Thomas Edison and Modern America : A Brief History with Documents,9780312247348

Thomas Edison and Modern America : A Brief History with Documents

by ;
Edition: 1st
ISBN13: 9780312247348
ISBN10: 0312247346
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 2002-05-22
Publisher(s): Bedford/St. Martin's
  • Free Shipping Icon

    This Item Qualifies for Free Shipping!*

    *Excludes marketplace orders.

List Price: $19.90

Rent Textbook

Select for Price
Add to Cart
There was a problem. Please try again later.

New Textbook

We're Sorry
Sold Out

Used Textbook

We're Sorry
Sold Out

eTextbook

We're Sorry
Not Available

Buy from our Marketplace starting at $2.39

How Marketplace Works:

  • This item is offered by an independent seller and not shipped from our warehouse
  • Item details like edition and cover design may differ from our description; see seller's comments before ordering.
  • Sellers much confirm and ship within two business days; otherwise, the order will be cancelled and refunded.
  • Marketplace purchases cannot be returned to eCampus.com. Contact the seller directly for inquiries; if no response within two days, contact customer service.
  • Additional shipping costs apply to Marketplace purchases. Review shipping costs at checkout.

Summary

Thomas A. Edison remains rooted in the popular imagination primarily as the inventor of the practical electric light, but he also continues to function in the lexicons of advertising and politics as a symbol of American individualism, ingenuity, and know-how. Introduced here with a broad range of primary sources for discussion, the American inventor emerges as a prolific mind, a tireless worker, and an inveterate self-promoter. Examples of Edison's own experimental notes, his personal correspondence, as well as press accounts provide an opportunity to explore the themes of modernization and the American ideology of progress. The volume includes an extended introduction, headnotes to the documents, illustrations, a chronology, discussion questions, a bibliography, and an index.

Author Biography

THERESA M. COLLINS teaches international history at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. The author of Locating Otto Kahn: The Banker-Patron in Modern Time (2002), and a co-editor of the Thomas A. Edison Papers, her work is focused on business history, modernity, and cosmopolitan culture.

LISA GITELMAN teaches Media Studies at Catholic University and is a former co-editor of the Thomas A. Edison Papers. Her work includes Scripts, Grooves, and Writing Machines: Representing Technology in the Edison Era (1999) and the edited collection New Media, 1740–1915 (2002).

GREGORY JANKUNIS is a research associate at the Thomas A. Edison Papers.

