At the corner of Main Street and Lakeside Avenue stands a group of red brick buildings. To the passing motorist the buildings betray little evidence of their glory days and of the people who worked inside. A couple of streets away is Glenmont, Thomas Edison's estate. Together, the laboratory and residence preserve the work and character of America's foremost inventor, and the family, friends and business associates who played a key role in his success.
Upon arrival, section committee member Charlie Post introduced Park Ranger Sharmaine McKelvin. A 15-minute video presentation prepared us for the tour. After the orientation, we were guided by Sharmaine to Building 5, where we saw Edison's time clock, with the scratch on the glass and the painted hands indicating the last time the inventor had left the building. Down the hall was his three-story high office and library, which included a projection screen and booth, as well as a bed. We then went to see the Stock Room and large-scale Machine Shop. "Machines to manufacture other machines" were crafted here. On the second floor we saw the Drafting Rooms, "Room 12" (where Edison had a room within a room for secret experiments), and the Precision Machine Room. On the third floor, we saw the Music Room, where his first recordings took place, and the Horn Room, which housed acoustic collecting horns of various dimensions used for the purpose of experimenting in early recordings. On the same floor we visited the Photo Room, where early experiments in motion-picture photography took place, and a gallery of first inventions, such as the phonograph and its evolution, and film projection machines.
We walked across the yard to Building 5, which was the Chemistry Building. Park Ranger Bridget Jennings informed us about Edison's life as a generalist and multitasker. Once again the working space included a private lab for Mr. Edison. The rooms were filled with all sorts of gas jets, burners, and connecting pipes and hoses. Innumerable bottles, jars and beakers still containing a myriad of substances, as well as the pockmarked and cratered concrete floor, gave evidence of the many experiments conducted here.
Our next stop was Building 11, in which Park Ranger Jerry Fabris, Curator of Sound Recording, presented to us a historic slide-show overview of the inventions developed at the Edison Site. We learned that the archive here includes approximately 48,000 disc and cylinder records produced by Edison in West Orange, New Jersey, between 1888 and 1929. Many of these, including unreleased and experimental recordings, have been at the Laboratory since Edison's lifetime. Some of the earliest examples of recorded sound are preserved within this unique collection. The subject matter of the recordings is mostly music, covering genres popular in the United States during Edison's era. Spoken word recordings include vaudeville comedy sketches, speeches, educational lessons, and motion-picture dialogue soundtracks. Experimental recordings document research carried out at the Edison Laboratory to develop recorded sound technology. We saw and heard about the process of early recordings, where each recording was a "one-off", as well as overcoming the subsequent challenges of creating and replicating wax cylinders, which ultimately led to mass production and bringing down the cost of owning a cylinder. We also learned that West Orange, NJ, was the birthplace of motion pictures. In 1893, Thomas Edison built the first building for the taking of motion pictures. It was dubbed "The Black Maria." The structure presently on site is a replica, as the original was dismantled long ago.
Walking the property with historic photographs in hand gave us a true appreciation of the vast acreage which once was devoted entirely to the practical realization of one man's ideas.
Thanks also to these staff members for their hospitality: Park Rangers Ben Bolger, Greg Washburne, Scott Withers and Willie Fowler; Theresa Jung - Assistant Superintendent, and Karen Sloat-Olsen - Chief of Interpretation and Education
