172
172 See figures 52, 60, and 67.
174 "The Edison Phonograph Monthly," February 15, 1915, [?]."173 The laboratory photographer photographed construction daily from the
same vantage point, and delivered new prints Edison’s desk every morning so
that could trace each day’s progress., moved his office into the library this time. Mina wanted the body lie the library
for one day, and suggested that "simple orchestra" play during the viewing., January 1915, 16,
178 "Notes taken Mrs. 3.
175 Ibid. C.H. Edison used the library his command
post direct the rebuilding his organization. Sloane," from Mina Edison interview, September 18, 1931 (in 1931, Edison,
T.
An estimated 2,000 visitors hour passed through the library for the two days
Edison’s body lay there, with estimated 40,000 mourners passing through on
the second day. 174 For some time after the fire, all of
the executives formerly the Administration Building set their offices
elsewhere within the complex.176
After Edison died October 18, 1931, his body lay state the library for two
days. Plans for viewing the body were established advance Edison’s death,
during his last illness September.the packed lunches and dinners Mina Edison sent down from Glenmont, ate
them wherever happened working the time.
173 See figure 73. Wilson, vice president and general manager
of Thomas Edison, Inc. also hosted meals for
employees business associates long tables set through the center the
library, when fewer people were attending, the director’s table placed front
of the fireplace. early 1915 photograph shows
Edison reviewing charts tracing the progress the work, while the foreground
sits cylinder attached placard proclaiming Thousand Day these wax
cylinders for dictating machines made 482 hours after the fire Dec. The crowds were great, however, that the original plan was
discarded and the public was admitted immediately after the library was opened.177
58
.176
The orchestra idea was abandoned, but there were plenty police hand outside
the laboratory, and plainclothesmen guard the library and Building It
was originally planned that employees and members their families admitted
to the library hour before the public viewing began the morning the
second day.-Death, Undertaker/Cemetery Arrangements).
The 1914 fire West Orange brought changes the laboratory, and the library
was pressed into use during rebuilding.
177 The New York Times, October 19, 1931, 25; and the New York Times, October 21, 1931, col.A. 9th,
1914
