Award-winning Ice Dreams is the ice sculpture company we use for private events at The Henry Ford. Take a look at seven-time world champion medalist Tajana Raukar work her magic turning three crystal-clear Cinebell blocks into one gorgeous sculpture.

Ice Dreams is one of Michigan’s largest manufactures of Cinebell sculpting blocks. Tajana and her husband, Paul, make the guarantee to provide pristine and beautifully carved sculptures crafted for display.

Ice sculpture is a great way to connect the dots of your wedding details – be it a sculpture to tie in a theme or add extra sparkle, oomph and elegance. Perhaps you envision an ice luge pouring your signature drink through an Irish Claddagh, an individual ice bowl serving the intermezzo course or a seafood display with your monogram or logo. Ice Dreams has proven time after time that just about anything is possible.

I am consistently amazed with their creations. Whether it’s ice bars, bowls, centerpieces, trays or luges, if you dream it, Ice Dreams can create it!

Christina Dodge is The Henry Ford’s social events manager and a member of the Association of Bridal Consultants.  She helps plan and bring to life the stunning weddings held at The Henry Ford.

This year at The Henry Ford, Girl Scouts will have a chance to make history while learning about history!

Last fall, in anticipation of its 100th anniversary, Girl Scouts of the USA unveiled their new scouting framework, which includes new badges for all levels of scouts – and as a result, all of the old badges are being realigned and many will no longer be available after this year.

We want to give Girl Scouts one last chance to earn many of these badges before they no longer exist. In 2012, on most Saturdays in February through May, Girl Scouts can come to The Henry Ford and earn eight of these historic badges:

• Listening to the Past (for Brownies)
• Earth Connections (for Juniors)
• United We Stand (for Juniors)
• Architecture (for Juniors)
• Local Lore (for Juniors)
• Careers (for Juniors)
• Heritage Hunt (for Cadettes/Seniors)
• Invention and Inquiry (for Cadettes/Seniors)

For the past two years, we have offered unique experiences for scouts who come to Greenfield Village, Henry Ford Museum and the Ford Rouge Factory Tour. With eight different full-badge programs – plus the opportunity for scouts to take their badge home with them the same day they earn them – The Henry Ford has become one of the most popular destinations for girls to earn their badges. Brownies, Juniors, Cadettes and Seniors can complete every badge requirement in one day and leave with their new badge (no need for troop leaders to call around, looking for them!), all while experiencing America’s Greatest History Attraction.

Whether they’re exploring careers for women at the Ford Rouge Factory Tour, discovering landmark inventions at Henry Ford Museum, or learning about stories from Henry Ford’s past in Greenfield Village, Girl Scouts will love these one-of-a-kind experiences. For the complete schedule of badge programs and registration information, visit our Girl Scout Badge Program page.

Don’t miss this opportunity to earn these badges before it’s too late!

Christopher Hemler is the Curator of Education for Youth, Adult and Digital Programs at The Henry Ford. He also heads up the Scouting at The Henry Ford group page on Facebook – stop by the page to ask him your questions, or tell us about your troop’s visit to The Henry Ford!

Photo Credit:  Navymailman

Hello! My first car was silver Chevy Vega. I just graduated from college and got my first job teaching. So my dad and I ordered my first car. Unfortunately a strike ensued the day I was to pick it up. When we got to the dealership there was the picket line. My dad said he would not cross the line. But I needed that car. So over the line I went. The men were very understanding and let me through without a scene being made. Lesson learned here is that understanding and being generous with each individual situation is honorable. I used that learned lesson throughout my career as an educator to treat every person and their special needs with dignity and respect.

The last I saw of it was when my husband, who was driving it, got it stuck in a snow blizzard on the way home from work from Trenton Public Schools. He walked back a mile to the high school on West Road. A fellow teacher took him home to his house where he spent the night. The next morning he went to get the Vega but a snow plow had smashed it to smithereens. And that was the end of the Vega.

I liked having my first car but it was not a very good car. The next car was a Ford. We now have owned no other car other then a Ford. Currently we have a Ford Truck. An F-150 the longest lasting truck on the road. And a red Focus. And we drive our vehicles till they die. Usually 10 years.

Janet

1970 Delta 88. Reef Turquois w/Porcelain White top. Black brocaded seat fabrics. I bought this car new in the summer of 1970 for just over $4900.00. It had a 350 engine w/2BBL carb. It was an awesome car. I had just gotten married and we traded my wife’s camaro in for it.

I had just started a traveling job and we needed a bigger car that could pull a trailer. It was my first car, and also one of my favorite cars. At the time, Oldsmobiles were quite nice, and the Delta 88 was just a step under “luxury cars”.

Unfortunately it was damaged in an accident after a couple of years. After having it repaired, we traded it for a 1972 Oldsmobile 98 LS. We kept that car for over ten years and sold it to my Mother, who kept it for five or six more.

Mike Baker

As a parent who’s been a long-time Discovery Camp mom, I would like to say right from the start …

What are you waiting for?

