An ordinary day on an “ordinary” bike

If you’ve been to Greenfield Village during the summer season, chances are you’ve seen the high wheel bicycles gliding gracefully through the streets – and then you’ve probably immediately asked yourself (or your travel companions), “How the heck does he get up there?!” 

Well, ask no more, my friend; Greenfield Village cyclist Jim O’Hagan will put your mind at rest.

These unique bicycles, properly known as “ordinary bikes” (although “ordinary” by whose standards?), came about around the turn of the century and were a luxury item to most.

So sit back and watch this video as Jim explains and then demonstrates how to ride these unique bicycles…and if you want to see them in person, hurry out to Greenfield Village – the summer season with all its old-fashioned games on the green, period-clothed strollers and ordinary bicyclists ends this Sunday, August 22!

Historic Video of the Month: June

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!

Farm Progress (1924)

  

Exhibit B:  Down on Ye Olde Farme.

Clara Ford in Costume at a Ford Farm (1926)

  

Discuss.

Historic Video of the Month: May Festival on the Village Green, Greenfield, Michigan, May 24, 1930

May is on its way out, and spring has finally established itself in this neck of the woods. Let’s close out the month with a May Festival held at Greenfield Village back in 1930.

In this celebration at Greenfield Village, approximately 250 children participate in versions of traditional May Day festivities. Some children carry arches of flowers, some are in costume, some are part of the queen’s court. We witness the crowning of the Queen of the May. Various old-fashioned dances are performed for the queen and her court, as taught by dance instructor and head of Greenfield Village Schools, Benjamin Lovett. (My favorite is the Jockey Dance!) Dances are also performed around a Maypole, and all participants take part in dancing the quadrille. The film closes with older children dancing in the Lovett Hall ballroom and an aerial view of Greenfield Village.

Noting that the festival was May 24, this archivist was somewhat surprised at finding it not uncommon for May Festivals to be held later in May, rather than on May Day, May 1 (having nothing more to go on than vague memories of elementary school Maypole dances–not to mention different connotations of the day, such as observances for the Labor movement and disaster preparedness for libraries, archives, and museums). Presumably this timeframe was built around when the weather got nicer in northern climes? Or perhaps it was the influence of the Dutch and later African American observances of Pinkster celebrated in late May or early June, some of which included Maypoles, and which, though tied linguistically to the church year–Pinkster deriving from the Dutch for “Pentecost”–were quite obviously also linked to the seasons and growing conditions. On the other hand, May Day and May Festival observances in Europe seem not to have been rigidly fixed to May 1. Did they party the whole month long? Sometimes they did, it would seem (with a translation into modern English courtesy of Wikipedia), or perhaps mixed and merged practices with other similar festivals.

Although the upcoming Memorial Day is a time of reverent, even somber, remembrance for many, let us also look to the joys of spring and warmer weather.

Historic Video of the Month: Henry and Clara

Every month, we feature a video from Film Source, The Henry Ford’s online collection of historic motion picture films shorts. The films were originally produced by Henry Ford’s motion picture department at Ford Motor Company, which began in 1914. These clips illustrate the impact of the automobile, industrial manufacturing and design, and many other aspects of American culture and everyday life, as well as glimpses of Henry Ford and his family and activities and scenes from Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum. Staff at the Benson Ford Research Center continue to digitize, catalog, and upload more of these clips to our online catalog and to YouTube in order to make them accessible to a wider audience.

Clara Bryant Ford is famously known as “The Believer” for her devotion to her husband, Henry Ford. In fact, it was Henry who gave her this nickname. Throughout their fifty-nine years of marriage, she was Henry’s supporter, confidante, and advisor. The name was bestowed during their early years together, when Clara ran their household on a shoestring budget and endured frequent moves, while Henry tinkered and toiled perfecting his vehicles and pouring their money into attempts to establish a profitable business.

Backing up just a bit, here are a few lines of romantic verse that Henry penned to Clara on the Valentine’s Day before their engagement in 1886:

May Floweretts of love around you bee twined.
And the Sunshine
of peace Shed its joys o’e your Minde
From one tht Dearly loves you

(As quoted in Ford Bryan’s Clara: Mrs. Henry Ford, p. 27. The original letter is preserved in Henry and Clara Ford’s personal papers housed at the Benson Ford Research Center.)

After Ford Motor Company became a success, they lived more comfortably, finally putting down roots in their estate, Fair Lane, that they had built along the Rouge River in Dearborn.

