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- Unimproved Kitchen of Employee's Home, Ford Sociological Department, circa 1914 - Ford Motor Company established its Sociological Department in 1914. The department established rules and conditions that Ford employees had to meet to qualify for the company's Five Dollar Day pay rate. Department officials monitored employees both at work and at home. This photograph documented what the department considered to be undesirable living conditions at an employee's house.
- 1913-1914
- Collections - Artifact
Unimproved Kitchen of Employee's Home, Ford Sociological Department, circa 1914
Ford Motor Company established its Sociological Department in 1914. The department established rules and conditions that Ford employees had to meet to qualify for the company's Five Dollar Day pay rate. Department officials monitored employees both at work and at home. This photograph documented what the department considered to be undesirable living conditions at an employee's house.
- Report on the Ford Motor Company Inkster Rehabilitation Project, 1931-1941, "Village of Inkster - Welfare" - During the Great Depression, Ford Motor Company made efforts to improve living conditions in Inkster, Michigan, a primarily Black community hit especially hard by the economic crisis. Ford repaired homes, paved streets, established a medical clinic, and opened a low-price commissary. Improvements were funded through involuntary paycheck deductions from Inkster residents employed at Ford's nearby Rouge plant.
- January 01, 1945
- Collections - Artifact
Report on the Ford Motor Company Inkster Rehabilitation Project, 1931-1941, "Village of Inkster - Welfare"
During the Great Depression, Ford Motor Company made efforts to improve living conditions in Inkster, Michigan, a primarily Black community hit especially hard by the economic crisis. Ford repaired homes, paved streets, established a medical clinic, and opened a low-price commissary. Improvements were funded through involuntary paycheck deductions from Inkster residents employed at Ford's nearby Rouge plant.
- Manual of Procedures, Sociological Section, Ford Motor Company, circa 1946 - Employees of Ford Motor Company's Sociological Department made unannounced visits to evaluate the cleanliness and safety of an employee's household. An investigator would use a form, like the one found within this manual pictured here, to record how workers spent their money, if they sent their children to school, and ensure that they lived as organized, law-abiding American citizens.
- circa 1946
- Collections - Artifact
Manual of Procedures, Sociological Section, Ford Motor Company, circa 1946
Employees of Ford Motor Company's Sociological Department made unannounced visits to evaluate the cleanliness and safety of an employee's household. An investigator would use a form, like the one found within this manual pictured here, to record how workers spent their money, if they sent their children to school, and ensure that they lived as organized, law-abiding American citizens.
- "Neighborhood Conditions of Employees, According to Nationality, as of January 12th, 1917" - This document is from the publication "Educational Statistics Home Plant, as of January 12th, 1917." It was produced by the Ford Motor Company Sociological (or Educational) Department, and it rates employees' neighborhoods, organized by nationality. The department was created to ensure that employees used their $5 per day wages wisely -- for instance, to escape cheap, ramshackle tenement houses crowded with boarders.
- January 12, 1917
- Collections - Artifact
"Neighborhood Conditions of Employees, According to Nationality, as of January 12th, 1917"
This document is from the publication "Educational Statistics Home Plant, as of January 12th, 1917." It was produced by the Ford Motor Company Sociological (or Educational) Department, and it rates employees' neighborhoods, organized by nationality. The department was created to ensure that employees used their $5 per day wages wisely -- for instance, to escape cheap, ramshackle tenement houses crowded with boarders.
- Undesirable Home Surroundings Found on First Investigation, Ford Sociological Department, 1914-1915 - Ford Motor Company established its Sociological Department in 1914. The department established rules and conditions that Ford employees had to meet to qualify for the company's Five Dollar Day pay rate. Department officials monitored employees both at work and at home. This photograph documented what the department considered to be undesirable living conditions at an employee's house.
- 1914-1915
- Collections - Artifact
Undesirable Home Surroundings Found on First Investigation, Ford Sociological Department, 1914-1915
Ford Motor Company established its Sociological Department in 1914. The department established rules and conditions that Ford employees had to meet to qualify for the company's Five Dollar Day pay rate. Department officials monitored employees both at work and at home. This photograph documented what the department considered to be undesirable living conditions at an employee's house.
- Undesirable Employee Home Conditions, Ford Sociological Department, circa 1914 - Ford Motor Company established its Sociological Department in 1914. The department established rules and conditions that Ford employees had to meet to qualify for the company's Five Dollar Day pay rate. Department officials monitored employees both at work and at home. This photograph documented what the department considered to be undesirable living conditions at an employee's house.
