The Henry Ford
Take It Forward.™
The Henry Ford
Collections Digitization
Initiative
Nardina Mein, PhD
dinam@thehenryford.org
www.thehenryford.org
From the Collections of The Henry Ford
Today’s Agenda
Introduction to The Henry Ford
Collections & Digitization
Internship Opportunities
Begin the Conversation
From the Collections of The Henry Ford
Henry Ford believed in learn by doing.
He believed in the power of real things to inspire, inform and engage
people in ways no image or description could do on its own.
To prove this point, he set out to
build a learning resource unlike
anything the world has seen before
or since.
At the heart of his audacious, ambitious undertaking lived a vast
collections of structures, artifacts, documents and narratives
spanning 300 years of American history.
Overview
•501c3 not-for-profit organization not affiliated with Ford Motor Company
• 5 unique venues
•1.8 million onsite visitors/3.3 million online visitors
•26 million artifacts
•$50 million dollar operating budget (65% earned revenue)
•5 onsite retail stores and 7 restaurants
Henry Ford Museum
American ideas and innovations
Icons of innovation
•Rosa Parks Bus
•Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion House
•Henry Ford’s Quadricycle
•Allegheny Locomotive
•Kennedy Limousine
•The Lincoln Chair
From the Collections of The Henry Ford
Greenfield Village
American experiences and traditions
Iconic Artifacts and Experiences
•Edison’s Menlo Park Laboratory
•Henry Ford’s Birthplace
•Wright Brother’s Home & Cycle
Shop
•Webster Home
•Firestone farm
•One of only 6 working Roundhouses
in the USA
•Model T rides
•World class glass and pottery
programming
From the Collections of The Henry Ford
The Henry Ford
IMAX® Theatre
America’s most powerful
and immersive film experience
Ford Rouge
Factory Tour
The American automobile
manufacturing experience
From the Collections of The Henry Ford
Benson Ford
Research Center
Public resource for understanding
American people, places and things
From the Collections of The Henry Ford
The Collections
The rich collections of The Henry Ford
form an unparalleled resource
documenting the American
experience. These wide-ranging
holdings document the industrial,
social, and cultural history of the
United States.
http://collections.thehenryford.org
From the Collections of The Henry Ford
Digitization
Initiative
Institutional effort with central
project management
and prioritization
All Historical Resources
departments participate
•Artifact photography
•Image/document Scans
•Rapid capture copy stand
•Cataloging/metadata Creation
•Finding aid creation
•Marc records
•Conservation
•Lots of logistics
From the Collections of the Henry Ford
Fellowships &
Internships
• Simmons Internships
• Henry Austin Clark Travel to
Collections Fellowship
• Practicum
• Volunteer Internships
http://www.thehenryford.org/about
/grants.aspx
research.center@thehenryford.org
From the Collections of The Henry Ford
Let’s Begin the Conversation
From the collections of The Henry Ford