Thomas Edison National Historical Park National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior The Lab Notebook Special Edition WELCOME BACK! Welcome to the NEW Thomas preserved the laboratory’s cultural re- Edison National Historical Park, sources but almost tripled the space that the result of several renovation the public can now enjoy. initiatives at both Glenmont and the Laboratory Complex. The National Park Service did not do all this alone; we had the help of several part- No longer confined to a brief ners. Throughout the National Park sys- ranger-led tour of the first floor of tem, partnerships are essential for the con- Building 5, visitors now have ac- tinued protection and enhancement of cess to all three floors. Ranger- parks and historic sites and have been in- led tours can be arranged by ap- strumental in establishing educational pro- pointment. New exhibit panels grams, living history demonstrations, fund- and video kiosks are on display raising campaigns, habitat restorations, throughout the building. For an and a host of other activities. They supple- additional fee, you can take along ment the federal government’s limited re- one of our new audio tours . sources to help the parks fulfill their stew- ardship responsibilities. The Precision Machine Shop on the second floor features the Our partners include the Edison Innova- birthplace of the first motion pic- tion Foundation, the Friends of Thomas ture camera. Elsewhere on the Edison National Historical Park, Inc., second floor are Room 12, Edi- Charles Edison Fund, Rutgers University/ son’s private experimental room, The Thomas A. Edison Papers Project, and the Drafting Room, where Edison Memorial Tower Corporation, and mechanical engineers turned ideas the Garden Club of the Oranges. into blueprints and drawings. The Edison Innovation Foundation and The third floor includes an ex- the Charles Edison Fund secured over $13 traordinary collection of phono- million for major construction from their graphs that tell the sound re- own resources, plus contributions from, cording story. The newly refur- among others, Save America’s Treasures, nished Music Room was the General Electric, SONY, and federal funds world’s first recording studio and for NPS construction. Other projects later the place where Edison audi- made our archival collection more accessi- tioned music and musicians. The ble, conserved phonographs, and restored Photography Department, with an the home and greenhouse at Glenmont. original enlarging camera, lights, Some contributions are modest and some backdrop, and two dark rooms, are extraordinary. They have all been es- was the center of Edison advertis- sential in achieving our mission. ing and publicity. The open stor- The leadership of our partners and age area displays thousands of col- former Superintendents sparked lection gems: Ediphones, talking the campaign to restore, renovate, dolls, battery components, mining and enhance the significant re- tools, Edicraft appliances, Edi- sources of the Laboratory son’s own camping equipment, Complex and saw the pro- and much, much more. A new ject to its completion. We staircase tower and an elevator are extremely grateful. ensure easy access to all floors. The NEW Visitor Center and Mu- We want to celebrate seum Store are located in a com- our achievements pletely renovated Building 1, the and build on former physics lab. Visitors will them to create a pick up the brand new Park bro- bright NEW fu- chure, their audio tours, and tick- ture for the Park. ets for Glenmont and special We are looking events. Please stop and shop in the forward to: new expanded museum store and visitor orienta- watch an introductory video. tion and educa- tional spaces, a Other buildings underwent resto- theater for semi- ration, including Buildings 2 and 4. nars, screening rooms for films, new retail opera- Photo of Thomas Alva Edison, 1883. With painstaking attention to pro- tions, state-of-the-art open storage for the vast Edi- fessional standards, NPS regional son collection, and additional renovations for the staff cleaned the balance room of Glenmont outbuildings. We are confident that the the Building 2 Chemistry lab, continued growth of resources will not only en- painted interior walls, and re- hance our stewardship of the Park collection and paired the floor. Building 4 now facilities, but also increase opportunities for our visi- houses administrative offices and tors, researchers, and new audiences still to be iden- an enlarged archives research area. tified. But there is so much to be appreciated at this (For more on the new archives, see stage in the Park’s renaissance, let’s take time now to page 2.) All of this work not only enjoy our Grand Opening. The official newsletter of Thomas Edison National Historical Park, October 2009, Volume IV, Issue 2. Superintendent’s Message New Audio Tour Edison Archives Grand Opening October 9, 2009, is a special ay for many people and a