Part Of: Special Collections Series -- William H. Meadowcroft Papers -- Correspondence

[MM001BA-F] William H. Meadowcroft Papers (1909)

[This note covers all of the Meadowcroft Correspondence folders for 1907-1913.]

This folder contains correspondence and other documents covering the period August 1907-October 1913. Included are letters and memoranda received, generated, and collected by William H. Meadowcroft in the course of his research for the official biography, Edison: His Life and Inventions, by Frank L. Dyer and T. Commerford Martin. There are reminiscences about Edison's youth in Port Huron, Michigan; his early years as a telegrapher in Boston and New York; and his work at Menlo Park. The correspondents include Dyer, Martin, Ralph W. Pope, and Frederick A. Scheffler, as well as Edison and various Edison employees. Two unsigned memoranda, probably by Meadowcroft or Dyer, report biographically relevant conversations with Edison in August 1907 and May 1908.

Additional correspondence pertains to Meadowcroft's personal life and business endeavors. These include letters reflecting his stewardship of Edison's celebrity after the publication of the Dyer and Martin biography. Also included are Meadowcroft's recollections of his early work in the Edison Miniature and Decorative Lamp Department at the Edison Lamp Works in Harrison, New Jersey. At the end of the folder is a draft manuscript by Meadowcroft describing the intensity of Edison's work on the phonograph during the period 1911-1913.

Less than 10 percent of the documents have been selected. The items not selected include letters exchanged between Meadowcroft and his publishers, as well as personal correspondence unrelated to Edison or to Meadowcroft's work for Edison.

Courtesy of Thomas Edison National Historical Park.

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