This folder contains correspondence and other documents relating to the commercial exploitation of phonographs in the United States. Most of the items are letters to and from William E. Gilmore, president of NPCo. Included are letters pertaining to the manufacture, distribution, and sale of phonographs and cylinder records, as well as correspondence about litigation, patents, and other legal matters. Among the documents for 1903 are letters regarding competition with the Columbia Phonograph Co., the formation of the New Jersey Patent Co., and Edison's efforts to gain control of the New England Phonograph Co. and the New York Phonograph Co. Also included are items concerning the process of manufacturing cylinder records and the business of San Francisco jobber Peter Bacigalupi. Among the numerous documents pertaining to legal matters are letters referring to the investigation and prosecution of price cutting dealers and to patent infringement suits involving sapphire reproducers and cylinder record composition. Also included are a 17-page report concerning litigation left pending after the death of attorney Howard W. Hayes in November 1903; and a 6-page report by chemist Jonas Walter Aylsworth describing a process for making wax for cylinder records.

Approximately 20 percent of the documents have been selected. Among the items not selected are letters regarding ongoing litigation with the Lambert Co., New York Phonograph Co., and others over patent rights. Other unselected letters deal with suits against parties engaged in price cutting and the unauthorized use of Edison's name.