♪ ♪ There's a world ♪ somewhere near ♪ ♪ A world we've come to know ♪ ♪ Your family and you ♪ can search for it too ♪ ♪ a place that will help us ♪ to grow ♪ ♪ There's a world ♪ somewhere near ♪ ♪ under beautiful skies ♪ ♪ You can find it and say ♪ on a bright, sunny day ♪ ♪ Under the Yellow Balloon ♪ ♪ Yes, ♪ Under the Yellow Balloon ♪ ♪ Student> Bye, Mrs. Johnson.

Thomas> Bye, Mrs. Johnson.

Anita> Thomas!

Thomas, wait for me.

Where were you going in such a hurry?

Thomas> I was going home.

Anita> Don't you remember at breakfast this morning?

Father said for us to come by the print shop after school.

He said he would be done with work early and we could get a ride home with him.

Thomas> Good.

I'll race you to the print shop.

Anita> Thomas, that's not fair.

Thomas> I'm Thomas Howard.

That's my sister Anita.

This is Greenfield Village.

It's in the state of Michigan.

Our father is a printer here in the village.

(train whistle blows) He wants me to be a printer one day.

But I'd rather work on the railroad.

(train whistle continues) (bells ringing) ♪ Maybe I'll build cars like Henry Ford did.

I like to come here and watch father work.

Maybe I will be a printer after all.

There's dad.

Father> Oh, good afternoon, children.

Did you have a good day at school?

Thomas> Uh, it was okay.

Anita> I enjoyed it.

Father> Good.

I'll bet Thomas did, too, but won't admit it.

Thomas> Oh, Dad.

Anita> Are you ready to go?

Father> Not yet.

We just got a special order that needs to be completed today.

Can you go home with someone else?

Thomas> Everyone else has already gone.

Anita> We told the teacher we were coming here to meet you.

Father> I'm going to be here another two hours.

Why don't you two look around the village.

Thomas> Okay.

Anita> I'd like that.

I left my shawl at the school.

I have to go back there and get it.

Can I leave this here?

Father> Sure.

Be back here in two hours.

Anita> Okay.

Bye.

Father> Bye.

Thomas> Greenfield Village isn't a real town.

It's a preserved village.

People don't live here.

They just come to visit.

Father> We're printing handbills for our autumn harvest weekend.

That's a Washington press.

It's our oldest type of printing press.

It's operated by hand, and about 60 or 70 sheets can be printed every hour.

Ink is placed on the type, papers placed over it.

Then pressure is applied to the cover.

The ink transfers the image from the plate onto the paper.

♪ Now the type is also set by hand.

Each letter is separate.

And has to be placed in order on the form.

Spacers fill out the rest of the page.

♪ The buildings were moved here from all over the country to show what a typical American town could have looked like.

There are homes and other buildings necessary for a town to exist.

Our father and other people who work here explain to visitors what life was like in the 1700s, the 1800s, and in the early years of the 1900s.

The village green was in the center of the town, and most of the town's most important buildings face the green.

The church is at one end of the village green.

The town hall is opposite the church.

In the town hall, the villagers held their meetings to talk about the town's problems.

They went here to vote on laws and to elect local officials.

The general store had everything in it that the people of the town needed.

Today, we would have to go to a lot of different stores to get all the things that were once available at the general store.

The Clinton Inn was built in 1831 as the first stagecoach stop between Detroit and Chicago.

Rooms were usually available, but if they were all taken, you could sleep on the floor for two cents a night.

In the tap room, travelers could get their favorite beverages and cook their food over the fire.

People had to bring their own food, but they could rent the plates to put it on.

♪ The village school, was the center of learning in the community.

This is a one room school.

All grades met in the same room and were taught by the same teacher.

Most of the lessons were recited or said aloud.

Anita and I don't really go to school here.

Our classes came here today for a special outing just to see what schools used to be like.

Tomorrow, we'll be back in our regular classroom.

Anita> What are you doing?

Thomas> Playing.

Anita> Well it wouldn't be so funny if you really had to sit in the corner and wear it.

Thomas> I guess not.

C'mon let's go to the tinsmith's.

Anita> I don't want to go there.

I want to go see the basket maker.

You go where you want to go, and I'll go where I want to go.

We can meet back at the print shop.

Thomas> Okay.

