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 or from William E. Gilmore, president of NPCo, and his successor, Frank L. Dyer. Other correspondents include Carl H. Wilson, assistant general manager (general manager after Gilmore's resignation); Leonard C. McChesney, manager of the Advertising Department; and F. K. Dolbeer, manager of sales. Included are letters pertaining to the manufacture, distribution, and sale of phonographs and cylinder records, as well as correspondence about litigation, patents, copyrights, and other legal matters. Among the documents for 1908 are items concerning the introduction of Amberola records, the activities of the Advertising Department and its relations with the Essex Press, and competition with the Victor company. There is also correspondence regarding a decision in the New York Phonograph Co. case, memoranda outlining an agreement with the chemist Jonas Walter Aylsworth over patent rights, and minutes of executive committee meetings and a meeting with company salesmen.
Approximately 15 percent of the documents have been selected. Among the items not selected are documents pertaining to ongoing litigation and to the business of individual dealers and jobbers.