Digital Collections

This year, The Henry Ford took steps toward building community with Indigenous nations by expanding the institution’s Artists in Residence program, offered annually in Greenfield Village. To kick off Celebrate Indigenous History programming, we welcomed Maggie Thompson (Fond du Lac Ojibwe) as the inaugural Indigenous Artist in Residence.

Lois and Robert Kelley craved outdoor space and projects to absorb their enthusiasm for life. After World War II they married and invested wholeheartedly in farming believing it could provide peace of mind and sustenance for the family, with income supplemented by outside work.

In early 19th-century America, life was changing fast. More Americans were venturing further from home as the country expanded westward and new innovations in steam and rail transport made travel more accessible. This also meant that more Americans were dying far from home. Society, though, still viewed it as important that a person be laid to rest amongst their family; to not have this final closure would have been deeply upsetting.

In this interview, Jeanine Head Miller (Curator of Domestic Life), and Charles Sable (Curator of Decorative Arts) sat down with Kristen Gallerneaux (Curator and Editor-in-Chief of Digital Curation) to share their efforts to restore the interiors and furnishings of The Jackson Home. This article is part of an ongoing series focusing on the history, preservation, and restoration of the landmark Jackson Home experience, slated to open in Greenfield Village in Summer 2026.

At The Henry Ford, we often think of the countless stories of innovation that our institution can tell through archival materials—from the automotive parts drawings to the Bill Stumpf and Robert Propst design collections. Beyond these examples, there are many stories of American life in the last few centuries.

Costume design is more than just providing clothes for actors in a movie. Effective costume design can reveal a character's background, personality, occupation, and even their state of mind. Each costume choice made by a designer—type and style of garment, accessories, details, materials, color—is deliberate, contributing to character development and the overall mood of the narrative.

Vojtěch Kubašta is a name unfamiliar to most Americans. It's not surprising, as Kubašta lived and worked in Prague, behind the Iron Curtain in what is now the Czech Republic, for most of his life.

At The Henry Ford, we have dedicated teams of craftspeople that create beautiful products in our Pottery, Glass, Weaving, and Print Shops that make up Liberty Craftworks in Greenfield Village. While these artisans use historic techniques, they also do their fair share of innovation. One of the areas in which we have recently expanded is in our offering of products from Liberty Craftworks that utilize recyclable material sourced on-site.