Interpretation the stock room should provide balanced presentation, clearly
explaining the important function the room storing tools and supplies for the
machine shop while still acknowledging its eclectic nature and its subsequent
power public relations tool.
This furnishings plan recommends retaining the offices built the west side of
the room the 1920s and keeps the present configuration shelving. The lighting this space has changed little since 1914; the same incandescent
bulbs metal reflectors are now present. Dyer and Martin left detailed description the room their 1910
biography Edison, did W. and Antonia Dickson their 1894 work. However,
although the configuration the space changed over time, the function the
room remained the same and this continuity function allows some latitude in
establishing the interpretive period. retaining the wire fencing the plan allows the
visitor view the entire south side the room. The stock room now appears is
fundamentally different shape from the way appeared during the period
before 1916.
It important for the visitor see the length the room order understand
it. telephone booth was appended the southwest
corner the stock room.K. Used
together, these sources indicate that the stock room contained diverse mix the
exotic and the practical. 1939 there were several naked bulbs
261
. was widely known that Edison stockpiled materials
such tusks, herbs, and silk plush, addition cache chemicals, and the
more pedestrian nails, drills, and stock metals used the adjacent machine shop. The evidence for furnishing this room includes four
photographs from the period before Edison’s death, and photographs taken in
1939. (See figures and 93.
Producing furnishings installation completely accurate the period before 1916
would require moving large bank shelving and constructing wooden wall
and counter along the passageway. Most
importantly, however, this plan retains the wire mesh fencing currently running
along the south side the room.Building Stock Room
The plan proposes furnish the room might have appeared during the
period after 1916. The 1916 floor plan (figure shows the original layout the stock
room, with the two offices along the west side the room penciled in.
Essentially, this plan recommends placing the objects identified using evidence
from the period before 1916 within the existing configuration the room, which
was established some time after 1916.L. Reconstruction shelving and
walls extant the period before 1916 would block the line sight from the
passageway and make impossible see into most the stock room. Note that change the configuration the stairs in
that corner provides insufficient space reconstruct the booth.) would also involve
changing the existing stock room boundaries and removing the offices that have
been established within it
