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These records cover the period 1889-1911, but most of the documents were generated in the 1890s. Included are incoming correspondence, accounting records, labor statements, stock certificates, cancelled checks, and other general office records kept by company officers or senior managers. The records document the organization, management, and failure of the company; the experimental mill at Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania; operations at Ogden, New Jersey; and the testing of equipment, ore, and briquettes. Other subjects include relationships with suppliers, customers, and investors and the market for Edison's ore, briquettes, and milling technologies.
Notable correspondents representing the company include: Edison, Charles Batchelor, Thomas Butler, Joseph Hutchinson, Samuel Insull, Harry M. Livor, Walter S. Mallory, William S. Perry, John F. Randolph, and Alfred O. Tate. Other prominent correspondents include: Alexander Backus, Henry C. Demming, James C. Parrish, Pilling & Crane, Robert H. Richards, Frank C. Roberts, C. Livingston Rogers, James B. Tonkling, Joseph Wharton, John H. Wood. Some of the correspondence is duplicated in the New Jersey and Pennsylvania Concentrating Works Letterbooks, and some of the material is complemented by documents in other series in this record group.
The following categories of documents have been selected: documents reflecting Edison's direct intervention in and supervision of company matters, Edison's view on company policies, Edison's involvement in experimentation, and aspects of Edison's character, health, schedule, or family; overviews, summaries, reports, and general descriptions of mill operations and technologies, company finances, and marketing strategies; descriptions of company products, such as iron ore briquettes and sand.
The following categories of documents have not been selected: capital calls; meeting announcements; stock certificates; trial balance statements; petty cash statements; statements of accounts payable; cancelled checks and check books; lists of bills; bound ledgers, day books, and cash books; other routine financial documents, such as stamp accounts; labor statements; routine statements relating to payment of taxes; stationery and blank forms; letters of transmittal; and routine correspondence with vendors and customers. Courtesy of Thomas Edison National Historical Park.