The program has proven to be fruitful and multiply as I’ve witnessed my children become discoverers, explorers, inventors, historians, teachers, merchants, marketers, industrialists, farmers, builders, engineers, tinkers, tailors and (of course) candlestick makers – all in the context of Discovery Camp at The Henry Ford. I’ve also watched them enjoy making friends with children from around Metro Detroit.

If you want to learn more about how the program might inspire the young innovators you know – here’s your chance.

There will be a Discovery Camp Open House, from 4-6 p.m., Feb. 22, in the Pretcher Promenade in front of Anderson Theater in Henry Ford Museum.

Displays and a slideshow presentation will showcase each camp level, and folks in-the-know can answer questions about daily activities, food, aftercare, the overnights for the older campers, etc. There will also be two call center representatives to answer payment and reservation questions.

The weeklong day-camp program is for students entering second through ninth grades in the fall. (There are six sessions from which to choose for students up to grade eight, and two available sessions for those entering grade nine.)

And, again, membership has its benefits. In addition to a reduced rate for the camp program, members will be able to register for their preferred sessions as early as February 22. Non-member registration begins March 23.

Kristine Hass is writer and a long-time member of The Henry Ford. She frequently blogs about her family’s visits to America’s Greatest History Attraction.

On August 11, 1909, as his ship struggled off Cape Hatteras, telegraph operator Theodore Haubner had an urgent choice to make: How should he call for help?

Haubner worked the key on the commercial steamship S.S. Arapahoe. His ship had just broken her propeller shaft and was drifting off the North Carolina coast.

For years, ships in trouble had used the telegraph code “CQD,” which means “calling all stations—distress.” But a new code for distress had recently been agreed upon: “SOS.” Would anyone recognize it?

Deciding to split the difference, Haubner signaled SOS as well as CQD—and his ship was picked up just twelve hours later.

Haubner had sent the world’s first SOS signal. He later donated his headphones and telegraph key to The Henry Ford, where they are now on exhibit in our Driving America exhibit.

Radio headphones used by Theodore Haubner while transmitting the first "SOS" distress signal, August 11, 1909. (From the collections of The Henry Ford)

Wireless telegraphy, perfected only a decade earlier by inventor and entrepreneur Guglielmo Marconi, used radio waves to connect ships with one another as well as with stations on land. In 1904, CQD was adopted by Marconi Company wireless telegraph operators as their emergency signal.

But an international industry would need an internationally standardized emergency signal. At the second International Radiotelegraphic Convention in Berlin, in 1906, participants agreed on SOS as the international distress signal. They chose SOS not because it was an abbreviation for any particular distress call (it does not stand for “save our ship,” as many have thought), but because it was easy to send and receive – three dots, three dashes, three dots. When the Arapahoe was drifting, the signal was just coming into use.

Theodore Haubner used this telegraph key to send the first "SOS" distress signal. (From the collections of The Henry Ford)

So why are these telegraph artifacts in an exhibit on cars?

When Haubner sent that first SOS in 1909, American culture was adjusting to a feeling of new, wider horizons. Wireless telegraphy was one of many technological marvels making their way into culture and, more slowly, into everyday life. Another of those marvels was the automobile.

Driving America puts cars into the context of these new visions of the future – this optimism that new technology, standardized across the world, could do anything.

Saving a ship was only the beginning.

Suzanne Fischer is the Associate Curator of Technology at The Henry Ford. She typed this post on an 1880s index typewriter and sent it to the blog editor via telex.

On my 50th Birthday, while living in Indiana, I figured I had spent way too many years behind a conventional car- and wanted to see life at 150 mph. Never driven a stick shift I signed up for RACING school (MACH1) at Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, MI. I had a great time as a “special student” learning how to shift my 3200 lbs Ford stock car. Funny thing back in 2006 I participated in Lyn St James’ Women in the Winner Circle driver program in AZ, at the Bondurant High Performance School. At the time I had to use an automatic Mustang for the road coast. You can teach an old girl new tricks, and I will always remember my “first” race car (FORD) at the Michigan International Speedway.

PS: I am part of the wall of 2006 graduates of Lyn St James, Women in Racing, traveling exhibit with the Henry Ford Museum.

Now living and working in Michigan – a true Pure Michigan story.
Jane Potee
Brighton, MI

Five miles of awesome.

That pretty much sums up the Behind the Scenes Tour I took at Benson Ford Research Center.

I confess, as many times as I’ve walked past the building when visiting Greenfield Village – it’s located in the Josephine F. Ford Plaza near the village entrance – I had no idea whatsoever what even went on in that building.

Now that I know, I can truly say the experience has only proven yet again that there is so much more than what meets the eye at The Henry Ford.

The tour was expertly lead by Kathy Steiner, who is head of access services at Benson Ford Research Center, and Terry Hoover, the chief archivist there. If you have a small group of friends or folks (up to 15 people) who love history, this a is an excellent outing.

A look down some of the five miles of shelving that hold archives at the Benson Ford Research Center.

