The Henry Ford May Not Be Like the Smithsonian, But ... Or Is It?

Mo Rocca hosts a weekly news magazine geared at teens that is shot at The Henry Ford museum complex in Dearborn. (Screenshot: YouTube)

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The Henry Ford museum complex in Dearborn is reaching out to some big names in hopes that it can one day be regarded on par with more famous museums like the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC.

Museum president Patricia Mooradian told the Detroit Free Press that the sprawling complex is already in the national spotlight as a location for the Saturday-morning educational program, “The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation,” hosted by humorist Mo Rocca, a regular on the National Public Radio quiz show “Wait Wait ... Don’t Tell Me!”

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• Watch the Trailer: “The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation”

The institution also recruited and hired Matthew Martin as the senior director of engagement experience for the 200-acre museum – which includes Greenfield Village, an IMAX theater and other attractions.

Martin, who most recently worked in London, is lead creative designer behindLegoland theme parks in England, Denmark, Germany, Malaysia, Florida and California, and under development in Dubai, South Korea and Japan. Before that, he was a show set designer for Walt Disney Imagineering and Universal Studios.

A national historic landmark with an unparalleled collection of artifacts from 300 years of American history, The Henry Ford attracts more than 1.6 million visitors annually to its five attractions: Henry Ford Museum, Greenfield Village, The Ford Rouge Factory Tour, The Benson Ford Research Center and The Henry Ford IMAX Theatre.

Mooradian thinks it possible to bring more attention to the museum and make it part of Detroit’s comeback from Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

“As Detroit reinvents itself, we want to be part of that,” she said, noting that the museum “does not have top-of-mind awareness nationally, and it would help our community and southeast Michigan to get more visitors here.”

Dave Morgan, founder and president of Litton Entertainment, which produces “Innovation Nation,” told the Free Press that “the Smithsonian has nothing on this museum.”

The half-hour news magazine aimed at teens hosts inventors from around the world and features some of the historic relics inside the Dearborn museum premiered in September to strong reviews. A contract is in the works for a second season. It typically draws about 1.3 million viewers per episode, and its audience increase 15 percent after one month on the air.

Landing the show was another major coup for the museum, and was part of museum officials’ long-term strategy to put The Henry Ford on the national map. Both the television show and the ongoing digitization of the museum’s collection of artifacts – only about 60 percent of which are on display at a given time – increase the museum’s reach and put its educationl mission “ out in the forefront in ways we’ve never been able to do before.”