The Thomas A. Edison Papers Digital Edition

[This folder has not been completely edited. Letters are currently being added, and documents identified as "to be edited" may not have images or complete database information. In addition, the information in the folder target (editorial description) may not be up-to-date.]

These documents consist primarily of letters by Charles Edison (1890-1969) addressed to his parents, Thomas A. and Mina Miller Edison. Also included are several telegrams signed jointly by Charles and his wife Carolyn Hawkins Edison (1883-1963), whom he married in March 1918. In addition, there are telegrams from Charles to Carl H. Wilson and Stephen B. Mambert of Thomas A. Edison, Inc. (TAE Inc.) announcing the marriage; a newspaper clipping about the marriage; and a printed transcription from John D. Venable's Out of the Shadow: The Story of Charles Edison (1978) of a letter from December 6, 1917, in which Charles expresses his determination to marry Carolyn. There are also a few letters from Charles to his younger brother Theodore, written while Charles was a student at The Hotchkiss School and MIT. Letters exchanged between Charles and his sister Madeleine are organized separately (click here for the editorial description and document list) as are letters from Carolyn Edison to Mina Edison (click here for the editorial description and document list) .

The selected items, many of which are undated or only partially dated, cover the years 1906-1930. The earliest document is an undated itinerary of towns visited by Thomas Edison and his party during an automobile trip to North Carolina in May 1906 to search for cobalt for use in the inventor's storage battery; included are comments by Charles, who accompanied his father on the trip, about the various towns he visited. There is also a mock play, probably written during the period 1907-1909, spoofing Edison family life. Also included is a humorous piece, dating from the same period and entitled "Royal Bulletin No. 1" and "Royal Bulletin No. II," announcing a visit to the Edison laboratory and factories by "The King" and "The Queen" (Hotchkiss School Headmaster Huber Gray Buehler and his wife).

The early correspondence relates primarily to Charles's student years at MIT. Also included are intermediate (informal), semi-annual, and annual progress reports for the period November 1909-January 1912 indicating poor performance by Charles in many of his courses. An undated letter to his parents, probably written late in 1912, announces his desire to drop his courses and take a leave of absence from the university. Other early letters pertain to his trip to Arkansas in the summer of 1911, his work at the Boston Edison Co. in 1912-1913, his trip to the Pacific Coast during the summer of 1913, and his brief business association with the Upton brothers (sons of longtime Edison associate Francis R. Upton) in San Francisco.

Many of the subsequent letters relate to Charles's involvement in his father's business enterprises. Included are references to the commercial and technical development of the phonograph, motion picture, storage battery, radio, and cement businesses. Of particular significance is a six-page letter written on September 12, 1921, in which Charles attempts to repair the strained relationship with his father that resulted from the massive layoffs at TAE Inc. There is also correspondence from the late 1920s regarding the Edison scholarship contest and the developm