This folder contains correspondence requesting Edison to write articles, letters from journalists and publishers seeking to interview Edison or solicit statements and photographs for publication, and other documents relating to articles by or about Edison and his inventions. Among the correspondents for 1917 are business publisher Bertie C. Forbes, Hugo Gernsback of the Electrical Experimenter, Waldemar B. Kaempffert of Popular Science Monthly, George H. Lorimer of the Saturday Evening Post, longtime associate and Llewellyn Park neighbor Charles A. Munn of Scientific American, and Russian-born writer Ivan Narodny. The subjects upon which Edison was asked to comment include electric vehicles, the use of U.S. funds for war relief, and electrical engineer Charles P. Steinmetz's views on socialism. Also included are items concerning Edison's policies on publicity and his requests to newspapers not to publish stories about his war research. In addition, there is correspondence with John R. Dunlap of Industrial Management, who threatened to use pressure from President Woodrow Wilson and Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to induce Edison to write an article for him.
Approximately 15 percent of the documents have been selected. The unselected material includes numerous letters not seen by Edison that were marked for no answer or received a form-letter reply stating that Edison was ill, busy, or away at sea on government research, that he did not write articles, or that he was prohibited from discussing his war work. Other unselected items include routine requests for photographs or biographical information, which were handled by Edison's personal assistant, William H. Meadowcroft. Courtesy of Thomas Edison National Historical Park.