♪ Anita> Basket making is probably the oldest craft.

Even cavemen made baskets to use as containers.

Baskets can be made from many kinds of materials.

Small strips cut from tree limbs, vines, and even roots can be woven into baskets.

The dried material has to be soaked in water to make it limber enough for weaving.

After the basket dries, it'll be ready to use.

♪ We use candles today for decorations or for light when the electricity goes off.

Long ago there was no electricity and most homes used candles for light.

Families made their own candles.

All a candle is, is a wick or a piece of string that has been dipped in hot wax over and over again until it is the right size.

♪ I bet people were happy when Thomas Edison invented the first light bulb, and electricity could be used for light.

Sarah Jordan's Boarding House was the first home in the world to be lighted with electricity.

Thomas Edison was an inventor.

For ten years, he had a laboratory at Menlo Park, new Jersey.

The buildings were moved here and set up just as they were when he worked there.

Mr. Edison conducted over 6000 experiments before he perfected his light bulb.

He also invented many other things.

While he was at Menlo Park.

He invented one minor item every ten days and one major invention every six weeks.

One thing that Thomas Edison invented, that I use all the time is the phonograph.

The very first recording ever made was Mr. Edison reading "Mary Had a Little Lamb."

Edison> ...Mary went the lamb was sure to go.

♪ Thomas> Silver and pewter were too expensive to use for everyday items.

So a tinsmith made household goods from tin.

He could make his goods decorative as well as useful.

All it took was some imagination and a lot of skill.

One wrong move and a piece could be ruined.

Glass is made by mixing sand, soda ash, limestone and borax, and melting it over high heat.

Shapes are made by dipping a long hollow iron pole in the hot glass.

Some of the glass sticks to the pear shaped end.

By blowing gently into it, the glass bulges out to form a bubble.

♪ This bubble can be squeezed, stretched, twirled or cut until it's the right shape.

Sometimes the hot glass is blown into molds, which determines the size and shape of the finished piece.

♪ Anita> Cloth had to be made before clothes could be made.

Long ago, most families had their own loom on which they wove cloth for the family's clothes.

It took a long time to weave enough cloth for a shirt.

But once steam engines were invented, they could be attached to looms and cloth could be woven faster.

It was still a slow process, but it was a lot better than doing it all by hand.

This is the cooper shack.

Cooper comes from a European word meaning container.

A cooper works on wood.

He makes buckets and butter churns.

♪ ♪ A bucket is made from 16 slats.

The cooper makes slats until he has 16 that fit together.

An iron ring holds the slats in place.

When the bucket is placed in water, the wood expands and seals the slats together.

Then the bucket can be used to hold liquids.

♪ Thomas> Henry Ford was born in this building.

He's responsible for people having automobiles.

His Model T, was the first mass produced car.

His idea for an assembly line made cars cheaper and easier to make.

This was the first Ford Motor Company factory.

♪ All the pieces for the cars were made elsewhere and brought here.

The men who worked here worked on four cars at a time.

The cars stayed on sawhorses until they were finished.

15 cars were made every day.

The Model C cost 850 dollars, but was more expensive if you wanted extras.

A back seat cost 100 dollars more.

A top cost 50 dollars.

An automobile outing was considered good if you only had two flat tires.

Every driver had a tire pump and patch kit in his car at all times.

Cars sure have changed.

Wilbur and Orville Wright we're brothers who ran a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio.

They made bicycles in order to finance their flying experiments.

In 1903, they invented a power-driven heavier than air machine that actually flew.

Their first flight lasted only 12 seconds and covered 120 feet.

But this was the very first time that an airplane actually flew through the air.

Planes, like cars, have changed since they were first invented.

I guess everything has changed.

♪ Father> Thomas, Anita, come on time to go.

♪ Thomas> My family still does some of the same things that families used to do, but we do most of them differently today.

Greenfield Village looks like a town could have looked long ago.

I can pretend this is my new home, but it isn't.

I live today, not long ago.

I like living today, but I also like seeing how people used to live.

It helps me understand them better.

It also makes me appreciate today.

♪ ♪ (whistle blowing) ♪ (tractor engine sounds) ♪ Caller> Now promenade.

You get straight.

Then swing your partner like swinging on a gate.

Grand right, left back home.

♪ ♪ (theme music) ♪ ♪ ♪