“Detroit—Motor City,” at the Detroit Historical Museum

Abstract

Exhibit Reviews “DETROIT—MOTOR CITY, ” AT THE DETROIT HISTORICAL MUSEUM RUSSELL OLWELL Located in the heart ofAmerica’s automobile capital, “Detroit — Motor City,” a new permanent exhibit at the Detroit Historical Mu­ seum, presents a nostalgic picture of the past and a hopeful vision of the future. Strikingly optimistic about both the automobile indus­ try and the city of Detroit, the exhibit begins with the development of small automobile companies in the city and follows the growth of the Ford Motor Company into an industrial giant, the develop­ ment of the Big Three, and the postwar automobile boom. The auto industry of the future is portrayed as an employer ofhigh-skill, hightech workers, creating well-paidjobs in southeast Michigan. The re­ cent economic rebound that has once again made U.S. automakers competitive and profitable has encouraged Detroit to believe that the future may lie, once again, in automobiles. “Detroit—Motor City” attempts to cover all facets of the automo­ bile and its role in the growth of the city. It has exhibit sections on workers, labor unions, technology, parts suppliers, automobile dealerships, and television commercials. This diversity of materials and topics is both the exhibit’s strength and its weakness. On the one hand, the attentive visitor with time and inclination to read the artifact labels will come away with a great deal of information about the industry and its social importance. On the other, the exhibit is very text-heavy and consequently more tiring and difficult to absorb than need be. Given a shortage of space and materials for the exhibit, the cura­ tors wisely decided not to try to create a historical car show (as the title might imply). The exhibit displays few automobiles, but instead focuses on manufacturing and sales and on the social impact of the automobile industry in southeastern Michigan. Mr. Olwell is completing a dissertation on blue-collar workers at Oak Ridge Na­ tional Laboratory for the STS program at the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology, while teaching in the University of Michigan’s Residential College and at Emerson Middle School in Ann Arbor.© 1996 by the Society for the History of Technology. All rights reserved. 0040-165X/96/3704-0005$01.00 813 814 Russell Olwell Fig. 1—Centerpiece of the exhibit, the Cadillac body drop. (Courtesy of the De­ troit Historical Museum.) The centerpiece of the exhibit is a recreation of the final body drop step—i.e., dropping the car body onto the frame—in assem­ bling a Cadillac (fig. 1). The sight of the completed body brought down onto the chassis is arresting and worth the eleven-minute wait between drops. Along with the accompanying machinery and fig­ ures, the body drop successfully simulates the horizontal assembly line process in only a single vertical motion. The surrounding exhibit space holds a series of displays about different aspects of the automobile industry, loaded with interesting artifacts and souvenirs of the period. Promotional items given away by automobile dealers have a prominent place, reminding the viewer that cars are not always a serious business. Parts suppliers take up an entire section, highlighting their contribution to the develop­ ment of new automotive technology. “Detroit—Motor City, ” at the Detroit Historical Museum 815 Unfortunately—and, somewhat ironically, unlike an assembly line, which would carry a visitor along a set route—the layout fails to steer the visitor effectively toward some of the important informa­ tion in the exhibit. This is a shame, as the material on employment and migration from the South to the Detroit automobile industry is compelling and well presented. Watching visitors to the exhibit, it was clear to me that much of the material resonates with both area residents and tourists. Viewers watch the entire video loop of automobile commercials, 14 minutes long, as it replays commercials that serve as a capsule social history ofAmerica from 1950 to the present. The section on the migration of workers from the South to Detroit is the family history of many exhibit viewers. The interactive features of the exhibit—typically set up at child height, which poses only a minor inconvenience for adults—are en­ gaging and informative. A well-done section on designing your...