The Thomas A. Edison Papers Digital Edition

This 7-page essay, entitled "Mixed Feelings," was written by Mina Edison on October 20, 1929—the day before the opening and dedication of Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. This event was intended to coincide with the Golden Jubilee (fiftieth anniversary) of Edison's invention of the incandescent light. While appreciative of the "great honors that are being paid my husband," she expresses her concern that "Menlo and Electric Light idea is made so prominent that all the other great inventions and work is almost forgotten" and her belief that the laboratory in West Orange and the home in Llewellyn Park must be kept as the "real shrine." An accompanying note indicates Mrs. Edison gave the document "for preservation" to Norman R. Speiden, a family friend who subsequently became curator of the Edison National Historic Site (now Edison National Historical Park) in West Orange.