The surviving buildings of
this once vast industrial complex serve not only museum
but also reflection the life and work one of
. The rows technical journals
(many them from outside the United States), scholarly books,
and bound patents show that the information age had begun well
before the twentieth century, and that Edison saw the
importance keeping with scientific and technical progress
wherever occurred. The "old man" often began his day by
reading the newspapers and technical journals his desk in
the library. Two the twentieth century's most influential
service industries— motion pictures and musical
entertainment— had their humble beginnings this cluster of
brick buildings.3
facility and manufactured thousands them his nearby
factories. Now only tourists walk around the library and
cross the courtyard the experimental buildings which serve
as museums Edison's achievements.
The experimental rooms and machine shops the lab are a
reminder the highly complex technologies introduced by
Edison. The impressive, multi-tiered library evidence the
growing importance science the technologies the Second
Industrial Revolution— revolution that was based the
so-called scientific industries electricity, steel,
chemicals, and communications. The lathes and drills in
the grimy machine shops are quiet now, the lights longer
burn all night the experimental rooms and the "old man's"
bunk the library never used
