DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Ford and the Henry Ford museum aretaking their vast trove of historical
documents, photos, video and otheritems and digitizing them so they can be shared online with the
public.Amongthe 14 million items accumulated in the Ford archives in Dearborn isthe resignation letter Henry
Ford sent to his board of directors onSept. 20, 1945, in which he said he needed time to pursue
personalinterests. They also have sketches, ad campaign materials and video,according to the Detroit Free
Press ( http://on.freep.com/1cGo3dR
)."Peoplehave a great emotional connection to the company’s heritage," archivesmanager Dean Weber
said. "We’re digitizing our heritage to get moreonline and reach new audiences."The University of
California hasoffered its computing center to assist with the collection, which willbe available at
thehenryford.org. But not all items can be scanned foronline viewing.Marilyn Zoidis, museum director of
historicalresources, said standards used by the Library of Congress will befollowed to put the documents
online.A group of journalists wasallowed in recently to see items that included the resignation letter,the
release in 1964 from Lee Iacocca that a car called the Mustang wascoming to the lineup and old Mustang
sketches.The sketches have been pulled for the 50th anniversary and new 2015 model coming out next
year.Otheritems they saw included 1960s sketches of the GT40 and advertisingmaterials from a 1925 ad
campaign called "Opening Highways to AllMankind."___Information from: Detroit Free Press, http://www.freep.comCopyright 2013 The Associated Press.
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