Table of Contents

Foreword v
Preface vii
List of Illustrations
xiv
Introduction: Edison, Invention, and Modernity 1(1)
Changing Times
2(2)
Thomas Alva Edison
4(22)
Not Just an Idea
26(5)
Contexts for Technological Change
31(3)
A Note about the Text
34(3)
An American Character
37(26)
Edison's Early Years, as He Remembered Them, 1908-1909
38(8)
Satirical Remarks from Edison's Only Diary, 1885
46(3)
Edison as Suitor, 1885
49(1)
The Site of Invention: Edison's Draft Letter to James Hood Wright, 1887
50(2)
A ``Private Idea Book,'' 1888
52(2)
Theodore Dresser Interviews Edison for Success Magazine, 1898
54(5)
``The Tomorrows of Electricity and Invention'' by Thomas A. Edison, 1910
59(4)
The Fantastic Phonograph
63(17)
Invention of the Phonograph, as Recalled by Edison's Assistant, by Charles Batchelor, ca. 1906
64(2)
The Phonograph Causes a Stir, March June 1878
66(14)
New York Times, March 25, 1878
67(1)
New York Times, April 20, 1878
67(2)
North American Review, June 1878
69(6)
New York Clipper, March 16, 1878
75(2)
Popular Science Monthly, April 1878
77(1)
New York Daily Graphic, May 9, 1878
78(1)
Weekly (New Jersey) Fredonian, June 18, 1878
78(2)
Electric Light and Power
80(48)
Edison's Sparks of Interest Noted in the New York Sun
80(5)
New York Sun, September 10, 1878
81(2)
New York Sun, September 16, 1878
83(2)
Money Matters, Original Correspondence, October-December 1878
85(6)
Edison to Theodore Puskas, October 5, 1878
85(1)
Telegram from George Gouraud in London, to Edison, October 7, 1878
86(1)
Edison Reply to Gouraud, October 8, 1878
86(1)
J. P. Morgan to Walter Burns, October 30, 1878
86(1)
Stockton Griffin to Grosvenor Lowrey, November 1, 1878
87(1)
Grosvenor Lowrey to Edison, December 10, 1878
88(3)
Experimental Notes, January 1879
91(1)
Francis Upton, Letters Home, November 1878-April 1879
92(4)
Experimental Notes, October 1879
96(3)
Francis Upton, Letters Home, October-November 1879
99(2)
Experimental Notes, December 1879 January 1880
101(1)
Francis Upton, Letters Home, December 1879-January 1880
102(2)
New York Herald, December 21, 1879
104(8)
A Fan Letter, February 1880
112(1)
Boehm v. Edison: Two Versions of Invention at Menlo Park, August-October 1881
113(4)
Draft Report for Investors, September 1881
117(8)
Notice from the Edison Company for Isolated Lighting, November 1885
125(3)
Modern Living
128(1)
Phonographs and the Function of Recorded Sound in Transition 129(12)
Talking Dolls: News Items and Anecdotes (1890-1892)
129(3)
Scientific American, April 26, 1890
129(1)
Philadelphia Times, January 2, 1891
130(1)
New York Morning Advertiser, March 14, 1892
131(1)
Nickel-in-the-Slot Phonographs: News Items, Promotion, and Anecdotes (1890-1892)
132(5)
New York Journal, November 9, 1890
132(1)
Phonogram, Published by the North American Phonograph Company, 1891
133(3)
St. Louis Chronicle, February 14, 1891
136(1)
Phonogram, Published by the North American Phonograph Company, 1891
137(1)
The Phonograph at Home: National Phonograph Company Advertisements and Notices (1905-1908)
137(4)
Electrocution: Original Correspondence and News Items, 1887-1888, 1905 141(5)
A. P. Southwick to Edison, November 8, 1887
142(1)
A. P. Southwick to Edison, December 5, 1887
142(1)
Edison to A. P. Southwick, December 19, 1887
143(1)
New York Herald, November 1888
143(2)
New York American, February 10, 1905
145(1)
X-Rays: Original Correspondence and News Items, 1896-1897, 1904 146(5)
Telegram from Edison to A. E. Kennelly, January 27, 1896
146(1)
Jerome Carty to Edison, February 12, 1896
146(1)
W B. Hill to Edison, February 17, 1896
147(1)
New York World, August 15, 1897
148(1)
Schenectady Union, October 5, 1904
149(2)
Storage Batteries: Press Notices and a Letter, 1899, 1902, 1912 151(3)
New York Dry Good Economist, September 16, 1899
151(1)
North American Review, July 1902
152(1)
Edison to Irving Bloomingdale, April 16, 1912
153(1)
Concrete Houses: News Items and Original Correspondence, 1901, 1907-1909 154(7)
Insurance Engineering, Interview with Edison, June 1901
155(1)
New York Herald, November 9, 1907
156(2)
Henry Phipps to Edison, November 13, 1907
158(1)
Edison to Henry Phipps, November 15, 1907
158(1)
Henry Phipps to Edison, November 22, 1907
158(1)
Grand Rapids (Michigan) Evening Press, July 9, 1909
159(2)
Motion Pictures 161(6)
From History of the Kinetograph, Kinetoscope, and Kineto-phonograph, 1895
161(5)
Program for Projected Films (n.d.)
166(1)
Media and Politics 167(10)
Films Advertised to the Trade, 1901-1902
168(2)
McKinley's Last Appearance
170(1)
Ten Edison Records by William Jennings Bryan, 1908
171(3)
Ten Edison Records by William Howard Taft, 1908
174(3)
Mass Media and Their Markets 177(18)
Edison's Policy for Making Records and Related Correspondence, 1912, 1914-1915
178(4)
Policy Statement, May 11, 1912
178(1)
Edison to Santa Fe Watch Company, November 11, 1914
179(1)
Edison to Harger & Blish, February 8, 1915
180(2)
Edison to F. R. Humphries, June 28, 1915
182(1)
Five Edison Films of the Progressive Era, 1912
182(6)
APPENDIXES
A Thomas A Edison Chronology (1847-1931)
188(2)
Questions for Consideration
190(2)
Selected Bibliography
192(3)
Index 195

An electronic version of this book is available through VitalSource.

This book is viewable on PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and most smartphones.

By purchasing, you will be able to view this book online, as well as download it, for the chosen number of days.

Digital License

You are licensing a digital product for a set duration. Durations are set forth in the product description, with "Lifetime" typically meaning five (5) years of online access and permanent download to a supported device. All licenses are non-transferable.

More details can be found here.

A downloadable version of this book is available through the eCampus Reader or compatible Adobe readers.

Applications are available on iOS, Android, PC, Mac, and Windows Mobile platforms.

Please view the compatibility matrix prior to purchase.