This folder contains correspondence and other documents relating to the commercial and technical development of Edison's alkaline storage battery. Included are estimated advertising budgets and printed advertising proofs, several of which contain corrections or other remarks written by Edison in the form of marginalia. Among the correspondents are the advertising firm of Calkins & Holden and longtime Edison associate T. Commerford Martin, who was collecting figures about the Edison Storage Battery Co. on behalf of the U.S. Census office. One letter by Henry Lanahan and Clarence Churchill, written on behalf of the company, concerns urban agencies involved in the sale of "pleasure electrics" and their attitude toward the Edison battery. Also included are two expense statements pertaining to the assembly of battery cells and a letter from investor James Gaunt.
Approximately 30 percent of the documents have been selected. The documents not selected include invoices, purchase orders, and additional advertising proofs, along with a draft booklet entitled "The Margin of Certainty." Also not selected are site reports made by Lanahan and Churchill while visiting individual agencies and an equipment proposal, submitted by the machine tool manufacturer Niles-Bement-Pond Co., concerning plain milling machines. Both bear perfunctory marginal markings, probably by Edison.
Related material can be found in E-11-18 (Battery Storage - Electric Vehicles - Promotional).
[E1115AA], Letter from Calkins and Holden to Leonard C McChesney, February 4th, 1911 1911-02-04