Part Of: Edison General File Series -- 1918

[E1881-F] (E-18-81) Thomas A. Edison, Inc.

This folder contains interoffice communications and other documents relating to the organization and administration of Thomas A. Edison, Inc. (TAE Inc.), a large corporation that encompassed Edison's phonograph-related businesses and several others. Some of the documents also deal with other Edison companies, such as Edison Primary Batteries, Inc., Edison Storage Battery Co. (ESBCo) and Wisconsin Cabinet & Panel Co. Among the items for 1918 are documents pertaining to the internal organization and financial structure of the company, labor issues, and plans to obtain exemptions for employees drafted as a result of the war. Also included are manufacturing status reports prepared by financial executive Stephen B. Mambert; telegrams regarding a conflict involving Edison's personal sales representative Miller Reese Hutchison and various officials of ESBCo; and two issues of the in-house publication, Round Table Letter, written by Edison's son and deputy Charles Edison.

In addition, there is a report by assistant financial executive Ralph H. Allen mentioning plans to dissolve the Motion Picture Patents Co. as well as long dormant companies such as the Edison Phonograph Co., Mining Exploration Co. of New Jersey, Ogden Iron Co., and New York Concentrating Works. A communication from John W. Robinson, secretary of TAE Inc., discusses the problem of storing company records and suggests a records management plan for the identification and disposition of unwanted documents.

Approximately 40 percent of the documents have been selected. The unselected material pertains to meetings, audits, business procedures, stationery and office supplies, tax laws, accounting practices, and general expense classifications.

Courtesy of Thomas Edison National Historical Park.

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