Between May 1871 and February 1873 this volume was used as a record book for stock removed from and returned to the tool room of the American Telegraph Works. From March to December 1874 incoming correspondence and orders were glued to the pages of the stock book. The volume originally contained 361 numbered pages. Many of these have been cut out. The record of stock ends on page 176. The correspondence and orders continue to page 199.

Most of the correspondence is addressed to Edison, Charles Batchelor, and the manufacturing firm of Edison & Murray. There are applications from instrument makers in response to newspaper advertisements for workmen, as well as orders for telegraph instruments and other electrical apparatus. Many of the orders involve perforating and receiving paper, chemicals, glue, and battery materials for the Automatic Telegraph Co. Some of the correspondence concerns the business affairs of the Domestic Telegraph Co.

In order to edit the incoming correspondence and orders for 1874, it was necessary to remove them from the stock record book. Each item contains a penciled notation, written by an archivist, designating the page number of the stock book and the position of the item on the page. The original order has been preserved. The stock book itself has not been selected.

Related material may be found in the Document File for 1874.

Courtesy of Thomas Edison National Historical Park.