Ford Motor Company. Archives.

In 1951, Edgar Le Roy Bryant, Clara Ford's brother served notice that he would file a claim against the estate of Clara Ford based on the contention that Clara had promised she would leave her possessions to his family. The suit, asking for $10 million or more, proceeded until March 1955, when it was settled out of court for a relatively small amount of cash.

Archivists at the Ford Motor Company Archives in the 1950s and early 1960s were to a large extent required to focus more on the dispersal of information and less on collection development. They prepared public relations material, put together publications, and answered voluminous internal and external reference questions on the history of the company. They were also called upon to provide economic forecasts, market analyses, and public opinion research. In addition, one of the first and most significant projects undertaken was to work closely with Columbia University historian Allan Nevins and his collaborator Frank Hill as they undertook research for a comprehensive history of Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Company.

When Clara Ford died in 1950, over 25,000 photographs were found in their Dearborn, Michigan Fair Lane home, visually recording with unusual thoroughness the life and interests of Henry Ford and his family. One of the initial tasks elected by archivists at the Ford Motor Company Archives, launched a year later, was to arrange the Fair Lane photographs alphabetically by subject. This collection became the nucleus of a picture file that archivists further developed over the years.

In 1950 after the death of Clara Ford, Robert Bahmer, then Assistant Archivist of the United States, was called on to survey material in the Ford's Fair Lane home in Dearborn, Michigan. Bahmer recommended the formation of a corporate archives. In a report written for Ford Motor Company executives, he outlined short and long-term objectives, defined appraisal methodologies and management strategies. A. K. Mills, who had served as director of Public and Employee Relations for Ford International, was selected to serve as the first director. Henry E. Edmunds became chief archivist, charged with supervising a staff of trained archivists in the arrangement and description of records held both in the Fair Lane mansion and in storage at the Highland Park Plant. Between 1952 and 1956, the archives expanded its collecting focus to include the automotive industry as a whole. In 1964, the early business records of the Ford Motor Company and the personal papers of Henry Ford were donated to the Edison Institute (now The Henry Ford).

In 1954, Columbia University historian Allan Nevins in collaboration with Frank Ernest Hill published the first volume of a comprehensive history of Henry Ford and his automobile company. A combination history of the Ford Motor Company, history of the automotive industry in general, and biography of Henry Ford, the project was funded by a grant from the Ford Motor Company Fund to Columbia University and produced under the guidance of an academic advisory committee. Nevins, Hill, and research assistants William Greenleaf and George B. Heliker were granted unprecedented access to the records and papers held in the Ford Motor Company Archives. Meticulously researched, the resulting trilogy is considered indispensable for understanding early automotive history.

When Clara Ford died in the fall of 1950, huge quantities of documents and photographs reflecting every aspect of the Ford's lives and every aspect of Ford Motor Company history were found in their Dearborn, Michigan Fair Lane home. Also in the early 1950s, the need for access to records became evident as the Ford Motor Company began to plan for its fiftieth anniversary celebration to be held in June of 1953. Robert Bahmer, Assistant Archivist of the United States, tapped by the company to advise, recommended the creation of a corporate archives. The program was launched in 1951 and housed at the Ford Engineering Laboratory in Dearborn. In 1952, Henry and Clara Ford's Fair Lane home was coverted to house the material and serve researchers. By 1957, demands associated with maintaining the Fair Lane site, along with budget issues, led to the relocation of the archives to the Ford Routunda's north wing, where the unit remained until a fire destroyed the building in 1962. Records suffered only slight damage and were placed in various storage facilities until 1964, when a team of appraisers examined the material. By the end of that year, both the personal papers of Henry Ford and early business records of the Ford Motor Company were donated to the Edison Institute (now The Henry Ford), a non-profit organization wholly independent of the company.

Born in Massachusetts, Winthrop Sears earned an A.B. at Harvard University, a B.S. in Library Science at Columbia University and an M.A. in Library Science at the University of Michigan. Sears became an archivist with the Ford Motor Company Archives in 1951. He joined the staff of the Edison Institute (now The Henry Ford) in 1964 when the company donated the bulk of the archival material to the Institute. Although he retired in 1981, Sears continued his association with the archives at The Henry Ford as a volunteer for another seventeen years.

Henry Edmunds was an archivist for the United States National Archives, the U.S. Department of Justice and Commerce, the U.S. Council of National Defense, and the World Bank and Monetary Fund prior to joining the Ford Motor Company. He was hired as Chief Archivist in 1951 to direct a staff of trained archivists in collecting, arranging, and cataloging the historical materials of the company and its founder, Henry Ford. When the majority of the records were donated to the Edison Institute (now The Henry Ford) in 1964, Edmunds joined the Institute in order to continue the work. Edmunds retired in 1977. He died at Henry Ford Hospital in 1982.

