The Thomas A. Edison Papers Digital Edition

[Note: The Document IDs for the letters in this folder were re-numbered in November 2011. To find the current ID for a letter if you know the old one, click here.]

[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 letters are primarily from Madeleine Edison (1888-1979) to her mother, Mina Miller Edison. Although Madeleine's letters are sometimes addressed to both parents, only a few letters, relating principally to her request for financial assistance in 1923, are written directly to Thomas Edison. In addition to the correspondence by Madeleine, there are letters to Thomas and Mina Edison from John Eyre Sloane (1886-1970), whom Madeleine married in June 1914. There are also occasional letters written by Madeleine. The recipients include her four children, Thomas (Ted), John (Jack), Peter, and Michael; relatives such as her aunt, Mary Emily Miller, and friends such as her college roommate, Julia Thompson.

The selected letters, many of which are undated, cover the years 1898-1938. Most of the early letters were written while Madeleine was attending Oak Place School in Akron, Ohio, in 1905-1906 and Bryn Mawr College in 1906-1908. Also included are letters pertaining to her 1908 vacation in Annisquam, Massachusetts; her 1909 vacation with the Sloane family in Edgartown, Massachusetts, during which she became acquainted with her future husband; her visit in the fall of 1909 to the home of her best friend Julia Thompson, whose father was a friend and biographer of the poet Eugene Field; her visit that same year with Peggy James, the daughter of philosopher William James; and her 1910 trip to Bermuda, during which she met Mark Twain. One undated letter from 1912 relates to her work at the Bureau of Municipal Research in New York City under the direction of civic leader William Harvey Allen. Another undated item, probably also from 1912, mentions Madeleine's secret engagement to John Sloane and her frustration at her mother's opposition to their marriage.

There are only two extant items from the period 1913-1917—an undated letter to Julia Thompson from the summer of 1914 describing Madeleine's wedding; and a letter from June 1916, written shortly after the birth of Madeleine's first son, Thomas Edison (Ted) Sloane. The 37 selected letters from 1918 were written primarily while the Sloane family was living in Washington, D.C., and contain numerous remarks about the war and its impact on domestic life. Also included are comments about Charles's marriage to Carolyn Hawkins in March 1918, which came as a surprise to Madeleine and other family members since it was not preceded by a formal engagement. In addition, there is discussion of Madeleine's second pregnancy, her hope for a daughter, and her return to New Jersey in April 1918 a few weeks before the birth of Jack.

More than half of the selected letters date from the period 1919-1931. Most were written while Thomas and Mina Edison were residing at Seminole Lodge, their winter home in Fort Myers, Florida, or while the Sloanes was on vacation in New England. The letters contain numerous comments about the domestic life of the Sloane family, including the birth of Peter Edison Sloane in 1923, the birth of Michael Edison Sloane in 1931 when Madeleine was forty-two, and the upbringing and education of the four children. There are also extensive references to Madeleine's social activities, including her involvement in community theater and her active role in the Garden Club of the Oranges; her health, inc