This folder contains correspondence and other documents relating to banquets, luncheons, lectures, meetings with visiting dignitaries, and special events to which Edison was invited. Among the items for 1919 is correspondence with industrialist Charles M. Schwab and art critic Barr Ferree, officials of the Pennsylvania Society of New York, regarding a luncheon in honor of Belgian cardinal Désiré-Joseph Mercier, a vocal opponent of the German occupation during World War I. Edison attended the event, at which Mercier praised him for his services during the war, but his wife Mina Miller Edison declined because of a bad cold. Also included is an invitation from journalist and author Frank Dilnot to a dinner in honor of the Earl of Reading, which Edison declined on the grounds that he "would like to come but I cant hear a word." In addition, there are invitations, both declined by Edison, from Adm. George E. Burd to the launching of the battleship USS Tennessee and Bishop Fred B. Fisher to the Centenary Exhibition of American Methodist Missions.
Approximately 10 percent of the documents have been selected. The unselected items include letters, some with routine marginalia by Edison, that received routine replies stating that the inventor could not attend because he was away or busy experimenting; printed tickets; menus; and other event-related documents.
[E1942AA], Letter from Frank Dilnot, Association of Foreign Press Correspondents to Thomas Alva Edison, April 15th, 1919 1919-04-15