Archivists at Ford Motor Company Archives received numbers of requests for images relating to the history of the Ford Motor Company and the history of the automobile in general. This sometimes led to the creation of artificial (rather than archival) collections. An example is a set of photographs called American Road that was created primarily as a resource to help staff answer requests for historical photographs that fell under the heading "something about roads." As a compilation, it was intended to cover the general and often vague needs for illustrations depicting Ford Motor Company's place in the development of transportation and travel in America.

A graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, A. K. Mills initially worked in aviation marketing and publicity. He represented Amelia Earhart, directed publicity for the first Byrd Antarctic Expedition, and later worked for Time, Inc., Life Magazine, and Earl Newsom & Company. Mills served as director of Public and Employee Relations for Ford International prior to being appointed director of the Ford Motor Company's Fiftieth Anniversary Plans Office in 1950. As the need for access to historical records became evident, he invited then Assistant Archivist of the United States, Robert H. Bahmer to survey existing records and provide a formula for their management. Bahmer's report recommended a company-wide archival program; the program was launched in February of 1951. In 1953, Mills was formally named director of the Ford Motor Company Archives, the pioneering business archives he helped to establish and launch. Mills served simultaneously as executive director of the Edison Institute (now The Henry Ford).

The relocation of the archives from the Ford Engineering Laboratory to the Fair Lane home of Henry and Clara Ford was timed to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the company. One of the earliest corporate archives in the country, the public launching of the archives and the papers held there was said to have garnered more publicity than any other anniversary event. Ford Motor Company archivists were frequently very involved in company special events including planning, preparing publications, and documenting activities. Archives staff, for example, coordinated all activities of the 1963 Ford Centennial, working with numerous internal and external organizations. Logistics and planning for the 1959 re-enactment of the 1909 New York to Seattle Transcontinental Endurance Race included securing an appropriate Model T, ordering press packets for the event, and contacting newspapers along the route for available information on the original race.

Created prior to 1965 by Ford Motor Company Archives staff for researchers to utilize as a ready reference tool. The collected material provides access to frequently requested topical visual material.

When Clara Ford died in the fall of 1950, huge quantities of documents and photographs reflecting every aspect of the Ford's lives and every aspect of Ford Motor Company history were found in their Dearborn, Michigan Fair Lane home. Also in the early 1950s, the need for access to records became evident as the Ford Motor Company began to plan for its fiftieth anniversary celebration to be held in June of 1953. Robert Bahmer, Assistant Archivist of the United States, tapped by the company to advise, recommended the creation of a corporate archives. The program was launched in 1951 and housed at the Ford Engineering Laboratory in Dearborn. In 1952, Henry and Clara Ford's Fair Lane home was converted to house the material and serve researchers. In 1951, Henry E. Edmunds was appointed chief archivist, and in 1953, in tandem with moving the archives to Fair Lane and a grand opening, A. K. Mills was formally named director, reporting directly to Henry Ford II. Shortly after A. K. Mill's death in 1954, the Ford Archives reporting status changed from the President's Office to the Office of Public Relations. By 1957, demands associated with maintaining the Fair Lane site, along with budget issues, led to the relocation of the archives to the Ford Rotunda's north wing, where the unit remained until a fire destroyed the building in 1962. Records suffered only slight damage and were placed in various storage facilities until 1964, when a team of appraisers examined the material. By the end of that year, both the personal papers of Henry Ford and early business records of the Ford Motor Company were donated to the Edison Institute (now The Henry Ford), a non-profit organization wholly independent of the company. A small staff, including archivists Edmunds and Winthrop Sears, left the Ford Motor Company and joined the Edison Institute to carry on archival functions. The records are now housed in the Benson Ford Research Center at The Henry Ford.

Archivists at the Ford Motor Company Archives accessioned research papers offered from authors who utilized the collections. Papers came from a variety of sources, including students, graduate students, and people writing family reminiscences. Researchers should note that these are primarily academic and personal research papers and that none were company sponsored research. Reliability, quality, and length varies greatly.

Well before the formal creation of the Ford Motor Company's fiftieth anniversary committee in the summer of 1950, the concept of a company archives was seriously discussed in connection with the event. An oral history program was also instituted to complement and enhance the historical record. Personal friends, associates, company employees, and company executives were interviewed under the aegis of the project. Begun in 1951, the program was headed by Owen Bombard who trained with Allan Nevins at Columbia University's Oral History Research Office. Interviews were conducted, recorded on reel to reel audio tapes, and transcribed in narrative rather than in question and answer form. A draft manuscript was then prepared from the transcript. Indexes were created for most of the completed histories and bound with the original copy. Over three hundred interviews were conducted by the time the program was discontinued in 1956. About 238 were finalized and bound; another 100 were left in various stages of completion. Oral histories were also conducted in the 1950s by Allan Nevins and Frank Hill in tandem with research for their three-volume history of Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Company.