[The following note describes a series of company records and has no images attached to it. To view the images in the records described here, use the "Which Series Notes?" button to enter the Series Notes or use the "Next Text" button to move to the first item in the series.]

The New Jersey and Pennsylvania Concentrating Works (NJPCW) was the largest and most expensive of Edison's iron ore ventures. Organized on December 27, 1888, the company began operations in January 1889. Its general offices were initially located in New York City and were moved to the West Orange laboratory in 1894. Edison supplied more than four-fifths of the company's capital and served as its president from 1889 until 1908. Numerous associates, including Charles Batchelor, Samuel Insull, Walter S. Mallory, and John F. Randolph, also served as officers. In the early 1890s the company constructed a plant at Ogden (later named Edison), near present-day Ogdensburg, New Jersey, to engage in the large-scale separation of magnetic iron ore from low-grade ore found in abundance throughout the region. Despite Edison's constant attention, the Ogden works never ran satisfactorily. Equipment failures, along with engineering and other technical problems, prompted Edison to develop costly new machines for crushing, conveying, screening, separating, and drying the iron ore. By the end of the 1890s, iron ore prices had fallen sharply with the arrival of low-cost, high-grade ore from the Mesabi range in Minnesota, and NJPCW found itself unable to sell its product at a profit, despite significantly lowering the unit cost of its separated ore. Operations were shut down permanently in 1900, despite Edison's promise to rebuild the works. The technology, including the crushing machinery, was later used at other enterprises, including the Edison Portland Cement Co. at Stewartsville, New Jersey, and the New Jersey Zinc Co. of Franklin, New Jersey.

The records are arranged into nine series: (1) Administrative and Financial Records; (2) Shipping Records [not selected]; (3) Employee Records [not selected]; (4) Legal Records; (5) Plant Operations Records; (6) Minutes; (7) Letterbooks; (8) Mine Survey and Property Records [not selected]; and (9) Sand Sales Records. A finding aid is available at the Edison National Historical Park. Related records can be found in the Alexander Elliott, Jr., Papers and the Walter S. Mallory Papers (Special Collections Series)

Administrative and Financial Records.

These records cover the period 1889-1911, but most of the documents were generated in the 1890s. Included are incoming correspondence, accounting records, labor statements, stock certificates, canceled checks, and other general office records kept by company officers or senior managers. The records document the organization, management, and failure of the company; the experimental mill at Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania; operations at Ogden, New Jersey; and the testing of equipment, ore, and briquettes. Other subjects include relationships with suppliers, customers, and investors and the market for Edison's ore, briquettes, and milling technologies. Some of the correspondence is duplicated in the Letterbooks, and some of the material is complemented by documents in other series.

Shipping Records [not selected].

These records cover the period 1889-1901. Included are bills of lading, invoices, orders, receipts, requisitions, and other documents relating to company purchases and sales. There is also some correspondence, but most of the correspondence relating to shipping can be found in the Administrative and Financial Records.

Employee Records [not selected].

These records cover the period 1889-1900. Included are payroll lists, daily time sheets, time cards, and other employee records. The documents provide information about the various occupations at the Ogden works, hours worked, and monthly earnings payments. Some of the records identify laborers by ethnicity, particularly Italian and Hungarian.

Legal Records.

These records cover the period 1814-1911, but most of the documents were generated in the 1890s; the earliest material consists of title searches. Included are correspondence, agreements, deeds, lists, leases, indentures, opinions, and reports. The documents deal primarily with leases, mineral rights, and mining surveys on mining sites in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Some items relate to company board matters, stock transactions, tax matters, financial claims, and the acquisition of the Sussex Iron Co. Other material pertains to litigation resulting from the collapse of the stock house at the Ogden works in 1892, including reports by detectives hired on behalf of the company to infiltrate the mining community.

Plant Operations Records.

These records cover the period 1891-1902. Included are correspondence, memoranda, reports, notes, drawings, calculations, lists, and other documents. Most of the material deals with the design, construction, operation, improvement, repair, and dismantling of machinery and equipment at the Ogden works. The records are arranged into five groups: (1) unbound documents; (2) linen drawings; (3) bound volumes; (4) standard-size notebooks; and (5) pocket notebooks.

Minutes.

These records cover the period 1888-1900. In addition to the company minute book, there are unbound duplicate minutes of directors' meetings for 1891 and 1892 and miscellaneous related items for 1896. Only the minute book (December 1888-January 1900) has been selected. The subjects covered include the election and resignation of officers, the appointment of general managers, calls for capital, and increases in capital stock. Specific discussions involve mine properties known as the Gilbert Ore Mine, Scrub Oak Mine, and Ogden Mine; negotiations regarding the royalty agreement with the Edison Ore Milling Co., Ltd. (1890); the purchase of the Ogden Mining Co. (1891); the death of Robert L. Cutting, Jr. (1894); and the removal of the company's offices from New York City to the West Orange laboratory (1894). Also included are two long reports by Edison on the status of the company's mills (1890, 1898).

Letterbooks.

These records, which cover the period 1889-1903, consist of 52 volumes containing tissue copies of the company's outgoing correspondence and internal communications. Some of the material is duplicated in, or is complemented by, material in other series. The letterbooks are divided into 7 subgroups determined by the principal author(s) of the volumes, the specific subject matter, and considerations of chronological continuity. Included are letters relating to stock transactions; stockholders' and directors' meetings; payment of company obligations; changes in company officers; insurance, employment, tax, and legal matters; press relations; market and economic conditions; properties leased or owned; the design and purchase of equipment; the chemical analysis, manufacture, and marketing of iron ore, briquettes, and sand; the construction, modification, and closing of the Ogden works; interest in minerals other than iron, such as gold and molybdenite; and visitors to the Ogden works. There are also some letters regarding Edison's views on company policies and correspondence about his schedule, character, health, and family.
   In addition, the letterbooks contain occasional correspondence regarding Edison's other iron ore enterprises; some letters concerning phonograph contracts, litigation, and stock; items pertaining to the price of General Electric securities and other aspects of the electric light business; and a few letters about the telephone, kinetoscope, and phonoplex business.

Mine Survey and Property Records [not selected].

These records cover the period 1889-1897. They consist of approximately 75 standard-size (6" x 9") and pocket notebooks. The books were used primarily by Theodore Lehmann, Charles J. Reed, and Charles H. Kayser for surveys of mining properties. Most of the surveys relate to the Ogden mine and other properties in New Jersey, but there are also surveys of properties in Pennsylvania and New York. One notebook contains an 1897 list of property leases.

Sand Sales Records.

These records cover the period 1891-1902, and deal primarily with routine business matters, although they sometimes discuss the use of Edison sand for cement, traction, sand blasting, and other purposes. Only one item has been selected: a bound volume containing an abstract of sand and ore concentrate sales for the period 1892-1902.