Adds to Your Visit special day for Thomas Edison National Historical Park. It The new audio tour will guide visi- was a special day for the Washington Monument that tors throughout Building 5 and opened on this day in 1888; It was a special day for John around the courtyard. The tour is Lennon because it was his birthday. available in English, Spanish, Ger- man, and Japanese. What makes today special for us is that it is a time of celebration—the grand opening of the Laboratory Complex. The tour brings to life the frenzied activity that took place when over This special day is not about the renovations, not the one hundred experimenters bustled elevator or the stairs or the many new heating and fire throughout the buildings engaged in systems. It is special because of our visitors. After today, dozens of projects. Plus, additional our visitors can enjoy and experience the wonders of the voices assist the narrator in making Laboratory Complex—newly refurnished rooms, an the tour informative and enjoyable. improved archival research center, and 20,000 square feet of John Keegan of the Edison Innova- new exhibit space are all awaiting our visitors. tion Foundation, which has done so much to sponsor the entire restora- The special day has given us an opportunity not only to tion project, provides an opening Researchers now have more space to examine enhance our visitors’ experience but also to focus on our greeting to listeners and a wrap-up archival material from the Edison Archives. partners’ help in getting us to where we are today. We at the end. celebrate a new Thomas Edison National Historical Park with Bernie Carlson, a professor of the The Thomas Edison NHP Archives opens to researchers this fall with its Laboratory Complex that engages our visitors and history of technology at the Univer- a newly expanded reading room. Located in Building 4 at the Labora- encourages us to create a new vision for our bright future. sity of Virginia, is a featured guide. tory Complex, the new room offers on-site researchers a clean, com- Carlson has a long connection to fortable space in which to study the park’s extensive collection of Edi- While we are looking to the future I want to share two Edison; in addition to his current son documents and photographs. The reading room features a refin- reflections from our Park staff. teaching duties, he was an early staff ished wood floor, new library furniture, and a large flat-panel video member of the Thomas A. Edison screen to view historic Edison films on DVD. The room also includes “As an interpreter at Thomas Edison National Historical Park Papers back in the 1970s and early equipment to examine microfilmed material, a collection of books and I have spoken with many of our visitors during the closure 1980s. Bernie tells what Edison articles about Edison, and computer work stations, which will give and restoration project. During my four years here, not one hoped to achieve in building a new researchers and staff access to finding aids, databases and other elec- visitor has failed to ask about the restoration project. In lab in West Orange, offers insights tronic reference tools. With over five million documents, Thomas recent years there has been much public discussion that on the workers and what it was like Edison NHP has one of the largest archival Americans no longer care about history. After talking with to work in these shops and labs, and collections in the National Park System. many of our visitors and handling numerous requests for off explains many of the technologies. Joining him are Jerry Fabris, curator Along with Edison’s personal and business -site programs, I would caution against such generalizations. of the phonograph and recording correspondence, patents and laboratory The patrons of our Park maintain not only their interest in collection, with thoughts on the notebooks, the archives preserves the re- America’s heritage but also enthusiasm for their own roles complexities of the Edison phono- cords of dozens of companies Edison cre- as stewards. At this Grand Opening of Edison’s Laboratory graph business, and Lenny DeGraaf, ated to develop his inventions. Holdings Complex I look forward to seeing visitors enjoying the new archivist, with observations on the also include advertising material, Edison’s Thomas Edison National Historical Park.” riches of the Park’s archives and the legal and financial records and 60,000 his- —Brigid Jennings, Park Ranger light they shed on Edison’s activi- toric photographs. The Edison Archives is ties. a significant collection for the study of “The new Laboratory Complex is opening after being closed technology, business and popular culture in Voices from the past also join the for six years. As the Grand Opening day arrives I can’t help the late nineteenth and early twentieth cen- tour through the use of oral histo- turies, and documents the creation of the but remember the day it closed and the events that led up ries.