- circa 1914
- Collections - Artifact
Undesirable Employee Home Conditions, Ford Sociological Department, circa 1914
Ford Motor Company established its Sociological Department in 1914. The department established rules and conditions that Ford employees had to meet to qualify for the company's Five Dollar Day pay rate. Department officials monitored employees both at work and at home. This photograph documented what the department considered to be undesirable living conditions at an employee's house.
- Village of Inkster Welfare Provision Report, circa 1936 - During the Great Depression, Ford Motor Company made efforts to improve living conditions in Inkster, Michigan, a primarily Black community hit especially hard by the economic crisis. Ford repaired homes, paved streets, established a medical clinic, and opened a low-price commissary. Improvements were funded through involuntary paycheck deductions from Inkster residents employed at Ford's nearby Rouge plant.
- circa 1936
- Collections - Artifact
Village of Inkster Welfare Provision Report, circa 1936
During the Great Depression, Ford Motor Company made efforts to improve living conditions in Inkster, Michigan, a primarily Black community hit especially hard by the economic crisis. Ford repaired homes, paved streets, established a medical clinic, and opened a low-price commissary. Improvements were funded through involuntary paycheck deductions from Inkster residents employed at Ford's nearby Rouge plant.
- Checking on Ford Employees Home Conditions, Views from "Factory Facts From Ford," 1917 - Beyond revolutionizing America's industrial production, Henry Ford and other managers at Ford Motor Company instituted a wide-reaching corporate welfare program that opened up the most intimate and personal details of employee's personal, family, and financial life to investigators from the Sociological Department. After the announcement of the $5 per day profit sharing plan in January 1914, Henry Ford wanted to ensure that employees, many of whom were non-English speaking immigrants, did not squander the funds. To this end, the Ford Sociological Department was created to investigate and monitor the personal and work lives of employees to the extent that investigators (later called Advisors) conducted home visits, checked bank deposits, and monitored children's school attendance as well as divorce filings. In addition, the Sociological Department advisors provided hygiene instruction, financial and legal advice, and worked with the English School to teach Ford's immigrant workers English.
- 1917
- Collections - Artifact
Checking on Ford Employees Home Conditions, Views from "Factory Facts From Ford," 1917
Beyond revolutionizing America's industrial production, Henry Ford and other managers at Ford Motor Company instituted a wide-reaching corporate welfare program that opened up the most intimate and personal details of employee's personal, family, and financial life to investigators from the Sociological Department. After the announcement of the $5 per day profit sharing plan in January 1914, Henry Ford wanted to ensure that employees, many of whom were non-English speaking immigrants, did not squander the funds. To this end, the Ford Sociological Department was created to investigate and monitor the personal and work lives of employees to the extent that investigators (later called Advisors) conducted home visits, checked bank deposits, and monitored children's school attendance as well as divorce filings. In addition, the Sociological Department advisors provided hygiene instruction, financial and legal advice, and worked with the English School to teach Ford's immigrant workers English.
- Language and Citizenship of Ford Motor Company Employees, According to Nationality, as of January 12th, 1917 - This document is from the publication "Educational Statistics Home Plant, as of January 12th, 1917." It classifies employees by nationality as English speakers and American citizens. The document was produced by the Ford Sociological (or Educational) Department, which ensured that employees were responsible with their pay. Ford required workers to learn English in order to earn the $5 per day wage.
- January 12, 1917
- Collections - Artifact
Language and Citizenship of Ford Motor Company Employees, According to Nationality, as of January 12th, 1917
This document is from the publication "Educational Statistics Home Plant, as of January 12th, 1917." It classifies employees by nationality as English speakers and American citizens. The document was produced by the Ford Sociological (or Educational) Department, which ensured that employees were responsible with their pay. Ford required workers to learn English in order to earn the $5 per day wage.
- Corporate Publication, "Facts from Ford," September 1920 - <em>Facts from Ford</em>, published by Ford Motor Company's Sociological Department, kept Ford employees informed about their place of employment. This 1920 issue highlighted the ethnic diversity found at the Highland Park plant and included photographs of 60 workers, all with different nationalities. Ford tried to keep the number of foreign-born employees proportional to Detroit's foreign population.
- September 01, 1920
- Collections - Artifact
Corporate Publication, "Facts from Ford," September 1920
Facts from Ford, published by Ford Motor Company's Sociological Department, kept Ford employees informed about their place of employment. This 1920 issue highlighted the ethnic diversity found at the Highland Park plant and included photographs of 60 workers, all with different nationalities. Ford tried to keep the number of foreign-born employees proportional to Detroit's foreign population.