Autograph book – a historical who’s who

The article that David Good recently submitted for review reads like a 20^thWho’s Who of the 20th Century. “This is a collection of nearly 90 autographs of Henry Ford’s more notable visitors between 1925 and 1929,” he wrote. “Most of them are in the autograph book of my grandfather, Oliver E. Jones, who, as a receptionist at Ford’s headquarters in Oakwood, was the guy you had to pass if you wanted to meet Henry.”

“Some of the autographs were removed from the book and framed by Grandpa Jones’ son, Leon V. Jones,” he added. “They included Thomas A. Edison, Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, John Philip Sousa, Carl Sandburg, Sgt. Alvin York and Eddie Rickenbacker.”

Others represented include Jean Rene Lacoste, one of France’s “Four Musketeers” who dominated world tennis in the 1920s and 30s and introduced the Lacoste tennis polo shirt, Captain Ernest August Lehmann, 1886-1937, one of the most famous figures in air travel, Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole, bestselling author of the 1920s and 30s, William Bushnell Stout, American inventor, engineer, developer and designer who made groundbreaking contributions to the automobile and aviation fields, and navigator Bernt Balchen, who piloted the modified Ford 4-AT Trimotor. Floyd Bennett on the first flight to the South Pole in 1929 and Harvey Samuel Firestone, who founded the Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. and became one of the leading minds of American industry. “He was a close friend and traveling companion of Henry Ford; Firestone, Ford and Thomas Edison called themselves the Vagabonds,” explained Good.

Appraiser Brian Thomczek had fun looking through the many signatures during a recent meeting at the Michigan Design Center in Troy. Good explained that his grandfather had cut some out of the book and framed them with the appropriate stamps. “It was interesting to see who Ford’s visitors were in the 1920s,” Good told Thomczek, adding, “He had the more important ones framed.” “Did you tell the Henry Ford Museum you had this?” Thomczek wondered.