The Thomas A. Edison Papers Digital Edition

This folder contains letters from non-family members dealing mainly with the purchase of goods and with charitable donations. Some items pertain to the financial needs of nonprofit and other institutions, including the Orange Free Library, the New Jersey Home and Training School for Feeble Minded Children, and church and hospital funds in Fort Myers, Brooklyn, and Newark. The six selected items include two letters from 1886 that were added to this folder in December 2011. One is by Stephen A. Emery of the New England Conservatory of Music, with whom Mina studied music while she was living in Boston; the other is by Elizabeth C. Allton, a former classmate at Miss Abby H. Johnson's Home and Day School for Young Ladies. The other selected letters relate to Edison's health, Marion Edison's French tutor, Mina Edison's charitable activities, and her $50,000 loan to Aultman, Miller & Co. of Akron, Ohio.

The following categories of documents have not been selected: correspondence pertaining to the purchase of household items, clothing, and domestic services; telegrams regarding the travel arrangements or the transmittal of documents; solicitations and acknowledgments of annual dues and charitable donations; requests for loans; letters concerning subscriptions for the Orange Methodist Episcopal Church.