The Henry Ford

Henry Ford believed in learning by doing — in fostering inspiration and learning from hands-on encounters with real-life artifacts. To prove his point, he set out to build a learning resource unlike anything the world had ever seen and established The Henry Ford in 1929. Today, The Henry Ford houses the most comprehensive collection anywhere focused on the sweep of innovation, ingenuity and resourcefulness in America — a collection that’s still growing with exciting additions all the time. Henry Ford’s original educational vision is currently being realized every day through its collections, venues and programs. The mission of The Henry Ford is to provide unique educational experiences based on authentic objects, stories and lives from America's traditions of ingenuity, resourcefulness and innovation. Our purpose is to inspire people to learn from these traditions to help shape a better future.

The Vision for The Henry Ford is to be a force for inspiring every individual to innovate, create and invent.

Goal One: Growing Global Reach: As a driver of educational change, we will create opportunities for all individuals by providing the tools they need to realize their potential and create stronger communities.

Goal Two: Strengthen Our Relevance: Using our collections, stories and experiences, we will be a leading American history destination by providing insight and inspiration, prompting innovation and creativity.

Goal Three: Build Financial & Institutional Sustainability: We will maximize the impact of our mission by growing diversified revenue, diligently allocating our resources and investing wisely.

The Henry Ford's Talent & Culture Department has developed professional development courses that are available to leadership and all staff, depending on the subject that are available through THF's online HR system, called "Inspiring U." The first course developed and required for all leadership staff was a virtual learning series developed in conjunction with and led by led by Tyrone Holmes, Ed.D. to THF leadership on unconscious bias. Other courses available for all staff include THF Active Threat Response and THF Workplace Harassment Prevention. Leadership courses include "Feedback that Works" and "Inspiring Leadership." All staff required to submit multi-year professional development goals through THF's HR system, Dayforce.

In March 2023, THF held its first all staff conference since before the pandemic began. All staff and volunteers were invited to attend a day of learning that included a reflection on the previous year and a vision for the future. President & CEO, Patricia Mooradian, started by outlining the theme of the meeting, “Transforming Together”. In her speech, Patricia remarked that restarting the conference was a sign that THF was moving forward in a new environment. Many hard choices were made, and staff pulled together to change the way THF works and serves its audiences. THF learned that we cannot go back to the way we operated before the pandemic began. The challenges of the pandemic provided an opportunity for leadership to evaluate all aspects of the organization and make necessary changes to not only survive, but to thrive moving forward. THF will continue to transform the organization together to best achieve its mission and vision in this new world. One sign of this transformation was THF’s revenue in 2022 reached that same level as it was in the last year before the pandemic.