Search

Detroit financier and industrialist, president of Packard Motor Car Company, leader of the "Good Roads Movement" and president of the Lincoln Highway Association, active in the Republican Party and business associations. Papers include correspondence, scrapbooks and photographs relating to automobile business, cross country auto travels and Joy's political interests.

The Henry B. Joy papers consist of correspondence concerning his business activities in Detroit, Michigan, his support of the Lincoln Highway Association, his campaign against the Eighteenth Amendment (Prohibition), and their interest in the Federal Council of Churches; also business letter books, 1888-1892, and 1902-1903; photograph album, 1915, concerning automobile trip from Detroit to San Francisco; scrapbooks, 1883-1937, containing newspaper clippings and articles relating to the development of the automobile industry, national economic affairs and Republican politics; and collection of printed pamphlets and newsletters, 1927-1936, of conservative individuals and organizations, including the American Coalition, American Liberty League, the Vigilant Intelligence Federation, the Daughters of the American Revolution, Elizabeth Dilling, Robert E. Edmonson, the Industrial Defense Association, the National Civic Federation, and the Union League of Michigan. The collection also includes photograph albums of cross-country automobile trips and of racing cars; also portraits of Joy.

Formed in 1913 by Carl G. Fisher, Frank A. Seiberling, and Henry B. Joy, the Lincoln Highway Association was made up of representatives from the automobile, tire, and cement industries. The Association aimed to plan, fund, construct, and promote the first transcontinental highway in North America. The route ran from New York to San Francisco, and covered approximately 3,400 miles. The Detroit headquarters of the Association closed in 1928. This collection contains: correspondence, particularly between members of the Association and government officials; meeting minutes; reports, bulletins, and newsletters published by the Association; motorist maps of the route; and annotated editions of The Complete Official Road Guide of the Lincoln Highway. Photographs from the Lincoln Highway Association Records have been digitized and are accessible online at the Lincoln Highway Digital Image Collection (http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/linchigh). The Digital Image Collection contains over 3,000 images including views of construction underway, towns and cities, markers, bridges, cars, camp sites, scenic views, and snapshots of Association directors and field secretaries traveling the route.

The Lincoln Highway Association Records date from 1911 to 1993 with the bulk of materials concentrated before 1930. The records are divided into five series: Official Business (1912-1941), Correspondence (1912-1929), Planning (1914-1940), Publicity (1911-1993), Publications (1915-1935), Jens Jensen Drawings (1922-1924) and Miscellaneous.

The Lincoln Highway Association archive was donated to the University of Michigan's Transportation Library in 1937. The archive was transferred to the Special Collections Library in 1992.

Communication was frequent between members of the Association as well as with officials from towns, counties, states, and the federal government. Correspondence and meeting minutes make up an important part of the collection. The Association published reports, bulletins, and newsletters to keep board members and the public aware of the Highway's progress. Maps of the driving route along with mileages were provided for motorists for navigation as were five editions of The Complete Official Road Guide of the Lincoln Highway .

Photographs from the Lincoln Highway Association Records have been digitized and are accessible online at the Lincoln Highway Digital Image Collection (http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/linchigh). The Digital Image Collection contains over 3,000 images including views of construction underway, towns and cities, markers, bridges, cars, camp sites, scenic views, and snapshots of Association directors and field secretaries traveling the route.