GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids is marking America's 250th anniversary with a new exhibit showcasing artifacts from the nation's 200th birthday — when Ford was in the White House.
Nestled in the heart of Grand Rapids, the museum is home to thousands of artifacts spanning Ford's life, from his childhood in the city to his time as the 38th president of the United States.
Among the current highlights is a rare document on loan from the National Archives.
"On loan to us from the National Archives in D.C., we have the Northwest Ordinance, which is the document from 1787 which kind of laid the groundwork for settlement of the Northwest Territory, which included Michigan," Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum Supervisory Curator Dr. Mirelle Luecke said.
Ford's story begins with a name most visitors don't expect.
"So he was born Leslie Lynch King Jr., and his mother divorced his biological father, he was just a few months old, and so he was called Junie, and when his mother met his step father, Gerald Ford, he went from being junior King to junior Ford," Luecke said.
His path to the presidency was shaped in part by his military service.
"His World War II experience was really important to his kind of outlook on life. So he had started the war as an isolationist, really believing that the U.S. shouldn't be involved in world affairs, but because of his service in World War II and his experience in the war, he was committed internationalist when he returned to Grand Rapids, and so this is part of what motivated him to run for office," Luecke said.
The museum's collection includes Ford's University of Michigan football uniform, his congressional desk, and a replica of the Oval Office as it appeared during his presidency — complete with a personal touch.
"I always point out to visitors, try to look at all the different pipes, he was a huge pipe smoker. These were all his pipes that he had in the Oval Office, and if you look closely, you can see the teeth marks on all of them. So they were well used," Luecke said.
One of the most striking pieces in the collection is a gown on loan from the Royal Collection Trust.
“This is Queen Elizabeth's dress that she wore to... dinner in 1976 and it's on loan to us from the Royal Collection Trust in King Charles in the UK. We're really excited to have it, but we knew that any exhibit talking about this extraordinary visit in 1976 had to have this dress, because this dance was was monumental," Luecke said.
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip visited for the nation's bicentennial in May of 1976.
Now, 50 years later, the museum is marking America's semiquincentennial with a new display called "The American Eagle," opening June 27 and running through the end of August.
"We have so many bicentennial artifacts in our collection, and we are really wanting to share as many as we can. So President Ford received bicentennial gifts not only from head of state leaders, but from the American public, and so people would just send the president things that they saw or things that they made related to the bicentennial," Luecke said.
Admission to the Ford Museum requires a fee, but entry will be free on July 4.
