The Digital Archives collection contains selected content from the following collections, targeted for its historic and site significance and the interests of researchers. New material will be added as it is scanned and processed.
These digital scans are a series of 21 cash payment ledger books originating from Thomas Edison's phonograph recording studio in New York, New York, USA. The books document expenditures for recording artist fees and other payments authorized by studio manager Walter H. Miller from the years 1904 to 1929. The original books are preserved at Thomas Edison National Historical Park in West Orange, New Jersey. Archival documents source: Thomas Edison National Historical Park Archives; Recording Division and Related Records; Accounting Records; Studio Cash Books. Please credit: "Thomas Edison National Historical Park, National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior."
With more than 12,000 images, the Thomas Edison National Historical Park photograph collection presents an extensive visual record of Thomas Edison’s life. Photographs of Edison,
from his first portraits as a child and teenager in the 1850s and 1860s to his last known photograph taken months before his death in October 1931 as he left his doctor’s office,
along with numerous formal and informal portraits, are a focus of the collection.
The collection also contains photographs of the people, places and things associated with Edison , including his family, employees and associates;
his laboratories at Newark, Menlo Park and West Orange; his homes in West Orange and Fort Myers; and his inventions, including the phonograph,
electric light and power systems, motion pictures, ore milling, Portland cement, storage batteries and rubber.
A significant part of the collection deals with Edison’s work as an inventor and entrepreneur.
This includes images of Edison at work in the laboratory, meeting with his company managers or greeting visiting dignitaries.
Photographs of factory employees at work illustrate the machinery and methods used to mass produce Edison’s inventions.
Other images, including the display of Edison phonographs and records in retail stores, document marketing and sales techniques.
The photograph collection includes personal, ceremonial and corporate images. Family events, like the 1914 wedding of Edison’s daughter, Madeleine,
are represented, along with ceremonial occasions, like Edison receiving the Congressional Medal in 1928 or
the Light’s Golden Jubilee celebration at Dearborn, Michigan in October 1929. Some photographs,
like those of Edison’s camping trips with Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone and John Burroughs, combine the personal with publicity.
Many of the photographs in the collection were produced by photographers working for Thomas A. Edison, Inc.
to market company products or communicate to the public its goals and values.
At Menlo Park in the late 1870s Edison became internationally famous and, by the early 1900s, had become one of the world’s most recognized inventors.
The Edison company relied heavily on Edison’s personal reputation and celebrity status to promote itself, and the photographs they created,
many of which appeared in newspapers and magazines, helped to cement Edison’s public image.
The photograph collection is organized by subject into 38 categories. Within each of these categories, the images are further organized into sub-categories.
All photographs containing Thomas Edison, including candid and formal portraits, and group photographs, are organized under category 14.
A complete list of categories and sub-categories in PDF format is available for download at
Collections: Historical Photograph Collection and then Photos Series: Photograph Collection Subject Category List.
To search you can use the search box at the top to enter a keyword or phrase
and then choose from the drop down to the right of the search box to specify if you want your search to include “All Words”, “Any Words”, or “Phrase”.
You can also browse the photographs by choosing Collections: Historical Photograph Collection.
From there the photographs are arranged by category under the Photo Series drop down menu.
Each photograph has different keywords related to the photograph within their metadata when clicked on.
These keywords are links which, when clicked, will display all photos with that same keyword.
If you have questions about the historical photograph collection please contact us at
edis_archives@nps.gov or call 973-736-0550 extension 22.
More information about this collection will be added in the future.
More information about this collection will be added in the future.
This digital archive collection encompasses digital collections of Thomas Edison National Historical Park. The digital collection shared through NPGallery is only a sampling of the larger collection. Additional collections will be added in the future.