The Thomas A. Edison Papers Digital Edition

This folder consists primarily of correspondence by Edison's oldest son, Thomas A. Edison, Jr. Most of the letters are addressed to his friend, Edward J. Redington of Syracuse, New York. Included is discussion of a camping trip to the Adirondacks scheduled for June; Thomas's romantic feelings about May Brush of Clifton Springs, New York; and his various business ventures, including his plans to harness the tides of the ocean and his process for transforming steel into iron. A letter from August 27 discusses the bad feelings engendered by Thomas's decision to bring Marie Louise Toohey (his future wife) along on the camping trip. There is also a letter from the elder Edison to Thomas Commerford Martin, co-editor of the Electrical Engineer, regarding his son's personal and intellectual shortcomings. Several communications from Edison Jr. to his father's personal secretary, John F. Randolph, discuss the disposition of a mortgage executed by his father and stepmother, Mina Miller Edison, in January 1897. All of the documents have been selected.

Images from two additional letters from December 1898, originally published in the Supplement Series in Part IV of the Thomas A. Edison Papers microfilm edition, were added in April 2010. A vitriolic letter from Thomas to his father discusses the shortcomings of the elder Edison as both a father and businessman and avows that henceforth "I shall deal with you man to man and not father to son." A response from Edison, communicated by his son William, calls his eldest son a "disgrace" and threatens legal action if he continues to use the Edison name "as a drawing card."