This folder contains correspondence and other documents relating to electric lighting and power. Some of the items pertain to the technical and commercial development of Edison's alkaline storage battery, including its application as a power source for miners' lamps and its use in Edison's proposed "Country House Lighting System." There is also correspondence with Charles H. Coffin, Charles P. Steinmetz, and others that illustrates Edison's continuing involvement with the General Electric Co. Included are references to GE Edison Mazda lamps, visits by company officials to Edison's laboratory in West Orange, and the problems of high voltage electrical illumination. In addition, there are letters dealing with public relations at various electric light and power companies, along with reminiscences of Edison's early inventive work on electric lighting systems. The correspondents include longtime Edison associates Sigmund Bergmann, Etienne de Fodor, Samuel Insull, and Thomas Commerford Martin; author and dramatist Percy W. MacKaye; and representatives of the Philadelphia & Reading Coal and Iron Co.
Approximately 50 percent of the documents have been selected. The following categories of documents have not been selected: unsolicited promotional material; routine correspondence requesting Edison's advice, assistance, or attention on technical and commercial matters. Courtesy of Thomas Edison National Historical Park.