The Thomas A. Edison Papers Digital Edition

[This folder was re-edited in March 2010. Many of the undated letters were assigned more precise conjectured dates, and dates that had been incorrectly conjectured were corrected. These changes have necessitated numerous changes in the arrangement of the letters and in the Document IDs. To find the current Document ID if you know the old one, click here and enter the old ID in the "Find New ID" box.]

This folder consists of undated letters from William Leslie Edison (1878-1937), primarily to his stepmother, Mina Miller Edison. There are also a few letters to Thomas Edison and to Madeleine and Charles Edison, the inventor's children from his second marriage. Some of the letters were written while William was attending Trinity Preparatory School in Staten Island during the years 1894-1897. One contains a notation by Edison: "Wm Your spelling makes me faint." Also included are letters written from Yale University, which William attended during the fall of 1897. The last letter, probably dating from the fall of 1898, was written shortly after William returned from Puerto Rico, where he served in the First New York Regiment of Volunteer Engineers during the Spanish-American War.

Additional letters by William L. Edison can be found in the Charles Edison Fund Collection and the David E. E. Sloane Collection Some of the letters in the CEF Collection, scanned from the microfilm, are now in the possession of the Thomas Edison National Historical Park. These items are so indicated in the document information frame above each image.