Edison
at Work
Daily Activities at Edison at Work
While there are no scheduled activities today, be sure to see our complete activities listing for upcoming offerings.
See the great inventor's Menlo Park complex at the moment when his development of the incandescent lightbulb was about to transform the world.You will see the workplaces that gave birth to Thomas Edison's extraordinary innovations, and the first buildings to be illuminated by his amazing electric light.
Highlights
Menlo Park Laboratory
Artifact
Laboratory
Date Made
1929
Summary
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.
Place of Creation
Object ID
29.3048.1
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford.
Get more details in Digital Collections at:
Menlo Park Laboratory
What is The Henry Ford?
The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.
Thomas Edison's Fort Myers Laboratory
Artifact
Laboratory
Date Made
1885
Summary
This well-equipped laboratory enabled Edison to carry on his investigations even as he seemed to seek a break from business and other matters. The first building to be completed in Greenfield Village, it had a second experimental life, offering seclusion to a select group of Ford Motor Company engineers tasked with developing the Ford V-8 engine in the early 1930s.
Creators
Object ID
28.998.1
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Thomas A. Edison.
Get more details in Digital Collections at:
Thomas Edison's Fort Myers Laboratory
What is The Henry Ford?
The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.
Sarah Jordan Boarding House
Artifact
Boardinghouse
Date Made
circa 1870
Summary
The Menlo Park complex was an all-male environment; the closest workaday involvement of women -- not forgetting that Edison and several of his personnel were married -- was at the Sarah Jordan boardinghouse. Offering room and board for unmarried employees at the complex, it was operated by Sarah Jordan, a distant relative of Edison's. The house also played host to the experimental lighting system installed throughout Menlo Park in December 1879.
Place of Creation
Object ID
28.1004.1
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford.
Get more details in Digital Collections at:
Sarah Jordan Boarding House
What is The Henry Ford?
The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.
Menlo Park Library
Artifact
Library (Building)
Date Made
1929
Summary
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.
Place of Creation
Object ID
29.3048.2
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford.
Get more details in Digital Collections at:
Menlo Park Library
What is The Henry Ford?
The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.
Menlo Park Glass House
Artifact
Building (Structure)
Date Made
1878
Summary
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.
Place of Creation
Object ID
29.3049.1
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford.
Get more details in Digital Collections at:
Menlo Park Glass House
What is The Henry Ford?
The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.
Menlo Park Machine Shop
Artifact
Machine shop
Summary
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.
Place of Creation
Object ID
29.3048.3
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford.
Get more details in Digital Collections at:
Menlo Park Machine Shop
What is The Henry Ford?
The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.
Edison at Work
Check out some of the sights you'll enjoy first-hand when you journey through the Edison at Work district in Greenfield Village.
Site of Discovery
The Menlo Park Lab was built in 1876 and looked virtually abandoned just four years later.
Research Supplies
Jars filled with a variety of research materials line the walls of Menlo Park Laboratory.
