June’s post comes to you as a rubric without a body of text:
“Henry Ford’s Complicated Relationship with Agriculture (and agrarian life).”
Exhibit A: Progress Through Industrialization!
Exhibit B: Down on Ye Olde Farme.
Discuss.
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY (as so many old newsreels began), the eyes of the world were turned towards the future. The 1939-1940 New York World’s Fair opened April 30, 1939, and ran for two seasons. Its theme was the “World of Tomorrow.” On the heels of the Great Depression and the eve of world war, the fair’s exhibits looked with optimism to the future: What would be in store in technology, commerce, politics, culture—indeed, in all spheres of life and society? And how could technology and design be applied to build a better future? The many exhibits, grouped by themed zones (Transportation, Communication, Food, etc.), showcased existing streamlined and futurist styles and ideas and in turn influenced their continuation and development. Along with the dreaming and high concepts, though, there was a lot of good old-fashioned fun—located in the popular Amusements Area.
The Ford Motor Company pavilion was designed by two powerhouses of industrial design and architecture, Walter Dorwin Teague and Albert Kahn. Ford’s contribution to the fair included as its centerpieces the Road of Tomorrow and the Ford Cycle of Production, both seen here.
But this film offers a wider view of the fair, not just a peek at Ford’s offerings. It opens with footage of Manhattan, the George Washington Bridge, and aerial views of New York City and the New York World’s Fair grounds at Flushing Meadows, Queens. Then it moves on to views of the U.S. Government Building and various state buildings and pavilions representing industry and trade including AT&T, U.S. Steel, Westinghouse, Goodrich, Chrysler, and General Motors (which, with its Futurama exhibit designed by Norman Bel Geddes, is generally considered to have outshone Ford’s exposition that season). Next we see the Ford Exposition Building, including the large mobile mural by Henry Billings, the “Ford Cycle of Production,” the theater, gardens, fountains, and exhibits and demonstrations including the processing of soybeans and the casting of molten iron. People get into Ford automobiles for the “Road of Tomorrow” ride on spiral ramps in and around the building. Views of the amusement section of the fair include dancing, ice-skating, a parachute jump, souvenir stand, and food venues. The film closes showing the fair at night, the effects of lighting (the first practical fluorescent light debuted at this fair), and fireworks.
For more about the 1939 New York World’s Fair, you could start with an article and photo gallery at Wired, and then, for even more information on all the World’s Fairs, head over to the “World’s Fair Community” forum (which will take you to the 1939 NY pages) and “Welcome to Tomorrow” maintained by the University of Virginia’s American Studies department.
We close out January looking at another video showing Ford Motor Company’s assembly line processes—plus a whole lot of Model T. “Ford Automobiles, 1903-1917″ shows Model Ts—and more Model Ts—being driven everywhere under a variety of conditions: in the United States, at other spots around the globe, in cities, on winding country roads, in the desert, up in the mountains, in races and on parade (well, it’s Ford tractors here), off-road in the mud, and in the snow—including being pulled like a sleigh by a team of horses. We also see the different body styles available plus changes to the car over about half of its long production run (along with views of its predecessors, including the Quadricycle—Henry Ford’s first car, the 1903 Model A, and possibly the Model N).
Even though it wasn’t the main theme of the film, what jumped out at me—besides the ubiquity and versatility of this car, which I presume was the theme here—was the ‘hacking’ of the Model T, as seen in its conversion to a camper, riding on train rails, and to a certain extent the aforementioned sleigh ride. Indeed, it was not just the garage tinkerers at work here; a whole industry sprang up around the “Universal Car,” offering various modifications to, and in a related vein, aftermarket accessory components for the Model T, in both areas using the Tin Lizzy’s barebones state as a canvas for welcome and often creative customizations. Today, as we see a reemergence of the DIY movement, it’s interesting to look back at earlier generations doing similar things. One subset of DIY includes ‘modding’ or ‘hacking’ readily available mass-produced objects. Today, that near-universal brand, IKEA, is a popular target. As we’ve seen in this trip down Memory Lane, the Model T was a favorite of yesteryear. (Our Video of the Month isn’t even the best example of Model T or other Ford vehicle hacks. I’ll leave it to the viewers to discover some of the others!) This very particular form of engagement with a product speaks to that product’s popularity, utility, and versatility—and to human ingenuity.
In honor of Thanksgiving, this month’s video is a portion of “Harvest of the Years,” produced circa 1938. One of the longer clips in our collection, and one of the few produced with sound, it showcases the spectrum of automobile production, from raw materials to finished product and testing, with a focus on activities of the Rouge River Plant, from the production of raw materials such as steel and glass through to assembly. Design and testing are also given a look. Pervading the film is an emphasis on looking ahead to a better future aided by ever-advancing scientific and industrial progress—a dominant attitude of the time, and indeed one which sometimes lends itself to parody today. On a more serious note, perhaps striking for today’s viewers is the degree of recovery and reuse of waste materials in practice—something not so common in that era, but implemented at Ford primarily due to Henry Ford’s abhorrence of waste (which Ford Bryan discusses at various points in his book Beyond the Model T: The Other Ventures of Henry Ford). One famous example of by-product reuse, although not mentioned in the film, is Ford’s charcoal briquettes, originally produced from wood waste generated at its Kingsford plant in Northern Michigan. Also noteworthy, despite its ad-copy hyperbole, is the mention of the accumulation and sharing of knowledge for the betterment all of humankind–an ideal we see mirrored in the nobler of our online aspirations today. No matter what their origins, these ideas and practices of efficiency, quality, waste reduction, and reuse can certainly continue to inspire.
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