History, with all The Dust Blown Off

1928 Harley-Davidson Model Catalog printed in Japanese

Artifact Spotlight:

1928 Harley-Davidson Model Catalog printed in Japanese

“Harley-Davidson export business has reached that stage where the specially constructed foreign crates can be seen leaving the factory shipping door almost every day of the week.” The Harley-Davidson Dealer, April 1914

International export became an important part of Harley-Davidson‘s business very early in its history. The Motor Company had representatives in such far-flung places as Australia, Holland, South Africa, and Argentina by the mid-teens and aggressively expanded its international operations through the 1920s and ‘30s.

Though Harley-Davidson motorcycles were occasionally imported throughout the 1910s, the brand gained a real foothold in Japan in 1924, when A.R. Child established a company branch in Tokyo. The bikes became popular among both civilians and government agencies like the Imperial Guard. This image is of the back cover of the Japanese version of the 1928 model catalog that is currently on display in the Museum. That same year, in addition to English, the company also published product literature in Chinese, Czech, Swedish, French, German, Italian, and Dutch.