A Great Way to Start Semester Two; Touring The Archives of The Henry Ford

Monday, 1-29-18 started the new semester at Carlson High School, but I started the semester touring the archives at The Henry Ford Museum for my Wayne RESA Library Leaders meeting. A few times a year I am fortunate enough to meet with other school librarians from Wayne County to learn about new topics and share ideas. It is a great way to to improve my skills as the librarian at Carlson High School.

Monday's meeting was special in that it was off-site from Wayne RESA and held at the The Henry Ford Museum. We spent the morning learning about the importance of being a a future ready librarian in a future ready school. The highlight of the day came after lunch when we had the chance for a private tour of the archives of The Henry Ford Museum.

My group started on the first floor which houses paper/print items. The amount of items was mind-blowing. Also, it was a rush to hold a correspondence penned by Alexander Hamilton.

Just one row of the paper archives

That is one old dictionary

Every year trim catalog for Ford Motor Company, including the 2003 Marauder

Here is that letter penned by Alexander Hamilton

The upper level of the archives holds the physical items, and this section was just as amazing. Artwork, quilts, clothing, toys, technology, a donut (no really a donut that was found in a donation), and Thomas Edison's patent models are just some of the treasures I came across during my hour in the upper-archives. The old toys really brought me back, including the Fisher Price camper toy I stumbled across. It brought me back to my childhood visits to my grandmother's house in Pittsburgh. She had two toys in the house: the Fisher Price camper and a Holiday Inn hotel play-set. My sisters and I spent hours playing with those things.....and for some reason we looked forward to playing with them every trip.

Items in the archives are protected from water and fire

Funny all the memories that come back because of a toy

Mrs. Firestone had a lot of shoes....a lot

Man, I wish I could have fired up the Intellivision

I always look forward to my Library Leaders meetings, but this one was a great way to kick-off the second semester. Not only did I learn a great deal but I was able to experience some interesting items/documents and hear how they are stored/organized.  Yes, I am a Dork...or Geek, but man this was a cool Monday!