Clara always enjoyed gardening, especially flowers. At Fair Lane, she installed a five-acre rose garden. Here, she and Henry are strolling together on their grounds near the riverbank.

The two were also fond of old-fashioned dancing, having gone to many dances together during their courting days. Later on, they held frequent ballroom dances around Dearborn. Here, Henry and Clara can be seen kicking up their heels in the barn at Henry Ford’s birthplace.

Two excellent sources for learning more about Clara Ford and Henry and Clara’s life together are the book Clara: Mrs. Henry Ford by Ford R. Bryan (Dearborn: Ford Books, 2001) and sections of the book The People’s Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century by Steven Watts (New York: Vintage Books, 2006)

Historic Video of the Month: December

Every month, we feature a video from Film Source, The Henry Ford’s online collection of historic motion picture films shorts.   The films were originally produced by Henry Ford’s motion picture department at Ford Motor Company, which began in 1914.  These clips illustrate the impact of the automobile, industrial manufacturing and design, and many other aspects of American culture and everyday life, as well as glimpses of Henry Ford and his family and activities and scenes from Greenfield Village and The Henry Ford Museum.  Staff at the Benson Ford Research Center continue to digitize, catalog, and upload more of these clips to our online catalog and to YouTube in order to make them accessible to a wider audience.

On the shortest day of the year, we’ll keep things short and sweet, and celebrate the first day of winter by showing Henry and Clara Ford having some cold-weather fun.

Here’s to a happy winter for everyone!

Henry Ford ice skating (THF_HFS_V.200.FC.X.27)

Clara Ford throws a snowball (THF_HFS_V.200.FC.X.22)

Historic Video of the Month: “Harvest of the Years”

Every month, we feature a video from Film Source, The Henry Ford’s online collection of historic motion picture films shorts.   The films were originally produced by Henry Ford’s motion picture department at Ford Motor Company, which began in 1914.  These clips illustrate the impact of the automobile, industrial manufacturing and design, and many other aspects of American culture and everyday life, as well as glimpses of Henry Ford and his family and activities and scenes from Greenfield Village and The Henry Ford Museum.  Staff at the Benson Ford Research Center continue to digitize, catalog, and upload more of these clips to our online catalog and to YouTube in order to make them accessible to a wider audience.

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.

Get ready for “the most wonderful time of the year” at The Henry Ford!

The 25-foot Christmas tree is up and sparkling…wreaths and garlands are draped over everything that will stand still…and the carols are ringing through the air – it must be holidays at The Henry Ford!

This Friday, November 27 kicks off two of our seasonal daytime celebrations – the Holiday Homes Tour in Greenfield Village, and Holidays in Henry Ford Museum. Both offer a bevy of holiday delights for the senses, so here’s a quick run-down of what you can expect to experience during your visit to The Henry Ford this season.

Throughout the season, each weekend day until the end of December, the homes of Greenfield Village are filled with the sights and sounds of Christmas past. Of course, everything is decorated to the appropriate period of the home, so look for the subtle differences between each abode.

But one thing you can’t miss is the delectable scent of freshly-baked goods wafting through the homes – stop in and chat with some of our costumed presenters to find out how the home’s inhabitants prepared meals for the holiday season. They can’t offer you a taste, but to borrow a phrase, smells are free!

(By the way, there’s only one more week until one of our most popular programs, Holiday Nights in Greenfield Village, opens; make sure to get your tickets now – dates do sell out!)

On your way in to Henry Ford Museum, you’ll find freshly-cut greens for sale – everything from roping to wreaths to Christmas trees of every shape and size. You’ll probably notice the scent of these greens almost as soon as you see them; we work with a Nova Scotia tree grower raising balsam firs, so everything has that classic spicy scent.

And for some tips on how to decorate with all that gorgeous greenery, check out our video for creating a simple yet beautiful doorway entrance.

Henry Ford Museum is completely decked out for the season, including two huge can’t-miss elements: Our 25-foot Christmas tree in the Museum Plaza, completely covered in lights and American-made ornaments, and a model train circling a massive LEGO train display of Detroit’s downtown area, built by the Michigan LEGO Users Group.

And it isn’t really the holidays until you visit Santa! He’s in a new location this year, near the entrance to the Pewter aisle, so make sure you stop by and tell him your Christmas wish list. But, if you happen to miss him (he is a busy guy this time of year, you know!), don’t worry – you can always drop a letter to him in a mailbox made of LEGO bricks.

From all of us at The Henry Ford, we wish you a wonderful and warm holiday season – we hope to see you here soon!