenges to his advantage to cement his legacy.
THF
OnMaking
The destination for today's makers and doers to tinker, hack and invent.
Watch maker Juan Martinez share the story behind his project "The Spirit of the Animals is in the Wheels."
How a simple floppy disc became Steve Wozinak's ticket to his first-ever Consumer Electronics Show.
Hundreds of makers offer dozens of demonstrations and hands-on workshops.
Join four modern glass artists this summer in Greenfield Village as they showcase the skills and techniques that define their styles.
Join us March 18 as we welcome Kimberly Bryant, founder of Black Girls CODE to share her experience and inspiration as the first guest in our new Innovation Nation Speaker Series. Free with museum admission!
Find out how to make electronic music using items otherwise considered e-waste with "Dr." Drew Blankenstein.
Remarkable looms, like the Jacquard loom in Greenfield Village have a unique and unexpected commonality with early computers.
Advice from these innovators can teach us all invaluable lessons.
Before electricity, our massive steam engines launched the world into the Industrial Age.
Virtuoso Dorit Chrysler speaks with our Curator of Communications and Information Technology Kristen Gallerneaux about theremins, her music career and the importance of collaboration.
When an amateur radio operator detected coded messages, he invented a device to capture them, creating the earliest recordings of radio signals.
Each of these cool inventions and crazy notions solves a real-world problem.
Herbert Deutsch, a pioneer of synthesized music, explains how a basic oscillator led to the creation of the Moog synthesizer.
The earliest seeds of computer science were planted by women who really knew how to cut a rug.
Excavating Atari's fabled video game burial site proves there is purpose to preserving the recent past
Charles and Frank Duryea typified the mechanically-minded experimenters who built the first American automobiles, and their invention is now an icon for the industry it established.
A C1-10P or a BB-8? If you can imagine it, you can make it.
How did a weaving loom lead to one of the greatest technology innovations of the 21st century?
Who could have predicted the impact of the first "Star Wars" movie on popular culture?
Find out how some of the world's lowest tech keeps us connected in this segment from The Henry Ford's Innovation Nation.
Hundreds of makers offer dozens of demonstrations and hands-on workshops.
Discover how the sounding of dots and dashes, a birthdate written on paper, and words spoken by a robotic voice connect to one another.
Tinkering away on a project in your basement or garage? Bring it into the light as an exhibitor at Maker Faire® Detroit.
The Model T's distinction as a landmark car design can be traced in large part to miraculous machines like this.
Transform ideas into reality as we bring engineering to life February 18-25 with special programs and hands-on learning – plus the new film Dream Big.
Imagine the types of instruments inventive engineers developed to measure early electrical currents.
A musician or a magician? Find out how a classical pianist captivated audiences with her unusual instrument.
The idea of voting by punching holes on paper or cards originated in the 1890s but was made infamous in 2000 when "butterfly ballots" caused confusion and forced a recount.
How did a collection of century-old hand tools end up arranged, gallery-like, on our wall? Find out now in Henry Ford Museum.
Discover how to use our working 1917 lathe to make a brass candleholder to take home.
Forgo the needle and thread — all you need to make clothes from scratch is a computer and an idea.
Experience this fully operational battlebot in action at Maker Faire Detroit®.
Kristen Gallerneaux, Curator of Communications and Information Technology, reports from the field at Moogfest 2016.
From Pong to Ms. Pac-Man, early video games pushed the limits of available technology until they landed in a New Mexico landfill.
Should you power your next project with a microcontroller or single board computer?
Panelists from Detroit makerspaces discuss the material, social and spiritual architecture needed for creating.
The laboratory at Menlo Park was an invention factory turning ideas into products made from wood, wire, glass and metal. Shop a collection inspired by an icon.
The origins of Hewlett Packard’s HP-35 Scientific Calculator began with a challenge to get a forty-pound machine into a shirt pocket.
From batching to blowing, take an insider's look at the process for creating glass in Greenfield Village.
Take your big ideas to the next level and be entered to win your very own robot when you subscribe to THF OnMaking, our email newsletter for tinkerers, hackers and makers.
Our latest exhibit, House Industries: A Type of Learning, shows how hot-rodding and punk rock influences reinforced a hands-on approach to problem-solving.
Motivate your kids to be the next great innovator with hands-on activities and open play inspired by past and present-day change makers Saturdays in Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation.
What was Thomas Edison's electric company like when it was just another startup? Find out in this segment from The Henry Ford's Innovation Nation.
Take a journey of discovery with today’s engineers as they shape the world of tomorrow in the new film Dream Big: Engineering Our World. Become a member to see it free.
Learn how the Wright brothers brought an utterly original approach to the problem of human flight despite having no formal training in physics or engineering.
Use a MaKey MaKey and some basic principles of circuitry to turn any objects – including fruits and vegetables – into music that's truly bananas.
Some of Thomas Edison's most noteworthy inventions started as tiny models.
In the late 19th century, nothing signaled technical sophistication and industrial might more than steam power.
Did you miss Maker Faire® Detroit? Check out the best of science, tech and craft from this year's event.
If walls could talk, these would tell you about the first phonograph, the invention of the lightbulb and even electricity itself.
Join us at the Innovation Nation stage at Maker Faire® Detroit for talks from the makers behind Drinkable Paper, Wave Extinguisher and Chat Lite.
In 1865, the SS Great Eastern steamship began its journey to lay an underwater cable capable of transmitting Morse code across the Atlantic Ocean. Would this be the journey that wired the world?
Thomas Edison created groundbreaking inventions in his fully-equipped workshop, Menlo Park Laboratory. See it as he did, and find out how it was restored to its former glory.
Inventor-businessman Elon Musk connects innovation to exploration, examining the status quo, and not being afraid to ask “why.”
Imagine what you could create with a substance that can be rubbery, sticky or hard. If you can think it, you can make it out of polymers.
In this What If? Story, a twentysomething idealist fueled with profound originality and resourcefulness changed the world with a machine built from the cheapest parts he could find.