This page lists resources that provide addition information
on Thomas Edison and related topics. Resources are divided
into the following categories:
On the Web
Local Tourism Resources
Erie County and the Milan Ohio area can boast of a wealth of vacation and
tourist possibilities, from Cedar Point to many historic and natural attractions.
- SHORESandISLANDS Official website of the Lake Erie Shores & IslandsWelcome Center.
- Milan, Ohio Official website for the
village of Milan, Ohio, Edison's birthplace.
- Milan Area Pictorially celebrates the Milan, Ohio Lifestyle
- over 2200 beautiful photos, very informative.
- Milan Historical Museum Website
for the excellent Milan Historical Museum complex, located one block from
Edison's Birthplace.
- Discover Ohio State of Ohio sponsored
site with resources for historical and recreational activities in the local
area of Edison's Birthplace Museum.
- Ohio Lodging Rentals Resources
for local bed and breakfast establishments, cabins and cottages, condominiums,
country inns, and hotels and motels.
Edison Related Links
Biographical, scientific, and cultural information relating to Thomas Edison.
- Edison Muckers - A interesting blog from Edison Innovation Foundation - tying current events to Edison - from inventions to ideas
- Thomas A. Edison Papers
The Thomas A. Edison Papers site provides a vast searchable document database
of microfilm comprising one-quarter of a million pages and covering
Edison's
life from 1847 to 1898, three volumes that detail the first 31 years
of Edison's life, and a six-reel collection of film and equipment catalogs
from the earliest
years of motion pictures. The project is a joint effort by historians
at Rutgers University, the Edison National Historic Site, the Smithsonian,
and the New
Jersey Historical Commission.
- Charles Edison Fund - A tribute to Thomas Alva Edison the inventor, Charles Edison, his son, statesman and public servant and to all those who want to make a difference
- Thomas Edison National Historic Park
Perhaps the most comprehensive Edison resource site on the web, this site
provides information about the National Park Service's Thomas Edison National Historic
Park in West Orange, New Jersey, which consists of Thomas Alva Edison's
research and development laboratory and his home, Glenmont. The web site's
Expanded Web Presentation is an electronic guided tour of the Thomas Edison National Historic
Park.
It includes many more features of interest to visitors of all ages.
- Edison Festival of Light
The Edison Festival of Light web site provides information about Southwest
Florida's two-week festival celebrating Thomas Edison's life and achievements.
- The National Inventors
Hall of Fame
The National Inventors Hall of Fame web site, provides a biography of Edison.
The home page provides additional information about other inventors in the Hall
of Fame and their inventions.
- Thomas Alva
Edison
Outstanding Edison web page developed by teachers, students, and parents
at Edison Elementary School in Minot, North Dakota. This site provides a
comprehensive
biography, information about inventions, patents, friends and associates,
and much more.
- Thomas
Alva Edison: The Phonograph This site, part of MIT's Invention Dimension
web site provides a brief synopsis of Edison's invention
of the phonograph. The site's homepage provides a gateway to the Lemelson-MIT
Prize Program for inventors and provides information on a number of inventors,
from the famous to the lesser known.
- www.tinfoil.com Early Recorded Sounds Information
on early sound recording methods, two minute wax cylinder recordings, and
old phonographs. It contains plenty of vintage photographs, and audio excerpts
of marching band music taken form early wax recordings. Also contains
links to other Edison sites.
- MIT Media Lab.
An intriguing place to explore current and future implications of many of
Edison's inventions.
- Fluxus Indians Interesting
art website with references to Thomas Edison and the process of invention.
- Inventor Resource:
A guide to everything you need to know about getting your idea patented,
manufactured and into the shops. Though based in UK, it is an international resource.
Top of Page
In Print
- Edison, A Biography by Matthew Josephson
==Available from the Museum Shop.==
- Edison, Inspiration to Youth by Arthur Palmer
==Available from the Museum Shop.==
- A Streak of Luck: The Life of Thomas A. Edison
by Robert Conot
==Available from the Museum Shop.==
- "The Lesser Known Edison" by Neil Baldwin
published in Scientific American, February 1997 issue, pp. 62-67.
Baldwin provides a brief overview of Edison's life,
with a focus on some of the less widely know inventions,
namely the electric pen, the talking doll,
magnetic mining equipment, and the poured-concrete house.
The article includes a timeline, historical photographs,
notebook drawings, and patent illustrations.
==High-quality reprints are available from Scientific American==
==by calling 212-754-0550 or by faxing 212-355-0408.==
- Harvest: Gleanings From Ohio's Farm Village Heritage
Volume VII, Milan - Town Born in Fire
(Harvest is a series of publications by the J.M. Smucker Company,
headquartered in Orville, Ohio, that explores the beginnings
of Ohio farm villages that steered the development and
character of the Buckeye State.)
The 7th issue of Harvest presents a thorough yet concise history
of the town of Milan. Milan is part of a 120-mile strip
of land along Lake Erie, called the Connecticut Western Reserve.
This land was given to families from Connecticut,
who were labeled traitors by the British and
burned out of their homes. Harvest covers historical developments
in Milan through to the present day. The 24-page color publication
includes many photographs and illustrations.
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On Video
- The Story of Thomas A. Edison
(A Questar Home Video Presentation from the
Famous Americans of the 20th Century series)
The Story of Thomas A. Edison covers major events
in the inventor's life: his first job as a newsboy on
the Grand Trunk Railroad, his lessons in telegraphy which
inspired his interest in electricity, and his first invention --
a ballot counter. Edison's work at Western Union, building
his Menlo Park laboratories, and heading the Naval Consulting Board
are also covered.
Live action footage of Edison is included.
==Available from the Museum Shop.==
- The Invention Factory: The Story of Thomas Edison
and his West Orange Lab
(Presented by the Friends of the Edison National
Historic Site)
Both educational and entertaining, The Invention Factory
explores not only the inventions of Edison, but the man himself --
his unwavering dedication, his keen thought process,
and his sharp sense of humor. This video shows his
development from solitary inventor tinkering with telegraphs
to head of as many as 200 men in the first modern research laboratory.
Edison called his West Orange, New Jersey lab an
"Invention Factory," and designed it to be a place devoted
to the, "rapid and cheap development of inventions."
It would allow him to research and manufacture,
"useful things that every man, woman, and child wants...at a
price they can afford to pay."
==Available from the Museum Shop.==
- Edison's Miracle of Light
(An Elevator Pictures, Inc. production for
The American Experience.)
Edison's Miracle of Light, Narrated by Peter Coyote,
focuses on the emerging use of electricity in the
late 1870s and 1880s. In September of 1878,
Edison announced his intention to harness Niagara Falls
and produce safe, electric incandescent light.
Fourteen months later, a crowd of 3,000 spectators
marveled as the first electric lights cast their golden glow
over the grounds at Edison's factory in Menlo Park.
To many, Edison was a god-like figure who could
manipulate lightning. Still, the public was suspicious,
their fears reinforced when poorly insulated power cables
electrocuted both animals and people. So Edison staged an
"Electric Torch Light Parade" and launched a publicity
campaign worthy of P.T. Barnum. Finally, in 1887,
J.P. Morgan, once a skeptic, paid almost two million dollars
to buy into the business -- the Edison General Electric Company.
Competition in the new industry was brutal. It was Edison
and his system of direct current vs. George Westinghouse's
use of alternating current...In the end, even Edison's own
board of directors came down on the side of alternating
current and forced the inventor out of the business and the
industry he had created. Edison did not set foot inside
a GE plant for the next thirty years.
==Available from the Museum Shop.==
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