These letters, which cover the years 1886-1896, 1912, and 1920, are from Lewis Alexander Miller (1863-1943) to his younger sister, Mina Miller Edison. The letters contain numerous references to the Miller family’s financial difficulties during the 1890s. A letter from May 1896 declines an offer by Mina to introduce him to Miss Burke (probably Mabel Burke of Llewellyn Park, daughter of the wealthy bottler John Burke), remarking that he wanted to get out of debt "and then sail in and find a wife."

There are approximately 90 letters and other documents by or about Lewis A. Miller and his wife Cotta Smyser in Book #13 on the Charles Edison Fund microfilm, as well as a few items in Book #35. Click here for a list of all the correspondence books on the CEF microfilm. In addition to the 14 items presented here, 2 other letters originally in the CEF Collection can be found in the Family Records Series in Part III, Part IV, and Part V of the Thomas A. Edison Papers microfilm and digital editions. Twelve additional letters from Lewis A. Miller to his parents Lewis and Mary Valinda and to his sister Mina can be found among the family papers at the Edison-Ford Winter Estates. Eleven other letters by Lewis A. Miller, several written while he was living in Hawaii in 1898, can be found in the David E. E. Sloane Collection.

Courtesy of the Charles Edison Fund.