[E1578-F] (E-15-78) Thomas A. Edison, Inc.
Item set
Title
Description
[Documents were added to this folder after the publication of Part V of the microfilm edition. Digital images of these documemts are now available.]
This folder contains interoffice communications and other documents relating to the organization and administration of Thomas A. Edison, Inc. and its constituent concerns in America and abroad. Many of the documents for 1915 pertain to the new divisional policies implemented after the reorganization of March 1, 1915. Included are items concerning administrative structure and accounting practices, which were developed in consultation with public accountant William Mitchell Lybrand. Also included are minutes from meetings of the Engineering Committee and the Film Committee; memoranda and reports by Edison's efficiency engineer, Stephen B. Mambert; the company's financial statement as of February 28, 1915; a list of divisions as of October 29, 1915; discussion of plans to extend the divisional policy to the Edison Phonograph Works; an organizational chart from January 1, 1916; and estimates of the cost of buildings. In addition, there are documents relating to the newly designed super kinetoscope and the reconstruction of the phonograph plant after the fire of December 1914.
At the end of the folder are two sets of numbered pages. The first set, numbered from 65 through 82 (not all numbers are used), lists officers and directors for Thomas A. Edison, Inc., Edison Phonograph Works, and several other domestic and foreign companies. The second set, numbered 21-24 and 32, pertains to the management of Thomas A. Edison, Ltd., including the resignation of G. Croyden Marks as chairman of the board of directors, and the closing of the offices in Paris and Berlin.
Approximately 20 percent of the documents have been selected. The material not selected includes accounting statements and additional periodic reports bearing no significant marginalia by Edison. Also not selected are numerous memoranda prepared by Mambert relating to internal accounting, billing, and record-keeping procedures.