The Thomas A. Edison Papers Digital Edition

These documents, which cover the years 1920-1928, are from three collections: (1) Bertie C. Forbes Papers; (2) Brisbane Family Papers; and (3) James Earle Fraser Papers. The first group consists primarily of correspondence to and from business publisher Bertie C. Forbes. There are several items from 1920, including handwritten notes by Edison, relating to the story that the inventor first investigated electric lighting out of dissatisfaction with a gas company. Additional letters from 1924 to Forbes and to direct marketing pioneer Homer J. Buckley concern Edison's interest in demography. The one item from the Brisbane Papers is a 1925 letter from Arthur W. Brisbane, managing editor of the New York Evening Journal, which bears handwritten remarks by Edison about his friend's business acumen. The document from the Fraser Papers is a 1928 telegram inviting the sculptor to attend a dinner party arranged by Madeleine, Charles, and Theodore Edison to celebrate their father's receipt of an honorary medal from Congress.