Thomas Edison's Menlo Park Laboratory, Menlo Park, New Jersey, 1880
THF123492 / Thomas Edison's Menlo Park Laboratory, Menlo Park, New Jersey, 1880
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Artifact Overview
Artifact Details
Artifact
Photographic print
Subject Date
1880
Creators
Collection Title
Location
Not on exhibit to the public.
Object ID
P.MP.170
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford.
Material
Paper (Fiber product)
Technique
Gelatin silver process
Toning (Photography)
Color
Brown
Sepia (Color)
Dimensions
Height: 8.5 in (with cardstock)
Width: 11 in (with cardstock)
Inscriptions
front, top left:
S.D. MOTT, / ENGINEER, PASSAIC, N.J.
front, lower left corner:
587
front, typewritten caption:
Edison's Menlo Park Laboratory in 1880.
Left: Office and Library
Center: Physical Laboratory; then Glass blowing House; then Drawing House
Right: Machine Shop. Below Hill of left the P.R.R.
On extreme right, starting point of first electric passenger carrying
railway. The posts with globes a part of the first installation of street /
(and inside) incandescent electric lighting.
Courtesy Edison Pioneers.
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Related Artifacts
ArtifactMenlo Park Laboratory
When Edison moved to Menlo Park, New Jersey, in spring of 1876 the laboratory building contained his entire operation -- a handful of collaborators, office, library, and machine shop as well as laboratory. As the scale of Edison's investigations grew so did the complex, but this building -- dedicated to experimental activities -- was always understood to be the heart of the enterprise.
ArtifactMenlo Park Glass House
Originally built as a photographic studio and drafting room, the glassblowing shop was fundamental to Edison's enterprise. Edison's incandescent lighting experiments ensured that the laboratory had a voracious appetite for glass -- not only for bulbs but also for associated apparatus such as vacuum pumps. Ludwig Boehm, the laboratory's first master glassblower, worked here -- and lodged in the attic space.
ArtifactMenlo Park Library
This building was built in late 1878 as Edison's work on electric lighting expanded. The first floor provided office space for accounting, bookkeeping, and patent applications; upstairs was a superbly stocked technical library. The building also played another key role: as a reception area for journalists and other visitors it provided a disarming first impression of Edison's success and ambition.
ArtifactMenlo Park Machine Shop
The presence of a machine shop (and of foreman / head machinist John Kruesi) was fundamental to the success of Menlo Park. This well-equipped facility -- built to replace the small machine shop originally installed in the laboratory -- enabled Edison and his associates to not only rapidly prototype iterations of experimental devices but also facilitate their eventual, profitable manufacture.