The Thomas A. Edison Papers Digital Edition

This folder contains correspondence and other documents relating to Edison's winter home, Seminole Lodge, and to community interests at Fort Myers, Florida. Included is a financial statement by Richard W. Kellow, secretary of Thomas A. Edison, Personal, indicating approximately $9,500 in expenses incurred during the year 1918. Also included are letters exchanged between Kellow and longtime Edison associate Frederick P. Ott while Ott was vacationing with the Edison family in Florida; a letter from Edison to Mayor W. P. Franklin complaining about damage to the palm trees caused by electric light wires; and a clipping from the Fort Myers Press entitled "Edison Pier a Menace" regarding the alleged danger presented to boats on the Caloosahatchee River by the inventor's unlighted dock. Other correspondents include property manager Nellie G. Tinstman, steamboat operator and Fort Myers Board of Trade member J. Frederick Menge, and fruit grower George F. Ensey.

Approximately 10 percent of the documents have been selected, including a representative sample of correspondence between Kellow and Tinstman about estate management issues. The unselected material covers topics such as preparations for the Edison family's arrival, shipments of equipment and fruit, citrus sales, repairs, chemicals and experimental apparatus, the water supply, firefighting equipment, and financial matters. Also not selected is correspondence involving Kellow, Ott, and Mina Miller Edison that does not pertain to Edison personally.