Part Of: Edison General File Series -- 1917

[E1711-F] (E-17-11) Birthday Greetings

This folder contains letters congratulating Edison on the celebration of his seventieth birthday and other related documents. Included is an interview with Edison's cousin Nancy Elizabeth (Lizzie) Wadsworth containing reminiscences about his boyhood in Milan, Ohio, along a letter from former employee Thomas Hodgson with reminiscences of electric motor making in the early 1880s. Also included are letters from Edison company executive Nelson C. Durand to motion picture pioneer George Kleine in regard to a birthday dinner planned for Edison on February 10; a telegram from son William Leslie Edison sending his regrets for being unable to attend the dinner; and a telegram exchange with the president of an amateur inventor society in Kiev.

Less than 5 percent of the documents have been selected. Almost all of the unselected items are birthday cards and letters from the public, including school children; others are from recording artists, friends, and business associates. A few, including telegrams from Samuel Insull, Thomas E. Murray, and Charles E. Scribner, contain regrets regarding the dinner invitation. Some of the items received routine letters of thanks drafted for Edison's signature, but none of the documents bear Edison marginalia.

Courtesy of Thomas Edison National Historical Park.

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