O/T: My trip to the Henry Ford museum

[phonophan79]

I went to the Henry Ford museum this past summer and really enjoyed it. Quite a few references to old man Edison himself. This is only a few pics, enjoy!

[TinfoilPhono]

Great pictures! The Ford is one of my favorite places anywhere.

They have some fabulous phonograph treasures but unfortunately almost all of them are in storage. On one of my research visits I found a cardboard beer flat on a storage shelf literally filled with spectacle carriage assemblies for the earliest Edison Class M.

If you had gone into Greenfield Village you would have seen several tinfoil phonographs in the Menlo complex, including an original Bergmann which they do operate for visitors and one of two suriving 'Brady' models (the other is at the Edison Site). There's also a phonograph 'store' adjacent to the Wright Brothers' bicycle shop but the machines and records in the window are a jumble covering a range of dates from early gold-moulded to Amberols. It's evocative, but not accurate.

[Lenoirstreetguy]

I quite agree. I love the Henry Ford Museum. I grew up in Southwestern Ontario and we were closer to Detroit than we were to Toronto, so in those " pushing forty years ago " days a junket to Dearborn and home again was an easy day trip. The border crossing in those days was more a less a wave through, so there was little time lost, unlike now. I went once on a school trip, once on a church Young People's trip( stop laughing) and once just to drive down and go.In those days the Museum was a tremendous pile of junk: everything piled in with little organization . It was wonderful: it was like rummaging on someone's attic. They had a functioning Regina Hexaphone just sitting on the floor: you put in your nickel and played it to your heart's content, and as kid I certainly did.And across from it sat a Mills Violano Virtuoso: again you popped your nickel in the slot! The Village per se had little security and the Edison Lab group from Menlo Park was wonderful to poke around in. The only place you really couldn't get at was the second floor of the lab and the library building. I don't know why they didn't lose artifacts, but it seems everyone was very well behaved.
Jim

[Henry]

Wow, gotta go there! Love that GM bus, even if it did replace the streetcars. As for the replica Independence Hall (Pennsylvania State House), visitors to this and to the real thing may be surprised to learn that the more photographed (north) facade, facing Chestnut St., is in fact the back-door side. The front door entrance (south) facade faces a park, and is more difficult to photograph because of trees, etc. What you see in this photo from the Henry Ford Museum is the south facade.

[phonophan79]

Wow, gotta go there! Love that GM bus,

Just to clarify... the GM bus is actually *the* Rosa Parks bus. It is in the "history" section and not the "automotive" section.

[OrthoSean]

Awesome pics, thanks for sharing!

Sean

[phonophan79]

If you had gone into Greenfield Village

Speaking of Greenfield Village... not the best job combining two pictures into one, but its definitely a nice painting. Click the images to see full size. (large)

"America's Tribute to Thomas Alva Edison by Leaders of Industry, Science, Literature and Art on the 50th Anniversary of the Incandescent Light Bulb - Greenfield Village - Dearborn, MI - October 21, 1929"

[Valecnik]

Not O/T at all for a group like this. Thanks for posting. I noticed the picture with the stoves. Did you happen to recognize the brands? For Some reason, "American Heating" seemed to be a popular brand in Central Europe at the beginning of the 20th century.

[phonophan79]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments.

How in the WORLD did I forget! Two more pictures... two war posters.

[antique1973]

Great pictures, thanks for taking the time to post!