Papers of Thomas A. Edison

FAIN: RQ-255611-17

Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8559)
Paul B. Israel (Project Director: December 2016 to December 2021)

Preparation for publication of volumes 9 and 10 of the selected papers of inventor Thomas Edison (1847-1931), covering the period 1888-1892. (36 months)

The Papers of Thomas A. Edison is a fifteen-volume scholarly edition that will contain 5,500 transcribed and annotated documents from Edison's lengthy career. This application seeks funding to complete Volume 9: Competing Interests (1888-1889) and begin the editing of Volume 10: Always Something New (1890-April 1892). These volumes cover an important period in Edison's advancement of industrial research management and in his work with recorded sound, motion pictures, electric railways and ore milling. It is also a period of famous business rivalries that determined the future of electrification in the United States, and of Edison's profound influence on America's technological imagination. These volumes will be published by Johns Hopkins University Press.

Associated Products

The Edison Paper (Web Resource)
Title: The Edison Paper
Author: Paul Israel
Author: Thomas E. Jeffrey
Author: Ben Bakelaar
Abstract: Search Methods •Name/Date/Document Type •Folder/Volume Descriptions •Series Notes •Single Document or Folder Instructions and Essays •Search Instructions •Citing the Digital Edition •History of Edison's Papers •Editorial Procedures About the Digital Edition Nearly 175,000 document images are now available in the Digital Edition of the Thomas A. Edison Papers. Included are documents from the archives of the Thomas Edison National Historical Park scanned from Parts I-III of the Microfilm Edition, along with items from other repositories and private collections. (View a document sampler of selected images.) Through its integrated structure and ease of access, the Digital Edition provides powerful search capabilities enabling users to search for authors, recipients, and names mentioned in a database of 143,500 document records and 23,300 names. The Digital Edition was created with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Year: 2018
Primary URL: http://edison.rutgers.edu/digital/
Primary URL Description: The Thomas A. Edison Papers Digital Edition provides powerful search capabilities enabling users to search for over 25,000 individual and organizational names in a database of more than 140,000 documents.

The Papers of Thomas A. Edison, Volume 9: Competing Interests (January 1888-December 1889) (Book)
Title: The Papers of Thomas A. Edison, Volume 9: Competing Interests (January 1888-December 1889)
Editor: Paul B. Israel
Editor: Louis Carlat
Editor: Theresa M. Collins
Editor: Alexandra R. Rimer
Editor: Daniel J. Weeks
Abstract: The ninth volume of Edison’s papers (1888–1889) documents the inventor’s responses to technological, organizational, and economic challenges. He pursued ambitious goals at his laboratory, achieved notable success with the phonograph, engaged in a "War of the Currents" in electric lighting, and embarked on an iron-mining venture that would consume his attention and money for a decade. Available as Print-on-Demand (ISBN 978-1-4214-4011-8).
Year: 2020
Access Model: Project Muse open-access, available 2021
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Type: Edited Volume
ISBN: 978-1-4214-401
Copy sent to NEH?: No

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