Part Of: Company Records Series -- National Phonograph Company -- Foreign Department Letterbooks

[CL302-F] Letterbook #2 (1909)

This letterbook covers the period January 5-14, 1909. It contains copies of correspondence generated by and for Walter Stevens, manager of the Foreign Department. Among the correspondents are Thomas J. Kennedy, resident manager of the Compania Edison Hispano Americana in Buenos Aires; L. L. Lewis of the Mexican National Phonograph Co. in Mexico City; and William W. Wyper of the National Phonograph Co. of Australia, Ltd., in Sydney. Also included are letters to customers and agents in Africa, Asia, South America, Europe, and the Caribbean, as well as to commission houses in New York, Newark, and elsewhere. Many of the letters are in response to inquiries about the cost and supply of phonographs, sound recordings, films, projectors, numbering machines, and other Edison products. There is also correspondence regarding the importation of mineral wax and diamonds for phonograph records and phonographs; the price and discount structures available to Edison companies and agents; and business conditions in Mexico and Argentina. One of the letters to Kennedy contains comments on all of the business structures attempted by NPCo in its pursuit of foreign markets. Also included are numerous routine letters acknowledging orders and shipments. Some of the letters are in Spanish and French. The spine is stamped "Foreign Dept," "147," and "N.P. Co." The book contains 499 numbered pages and an index. Less than 10 percent of the book has been selected.

Courtesy of Thomas Edison National Historical Park.

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