This folder contains correspondence and other documents relating to Edison's family. Several items are written by Edison, and many bear his marginalia. Among the correspondents for 1913 are Thomas Jr. and William, Edison's sons from his first marriage; his second wife, Mina Miller Edison; and their two oldest children, Madeleine and Charles. Other correspondents include cousins Frank P. Edison and Homer P. Edison; niece Nellie Edison Poyer; daughter-in-law Blanche Travers Edison and her cousin George W. Todd; and Mary Edison Holzer and Sarah F. Stilwell, relatives of Edison's first wife, Mary Stilwell Edison. Many of the letters contain requests for financial or other assistance. There are references to Edison's Canadian ancestors and relations; his childhood experiences in Canada; his health and travels; and his property in Ogden, New Jersey. Some of the letters discuss his alkaline storage battery, phonograph, and kinetophone. Also included is a news clipping regarding an injury sustained by fourteen-year-old Theodore Edison when his "glass bottle bomb designed to sink the ships of 'the enemy'" smashed into pieces.
Approximately 80 percent of the documents have been selected. The material not selected consists primarily of unsolicited correspondence from individuals who were not family members. Courtesy of Thomas Edison National Historical Park.