These documents, which cover the years 1870-1876, relate to Marshall Lefferts, president of the Gold and Stock Telegraph Co. and a financial backer of Edison's early inventions. Included are numerous letters from Daniel H. Craig, a journalist and entrepreneur who engaged Edison in 1870 to improve George Little's system of automatic telegraphy. The letters discuss the current state of automatic telegraphy; competition among the Automatic Telegraph Co., Western Union, and other telegraph companies; relations between Edison and his financial supporters; and Craig's opinions of Edison and other telegraph inventors. Also included are circulars, agreements, and letters pertaining to foreign rights for Edison's electric pen. Other correspondents include John F. Gloyn, Amasa Mason, and George B. Walter, business associates of Edison and Lefferts who were involved in promoting the electric pen system overseas.

Courtesy of The New-York Historical Society.