Michael Wuestenberg
English 250
A.R. Mallory
January 28, 2014
Summary
The
Henry Ford museum was created from the love Henry had for old machines,
however, this caused the creation of the museum to be both a wonderful and difficult
task. Over the course of six decades his collection of steam engines,
generators, and machine tools lay on the floor in an extraordinary fashion. “‘The
machines speak louder than interpreters or signs and the machines tell the
simplistic story that newer machines are better, period. No workers, no
management, no success, no stupidity, no violence, just a long chronological
line of wonderful machines,’” was a statement by Curator John L. Bowditch (p.
1014). The museum was full of ingenuity, but there was need for an edition. Numerous
amounts of machinery was taking to storage, and replaced by “The Automobile in
American Life” exhibit.
The
exhibit was costly, but it succeeded wonderfully. It used multiple paths rather
than a linear crowd flow. The exhibit was full of texts and small objects. “In
general, however, the floor plan succeeds by mixing nodes of exciting activity
with still points that encourage contemplative reflection (Staudenmaier p.
1014).” There were four main points to the exhibit. The central raised deck
that provided a movie display. A conveyor belt which moved slowly with the nineteenth
and twentieth century display. High-tension towers are connected by blue power lines
to the generator section. Lastly, a large display of cartoon figures for the
children to enjoy.
There
are two scenes in which the visitors are met with at the main entrance. A mural
of working men and women in factories and offices. As well as a painting of
robotic machines working on a Case farm tractor. The entrance is an attraction
drawing in the visitors at the very start. It is all based around one theme.
The idea that workers are essential to production.
Workers
are shown getting fresh and sometimes eloquent treatment, which is to put the
idea that workers are what drives the production into the minds of the
visitors. A large picture of Ford’s Highland Park exhibit is displayed as the
backdrop to a trophy of Henry Ford. This trophy is a disassembled Model T that
is suspended from the ceiling from almost invisible supports. Also in the wall
of the photomural, is a large video screen that show real footage from 1921 of
workers on an assembly line. This video portrays the laborious tasks and hard
work that many immigrants were forced to do in the factory conditions. “Given a
long-standing and mostly negative image popular in the United States that
identifies workers as part of the cost of production rather than as producers,
this moving and subtle composite portrait establishes a welcome benchmark for
technological exhibitions everywhere (Staudenmaier P. 1017).”
Compared
with the manufacturing are, the steam engine and generators display is so
enormous that it risks the solemnity of a mausoleum. Designers faced this
problem by adding a large and colorful 1891 steam generator which pumped its
steam with an almost lifelike feel. Nearby, is the most inviting part of the
exhibit, visitors can use a turn crank to see how many bulbs they can light up,
allowing them to feel the burden and expenses of generating electricity. There
was hope for many more display in this part of the exhibit but the budget could
not withstand the twenty-four-foot flywheel that would have provided a nice
counter point to the turn crank. A 1903 water turbine provides visitors with
the curiosity to follow the stairs and see what lay inside. To complete this
exhibit there is video footage that show the story of the long hunger for
industrial power, and all of the details that go along with it. This film America in the Making is based on three
themes: workers and managers, American manufacturing greatness, and today’s
competitive world demands. These themes allow guests to see the abundant post World
War Two manufacturing and how it has come to an end, while still showing that
creativity and courage are characteristics that can be used in the present
world.
“In
the exhibition as a whole I was struck by two omissions. Both flow from and
implicitly reinforce a commonplace America tendency to ignore the mix of
nobility and venality, improvement and misery, that attends actual
technological practice. (p. 1018).” The faith in technology displayed by the museum
showed no political involvement, as well as, showing only American hardships
downplays the world scale problems. Addressing these issues might take far too
much text. The Museum took difficult ideas and communicated them in an
extraordinary way to the average museum visitor.
Made in America
America in the Making. by Mary Lance; Eric Breitbart; Working People. by Richard J. S. Gutman
The Journal of American History , Vol. 80, No. 3 (Dec., 1993) , pp. 1014-1019
Published by: Organization of American Historians
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2080416
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