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[X455B-F] Edison, Theodore Miller -- Correspondence (1909)

Miller Family Papers

Title: [X455B-F] Edison, Theodore Miller -- Correspondence (1909)
Description: These documents consist primarily of letters from Mina Miller Edison to her youngest son, Theodore, written during the summer of 1909 while Theodore was attending Camp Pasquaney in Bridgewater, New Hampshire. Edward S. (Mr. Ned) Wilson, founder and director of the camp, and Edward W. (Mr. Teddy) Jackson, assistant director, are mentioned in some of the letters. Included is correspondence regarding plans for Mina and Thomas to visit Theodore in camp. (They visited only once, for two days in mid-July.) Several letters express regret that they would be unable to see Theodore on his eleventh birthday. (Edison had accepted an invitation to be guest of honor at the National Association of Talking Machine Jobbers banquet in Atlantic City.) Other letters explain that a schedule conflict (the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies convention in Westchester County, New York) prevented them from coming to Bridgewater at the end of August to bring Theodore home or greeting him when he returned.
Among the other topics discussed in the letters are the health of Thomas Edison; his work on the disc phonograph; a fire in Llewellyn Park that damaged the home of Mr. and Mrs. E. Remington Nichols; Madeleine Edison's departure at the end of July for Edgartown, Massachusetts (where she met future husband John Eyre Sloane); a two-week visit to Glenmont in July by artist Orlando Rouland during which he painted a portrait of Edison; a four-day cruise that Charles Edison took with a friend in August; and an unexpected visit to Glenmont by Mina's brothers, Ira and Robert. There are also numerous references to Theodore's pet, Snowy, as well as to the ducks, chickens, and other animals at Glenmont.
The last two dated letters are from November 1909. They were written while Mina was visiting her family in Akron for the Thanksgiving holidays. Included are comments about the condition of Mina's sister, Mary Emily Miller, who suffered a nervous breakdown in October and was undergoing treatment at the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan. There is also a remark about Mina's plan to visit Milan, Ohio, on the way back to Akron from Battle Creek.
Numerous letters and postcards from Theodore to his mother, sent from Camp Pasquaney, can be found in the Charles Edison Fund Collection.
URL: https://edisondigital.rutgers.edu/folder/X455B-F
Identifier: X455B-F
Alternative Title: The Miller Family Papers -- Edison, Theodore Miller -- Correspondence (1909)
Is Part Of: Miller Family Papers
Rights: Chautauqua Institution Archives, Chautauqua, N.Y. -- Oliver Archives Center

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