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 letters, which cover the years 1914-1932, consist primarily of letters from Lewis Miller, II (1894-1989), youngest son of Robert Anderson Miller, to his aunt, Mina Miller Edison. There is also one letter by Lewis's wife, Helen Mathews Miller (1898-1997), along with letters by Mina and her secretary, M. Elizabeth Given. Included is a letter commenting on the fire of December 9, 1914, which destroyed or damaged more than half of the buildings in the West Orange laboratory complex. A letter written in April 1917, a few weeks after the United States entered World War I, relates to a letter of recommendation for an officer's commission that Thomas Edison agreed to sign. A letter from June 1917 describes artillery training camp in Watertown, New York, while two letters written from France in 1918 discuss life in the trenches on the Western Front and Lewis's reaction to the Armistice and the prospects of returning home. A letter from July 1926 announces Lewis's engagement to Helen Mathews, the daughter of theologian and educator Shailer Mathews. A letter from October 1928 remarks upon the special Congressional Medal awarded to Thomas Edison in 1928. Three letters from 1931 pertain to Edison's final illness and death. The last letter, written by Mina Edison in May 1932 to the supervisor of The Cradle, an adoption agency in Evanston, Illinois, vouches for Lewis and Helen as suitable candidates for adoption. The letters also contain references to holiday traditions within the Miller and Edison families and to Mina Edison's financial support for Lewis and Helen.

There are approximately 50 letters and other documents by or about Lewis and Helen Miller in Book ##11 on the Charles Edison Fund microfilm as well as additional items in Book #35. Click here for a list of all the correspondence books on the CEF microfilm. Additional letters by Lewis Miller, II, formerly in the CEF Collection, can be found in the Family Records Series in Part V of the Thomas A. Edison Papers microfilm edition.

Please note: The images in this folder were scanned from microfilm owned by CEF or from original documents in the possession of CEF. Some of the letters on the microfilm were subsequently donated to the Thomas Edison National Historical Park. These items are so indicated in the document information frame above each image.