This folder contains correspondence and other documents relating to operations at the West Orange laboratory. Included are notes, memoranda, and interoffice communications by Edison, personal assistant William H. Meadowcroft, chief engineer Miller Reese Hutchison, efficiency engineer Stephen B. Mambert, and members of the technical and experimental staff. Some of the documents pertain to Charles Edison's work at the laboratory. Among the items for 1915 is a list of members of the Edison Laboratory Fire Department, which was reorganized in October 1915 with employee John J. Allen as chief. There are also documents regarding the water supply for the laboratory, the concerns of local residents about pollution from Edison's factories, the paving of Main Street and Lakeside Avenue, the observation of Decoration Day (May 31) and Flag Day (June 14), and a dispute between employees William Walter Dinwiddie and Harry R. Grimes. The correspondents include West Orange Mayor Farnham Yardley, one of Edison's neighbors in the private residential community of Llewellyn Park.
Approximately 60 percent of the documents have been selected. The items not selected relate primarily to billing, shipments, and other routine administrative matters. Courtesy of Thomas Edison National Historical Park.