This folder contains correspondence requesting Edison to write articles, letters from journalists and publishers seeking to interview him or solicit statements and photographs for publication, and other documents relating to articles by or about Edison and his inventions. Many of the letters for 1918 are war-related. Others pertain to Edison's past inventions and life history, as well as to future inventions and technological progress. Among the selected items is a collection of typed copies of newspaper editorials commenting upon Edison's public statement regarding his intention to continue phonograph production despite the war and his view that music will one day be "recognized as a greater essential than books." In addition, there is an exchange of correspondence with the editors of the Baltimore Sun and Educational Film Magazine, in which Edison claims credit for the invention of both talking pictures and the motion picture projector. A letter to the Greek-language newspaper National Herald offers Edison's opinions about Greek independence and statesman Eleftherios Venizelos.
Approximately 25 percent of the documents have been selected. The unselected items include requests for advertising; letters of transmittal for publications; items bearing routine Edison marginalia indicating that he was too busy or unwilling to answer; and correspondence receiving form-letter replies stating that Edison was not permitted to comment on his research for the government.
[E1804AB], Letter from Stephen Babcock Mambert to Mina Miller (Mrs Thomas A.) Edison, Thomas Alva Edison, January 28th, 1918 1918-01-28