Original Engineering Drawings Alongside Microfilm Copies, Ford Motor Company Rouge Plant, 1951

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Ford Motor Company microfilmed more than a million design and engineering drawings at its Rouge factory complex. The project included not only contemporary drawings, but earlier works going back to the Model T. Microfilm versions could be stored more securely to protect them from fire, flood, or even a potential Cold War bombing.