There are five miles of shelving at Benson Ford Research Center. Of course, it’s what’s on and in those shelves that makes the place so interesting. That, and the fact that the center continues to make the treasury of artifacts so carefully housed and catalogued there more and more accessible to the public through a variety of services.

Visitors on the tour were treated to a look at the carefully preserved and catalogued quilts in this cabinet.

Benson Ford Research Center is just one of many storage areas on The Henry Ford campus. Items at the center include documents and artifacts that need the same kind of climate-controlled storage as paper. So you’re not going to find a automobile in the stacks, but depending on your interests, you will find some significant, valuable, historic, cool and at times even quirky treasures.

This file holds sewing patterns from various periods in American history.

Among other things, the research center houses the early business records and nearly half a million photographs from the very beginnings of Ford Motor Company through part of the 1960s. This collection occupies approximately ten thousand cubic feet in the three-story facility.

While on the tour, Terry showed us the very first bank register for Ford Motor Company – which was Henry Ford’s third attempt in the industry. The company was practically down to its last dime (more like $200) when the first Ford automobile was sold, and the rest – as they say – is history.

It was really inspiring to see that artifact up-close. Its significance in industry alone is mind-boggling. With Henry Ford’s success and then dedication to collecting, preserving and sharing the stuff of America life through his creation of the Edison Institute (now The Henry Ford), I have to say that while standing among those collections in Benson Ford Research Center, the importance of that bank register was profoundly tangible.

Other records that are collected at Benson Ford Research Center include early business papers from companies such as Herman Miller, the Heinz Company, the A.B. Dick Company, as well as the some of the Ford family’s older personal papers. There are also substantial collections of papers belonging to Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers.

One of the cold storage areas keeps these (and many, many more) Edison phonograph cylinders carefully preserved.

In addition to business documents, there are boxes containing information about each of the homes in Greenfield Village; posters and and materials from various World’s Fairs; historic books, films and photographs; publications on the auto industry and racing; trade catalogs; advertisements, and some fascinating collections of artifacts relating to industry, domestic life, business, art and popular culture.

Items are carefully catalogued.

There were a few moments on the tour that I found myself overwhelmed with the vastness and diversity of the of the collections. I couldn’t help but think that some of my friends who love shows like American Pickers and Antiques Road Show would be in their glory.

The period clothing collection is often used for reference for costumers.

I was fascinated by the number of some of the items collected. For example, there are drawers and drawers of spectacles and eyeglass.

This is just one of the many drawers of eye glasses.

There are paintings, tools, original patent models, textiles, instruments, antique toys and decorative home accents.

Antique iron horses are just some of the toy items collected.

In addition to seeing only slightly older versions of items that are still pretty standard in many modern households – such as a baby monitor, a set of hot rollers and some Tupperware – I especially enjoyed the drawers dedicated to restaurant toys and themed lunch box sets.

Among the collections were themed lunch boxes and give-away restaurant toys.

According to Kathy, people who use the research center are car guys, researchers, movie makers, clothing and costume designers, historians, writers and, of course, the staff of The Henry Ford. Staff and volunteers at Benson Ford Research Center continue to diligently work on making the materials accessible through its online catalog and finding aids, the library World Cat system and by digitizing materials for easier sharing.

A designer gown once worn by Martha Firestone.

And here’s something – a visit to the reading room at Benson Ford Research Center is free and open to the public, Tuesday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. There’s no appointment necessary, and there’s always someone there ready to help with visitors interested in viewing paper and photographic artifacts. If you want to see the other artifacts that are stored in there, you’ll have to take the tour like I did. (Specific artifacts can also be viewed by request through the center’s services.)

Oh, and a little post script … No – those of us on the tour did not walk all five miles of the place. However, we saw so much on the little jaunt we did take  but still only scratched the surface of the what’s behind the scenes at Benson Ford Research Center.

Benson Ford Research Center offers its Behind the Scenes Tour for $150 for groups of up to 15 people. There is a general tour as well as a tour on early photography. Contact them for more information.

Kristine Hass is writer and a long-time member of The Henry Ford. She frequently blogs about her family’s visits to America’s Greatest History Attraction.

My car was a ’79 Honda Civic hatchback. It was a stick shift and even had a choke! lol. I refused to get my license until I could do it with that car. So, after much practice, I finally did it. It had wood grain gear shift and stearing wheel and the interior panels were still steel so I had a ton of magnets everywhere.
I also had a bumper sticker that said “don’t tailgate me or i’ll flick a booger on your windsheild” hahahahaha.
Oh the best part is that it was banana yellow.

Jakki

It was November 30, 1967 when I picked up my first car from Tennyson Chevrolet in Livonia. It was a brand new 1968 Camaro convertible,turquoise with black top; Price: $2,976 – I put $1,000 down (earned from my part time job as a cashier at Farmer Jack). My car payments were $64 per month and I got change from a 5 dollar bill when I filled the tank. The first song that played on the radio was The Beatles – Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. I can’t remember why I walk into a room these days, but I remember that day like it was yesterday.

Cathy