Items

[CL221-F] Domestic (1910)

Company Records Series -- National Phonograph Company -- Correspondence

Title: [CL221-F] Domestic (1910)
Description: This folder contains correspondence and other documents relating to the commercial exploitation of phonographs in the United States. Most of the items are letters to and from Frank L. Dyer, president of NPCo. Other correspondents include Carl H. Wilson, general manager; Leonard C. McChesney, manager of the Advertising Department; Leo H. Baekeland; Nelson Goodyear; and William M. Lybrand. Included are letters pertaining to the manufacture, distribution, and sale of phonographs and records, as well as correspondence about litigation, patents, and other legal matters. Among the documents for 1910 are letters concerning the development of a disc record and a diamond reproducing point; the activities of the Traveling Department, a recently established sales division; recordings made by polar explorer Ernest H. Shackleton; and competition with Victor and Columbia. Among the items relating to disc records are letters to and from Baekeland about the use of Bakelite for the records; and experimental reports by Edward L. Aiken, who was working with Jonas Walter Aylsworth on record composition, surface wear, and machine tools for record manufacture. There is also correspondence by Edison pertaining to technical developments, corporate finances, and various sales schemes, along with several undated memoranda by Edison at the end of the folder. Some of Dyer's letters refer to the business of other Edison companies such as the Edison Storage Battery Co. and the Edison Portland Cement Co., as well as the proposed consolidation of Edison's interests and the use of the name "Thomas A. Edison, Incorporated."
Approximately 10 percent of the documents have been selected, including samples of daily and weekly sales reports that were routed to Edison. Aiken's reports to Dyer on record composition have not been selected where selected letters from Dyer to Edison treat the same matters. Also among the unselected items is an advertising plan prepared by the J. Walter Thompson agency that was never adopted.
URL: https://edisondigital.rutgers.edu/folder/CL221-F
Identifier: CL221-F
Type: Company Records
Rights: Courtesy of Thomas Edison National Historical Park.
Is Part Of: Company Records Series -- National Phonograph Company -- Correspondence
Alternative Title: Domestic (1910)
Has Version: Archive.org Viewer, Microfilm Series Reel 217

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