The Thomas A. Edison Papers Digital Edition

These documents consist of printed programs for four events honoring the life, career, and accomplishments of Thomas A. Edison. They bear the following titles: (1) "Dinner in Honor of Thomas Alva Edison Given by The New York Edison Company, Commodore Hotel, New York, September 11th, 1922"; (2) "A Presentation to Thomas Alva Edison by the Society of Arts and Sciences of a Gold Medal for Achievement in Science: At a Dinner May Twenty-Fourth MCMXXVIII [1928]"; (3) "Addresses Delivered at the Presentation to Mr. Thomas Alva Edison of the Medal Bestowed upon Him by the Congress of the United States, West Orange, New Jersey, October Twentieth 1928"; and (4) "To Thomas Alva Edison on the Occasion of the Dinner at Greenfield, Michigan, October 21, 1929, Celebrating the Golden Jubilee of the Invention of the Incandescent Light." Also included are an invitation by Henry and Edsel Ford to the Golden Jubilee and a circular enclosing a "Guide to the Celebration."

The first program, which consists of 58 numbered pages, contains addresses by Murray Hulbert, acting mayor of New York City; Samuel Insull, president of Commonwealth Edison Co. of Chicago; Frederick P. Fish, former president of the American Bell Telephone Co.; and John W. Lieb, vice president of the New York Edison Co. Also included is a brief response by Edison to Hulbert's address.

The second program, which consists of 22 unnumbered pages, contains the presentation address by Walter Russell, president of the Society of Arts and Sciences; lists of speakers, guests, and sponsors; the dinner menu; and a list of cabinet members, governors, and mayors who sent letters of appreciation. Also included is an image of the commemorative medal presented to the guests, containing a likeness of Thomas Edison, which Russell modeled from life at the Edison Laboratory in Fort Myers, Florida, in April 1928.

The third program, which consists of 23 unnumbered pages, contains addresses by President Calvin Coolidge; Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon, who formally presented the congressional medal; Dr. John G. Hibben, president of Princeton University; and Ronald Ian Campbell, charge d'affaires at the British Embassy in Washington, who presented the original tinfoil phonograph (on display at the South Kensington Museum since 1880) to Edison as part of the ceremony. Also included are brief responses by Edison to the addresses of Mellon and Campbell. In addition, there are photographs of the participants in the ceremony, images of the front and back of the medal, and a 7-page chronology of "Notable Events and Achievements in the Life of Thomas Alva Edison," originally prepared for the Edison Pioneers by Edison's personal assistant William H. Meadowcroft.

The fourth program, which consists of 40 numbered pages, contains a brief address by Edison along with addresses by President Herbert Hoover; Owen D. Young, president of General Electric; and William S. Barstow, president of the Edison Pioneers. Also included are messages sent by Albert Einstein, Guglielmo Marconi, explorer Richard E. Byrd, President Paul von Hindenburg of Germany, and the Prince of Wales; a list of guests; and numerous illustrations.