Baldwin, Neil. Edison: Inventing the Century. New York: Hyperion, 1995.
Dibner, Bern. The Atlantic Cable. Norwalk, CT: Burndy Library, 1959. http://www.sil.si.edu/digitalcollections/hst/atlantic-cable/
Dyer, Frank Lewis. Edison: His Life and Inventions. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1910.
Ford, Henry, with Samuel Crowther. Edison as I Know Him. New York: Cosmopolitan Book Corporation, 1930. E-book facsimile. Vancouver, British Columbia: Atomica Creative Group, 2006. http://www.atomicacreative.com/images/ACG_EdisonAsIKnowHim.pdf
Friedel, Robert D. and Paul Israel, with Bernard S. Finn. Edison’s Electric Light: Biography of an Invention. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1987.
Israel, Paul. Edison: A Life of Invention. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1998.
Jehl, Francis. Menlo Park Reminiscences. Dearborn, MI: Edison Institute, 1936.
Jenkins, Reese, et al, eds., The Papers of Thomas A. Edison. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989.
Pretzer, William, ed., Working at Inventing: Thomas A. Edison and the Menlo Park Experience. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.
Robinson, David. From Peep Show to Palace: The Birth of American Film. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.
Stross, Randall. The Wizard of Menlo Park: How Thomas Alva Edison Invented the Modern World. New York: Crown, 2007.
WEBSITES OF SPECIAL INTEREST:
Berner Machine Labs (Edison stock tickers by Klaus Berner)
http://bernermachine.com/
Early Office Museum
http://www.officemuseum.com/
Edison National Historic Site (National Park Service)
http://www.nps.gov/archive/edis/home.htm
The Edison Papers, Rutgers University
http://edison.rutgers.edu/
Edisonian Museum
http://www.edisonian.com/
Edison’s Patents (chronological list)
http://edison.rutgers.edu/patents.htm
History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications (Bill Burns)
http://www.atlantic-cable.com/
Inventing Entertainment: The Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies (Library of Congress)
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edhome.html
Metuchen Edison History (Jim Halpin)
http://www.jhalpin.com/metuchen/tae/taeindex.htm
Mr. Lincoln’s T-Mails (website for book by Tom Wheeler)
http://www.mrlincolnstmails.com/
The Museum of Electricity (Charles Brush)
http://www.electricmuseum.com/
Phonozoic (Patrick Feaster)
http://www.phonozoic.net/
René Rondeau’s Antique Phonograph Museum
http://members.aol.com/rondeau7/
The Telegraph Office
http://www.telegraph-office.com
The Telegrapher Web Page (Thomas Jepsen)
http://www.mindspring.com/~tjepsen/Teleg.html
Tinfoil.com (Glenn Sage)
http://www.tinfoil.com/
Who’s Who of Victorian Cinema (Stephen Herbert, Luke McKernan)
http://www.victorian-cinema.net/
NOTES:
“Genius”: The precise origin of this quotation is unclear. It appeared in many obituaries in 1931, but may have first been spoken in 1900 or earlier.
“t-mails”: Tom Wheeler. Mr. Lincoln’s T-Mails: The Untold Story of How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War. (New York: HarperCollins, 2006.) See: http://www.mrlincolnstmails.com/
“I’ve sailed”: Israel, p. 32. From The Papers of Thomas A. Edison, Jenkins, Reese, et al, eds. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989.) vol. 1, p. 661.
“Mr. T. A. Edison”: The Telegrapher, January 30, 1869. Quoted in Edison: His Life, His Work, His Genius. William Adams Simonds. (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1934.) p. 69.
“The public be damned”: This famous remark was made on October 8, 1882, to John D. Sherman of the Chicago Tribune, and Clarence P. Dresser of the Metropolitan Press Bureau. New York Times, October 9, 1882, p. 1; October 13, 1882, p. 5.
“no substance that can be named”: “An Hour with Edison.” Scientific American. July 13, 1878, p. 17.
“The Wizard of Menlo Park”: Edison was given this name by William Croffut of the New York Daily Graphic. “The Wizard of Menlo Park,” New York Daily Graphic, April 10, 1878. The Edison Papers, Rutgers, Document ID: TAEM 94:158.
“I’ve got it now”: letter to James MacKenzie. The Edison Papers, Rutgers. Document ID: D7719ZDT; TAEM 14:1003.
“Mr. Edison in the course”: “A Wonderful Invention—Speech Capable of Indefinite Repetition from Automatic Records,” Scientific American, November 17, 1877, p. 304.
“Just tried experiment”: Baldwin, p. 78-9.
“[I] was never so taken aback”: Baldwin, p. 83.
“The machine inquired”: “The Talking Phonograph,” Scientific American, December 22, 1877, p. 384-5.
“The Napoleon of Invention”: A name supposedly given to Edison by the nineteenth-century actress Sarah Bernhardt. Edison was known to admire Napoleon Bonaparte, so someone may have given him that name before Bernhardt did.
“Edison’s Phonograph Doll”: advertisement appearing as illustration on “René Rondeau’s Antique Phonograph Museum” website, retrieved May 10, 2008: http://members.aol.com/rondeau7/
“Edison’s Electric Light” (newspaper clipping illustration): New York Times, December 28, 1879, p. 1.
“He has seen further”: Israel, p. 217.
“Our electricity will go”: “Edison’s Electric Light; Conflicting Statements as to Its Utility. The Inventor Says He Has Succeeded in Getting a Cheap Substitute for Gas-Light A Public Exhibition Promised Prof. Morton’s Criticisms.” New York Times, December 28, 1879, p. 1.
“To turn on the light”: “Miscellaneous City News; Edison’s Electric Light. The Times’ Building Illuminated by Electricity.” New York Times, September 5, 1882. p. 8.
“The Edison Dark Lanterns” (newspaper clipping illustration): “The Edison Dark Lanterns.; The Company Unable to Say When the Lamps Can Be Lighted.” New York Times, March 9, 1882. p. 8.
“About seven o’clock”: “Miscellaneous City News; Edison’s Electric Light. The Times’ Building Illuminated by Electricity.” New York Times, September 5, 1882. p. 8.
“enough to make”: “Miscellaneous City News; Edison’s Electric Light. The Times’ Building Illuminated by Electricity.” New York Times, September 5, 1882. p. 8.
“I know two great men”: Margaret Cheney. Tesla: Man Out of Time. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1981.) p. 53.
“Civilization, science and humanity”: Israel, p. 328, quoting letter of Alfred Southwick to Edison, November 8 and December 5, 1887.
“an effort to totally abolish”: Israel, p. 328, quoting Edison’s reply to Southwick, December 19, 1887.
“[M]any persons”: “Met Death in the Wires; Horrifying Spectacle on a Telegraph Pole.” New York Times, October 12, 1889, p. 1.
“For God’s sake”: “Far Worse Than Hanging—Kemmler’s Death Proves an Awful Spectacle.” New York Times, August 7, 1890, p. 1.
“They could have”: “Westinghouse Will Not Talk. But He Thinks His Claims Have Been Vindicated.” New York Herald. August 7, 1890. p. 1.