The announcement of the Edison Sesquicentennial Conference on our list
provides all of us with an opportunity to help to publicize this to
others interested in New Jersey history.  If the organizers prepare a
flyer which I can duplicate, I would encourage them to do so so that I
can distribute them.  The New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance encourages
this kind of networking and mutual support for such endeavors.  Having a
flyer for us to distribute would make it fairly easy for us to help.
Harriet Sepinwall, Co-Chair
NJ Studies Academic Alliance


On Tue, 1 Apr 1997, Leonard DeGraaf wrote:

>                      Conference Announcement
>
>
>            THOMAS A. EDISON SESQUICENTENNIAL CONFERENCE
>                       "INTERPRETING EDISON"
>
>                          June 25-27, 1997
>
> In recognition of the 150th anniversary of Thomas A. Edison's birth, the
> National Park Service, Organization of American Historians and New Jersey
> Studies Academic Alliance are pleased to announce a three-day conference,
> "Interpreting Edison."  This conference will be held June 25-27, 1997 at Rutgers
> University-Newark and the Edison National Historic Site, and will examine the
> interpretation of Edison's life and work in academic scholarship, at museums and
> historic sites, and in the classroom.
>
> Scholars from the United States, Canada and Europe will present new research on
> Edison's role as inventor, business leader and cultural figure.  Representatives
> from five major U.S. Edison-related sites will discuss their interpretative and
> museum management programs.  There will also be a series of sessions designed to
> help teachers integrate Edison-related themes into the history curriculum.
>
> In the opening session, distinguished historians Ruth S. Cowan, David Nye,
> Thomas Schlereth, John M. Staudenmaier and Alan Trachtenberg will offer their
> insights on Edison's place in American history.
>
> Other highlights of the conference include a virtual tour of Edison's
> reconstructed Menlo Park Laboratory at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn,
> Michigan; lunch on the grounds of Edison's estate, Glenmont; and a demonstration
> of the Library of Congress early motion picture webpage. Edison descendant and
> University of New Haven professor David Edison Sloane will speak about the
> Edison family at the conference banquet.
>
> The $30 registration fee covers all sessions, breaks and lunches at the Robeson
> Campus Center.  An additional $25 will be charged for the Glenmont lunch
> (includes transportation to Edison NHS) and $35 for the conference banquet.
>
> Registration forms are now available, and can be obtained by contacting:
>
>                Leonard DeGraaf
>                Edison National Historic Site
>                Main Street and Lakeside Avenue
>                West Orange, New Jersey 07052
>                201-736-0550, ext. 22
>                E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
> The conference program and registration form are also available on the Edison
>      National Historic Site website, at the following URL:
>      http://www.nps.gov/edis
>