Every month our curators spotlight a different item from The Henry Ford’s collections for our Pic of the Month.  This month, Cynthia Read Miller, Curator of Prints and Photographs, discusses the history of photobooth photography and the photobooth collection we posted on Flickr this fall.  Watch for a new collection of historic images on our Flickr page later this month.

Read January’s Pic of the Month

Pic of the Month archive

This month, in honor of Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday, curator Cynthia Read Miller looks at images from The Henry Ford’s wonderful, eclectic collection of Lincoln-related photographs. These images span the years from Lincoln’s career as an Illinois legislator during the 1840s to his tragic death in 1865.  Visit November’s Pic of the Month.

We’re excited to announce our newest collection on Flickr:  photobooth portraits, which joins our other historic photos on Flickr in giving new access to our deep photographic collections.   These photobooth shots  give insight into the use of photography in everyday life in the twentieth century, from the 1930s to the 1970s.  The collection includes shots of Harvey Firestone, Jr. and Elizabeth Parke Firestone.*

We’re excited about these photos:  look for a post on the cultural history of the photobooth portrait, coming soon from Cynthia R. Miller, our Curator of Prints and Photographs–and the next time you’re at Henry Ford Museum, take a picture of your own in our photobooth near the IMAX entrance.

*The Henry Ford holds a great deal of Mrs. Firestone’s couture clothing, as well as the Columbiana, Ohio, farm where Harvey Firestone, Sr. was born, among other Firestone artifacts.