This folder contains correspondence other documents relating to the business of the Edison Speaking Phonograph Co. (ESPCo), which was formed in 1878 to control Edison's phonograph patents and to manufacture, sell, and rent phonographs. The correspondents include William K. Applebaugh, president of ESPCo, and Gardiner G. Hubbard, father-in-law of Alexander Graham Bell and one of the organizers of the company. Other correspondents include Charles A. Cheever, treasurer of ESPCo; Edison associates Edward H. Johnson and Uriah H. Painter; Joseph T. Murray, Edison's former business partner; Oliver D. Russell, who negotiated a contract with Edison in January 1878 for exclusive rights to manufacture toys incorporating his phonograph; and Hilborne L. Roosevelt, a cousin of Theodore Roosevelt who became involved with Oliver Russell in the toy phonograph business. In addition to the correspondence, there is a certificate of incorporation, April 24, 1878, along with related agreements.

Related material can be found in two groups of documents in Thomas A. Edison Papers: Outside Repositories: AT&T Archives and Historical Society of Pennsylvania: Uriah Hunt Painter Papers.

All of the documents have been selected except for duplicate copies of correspondence.

Courtesy of Thomas Edison National Historical Park.