This folder contains documents relating to the work of the Naval Consulting Board (NCB), on which Edison served as president, as well as to Edison's personal research for the U.S. Navy during World War I. Included is a communication to the NCB from Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, enclosing a list of "problems for solution that are of vital interest to the Navy," along with other documents that were forwarded to Edison by his chief engineer and fellow NCB member Miller Reese Hutchison. Also included is the program for a conference on submarine defense sponsored by the NCB Committee on Special Problems. Other correspondents include William C. Carr of the Automatic Transportation Co.; Capt. W. Strother Smith, who served as liaison between the U.S. Navy Dept. and the NCB; and plant physiologist Rodney H. True of the Department of Agriculture.
Approximately 30 percent of the documents have been selected. Most of the unselected material consists of unsolicited submissions from the general public, which were either returned to the sender or forwarded to NCB secretary Thomas Robins. Also unselected are inquiries and requests that received a routine reply stating that Edison was too busy to read or respond to them.
Related material can be found in the "1917 Correspondence" folders in the Naval Consulting Board and Wartime Research Papers, Special Collections Series, as well as in other Edison General File folders for 1917 such as E-17-90 (World War I -- Experimental Work).
[E1765AA], Letter from Josephus Daniels to Naval Consulting Board, February 7th, 1917 1917-02-07