Thomas A. Edison Papers MFM 1166
The extensive collection of papers preserved in the archive at the Edison National Historic Site in West Orange, New Jersey -
approximately 3 1/2 million pages in all - is the product of the 60-year career of the genius Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) as
inventor, manufacturer, and businessman. Researchers have made little use of this wealth of documentary resources because of its
sheer size and complexity of organization. The Edison Papers Project began in the mid-1970's with the aim of producing a microfilm
edition of approximately 10 percent of the total extant Edison documents. It was projected to be in six parts, divided chronologically
for the most part. Todd Library now has Part I (1850-1878) and Part II (1879-1886). They reproduce laboratory notebooks containing
much technical material, extensive correspondence, legal documents, records of his manufacturing activity, scrapbooks of clippings,
patent applications, and much other material. Part I (28 reels) also includes the complete set of Edison's 1,093 U.S. Patents spanning
1896-1933 and the testimony and exhibits in the disputes in civil court and Patent Office Proceedings concerning ownership of patents
of telephone and telegraph. Part II (Reels 29-97) covers the years primarily devoted to the invention and development of the
incandescent electric lighting system, but includes material about the telephone and other technologies as well as legal records
concerning electric lighting patent disputes.
