This folder contains correspondence and other documents relating to Edison's interest in obtaining metals such as bismuth, cobalt, and lithium for possible use in his alkaline storage battery. The correspondents include W. R. Grace & Co., Edwin V. Machette, E. Schaaf-Regelman, Slipp-Butler Co., and other dealers in ores and minerals. There are also letters from individuals possessing information about sources and prices of bismuth.

Approximately 20 percent of the documents have been selected. Among the items not selected are letters from individuals and companies informing Edison that they have no bismuth or offering metals in which he had no interest. Some of these letters contain routine Edison marginalia. Also not selected are reports regarding bismuth deposits in Australia, Argentina, Chile, and Mexico; and correspondence from ore and mineral dealers that duplicates information in selected material.